All analysis aside...

My mind is racing after a three-hour, link-jumping orgy of watching campaign-related videos and reading post-debate analysis.

I'd love to say something brilliant, but where to begin?

So I'll just quote my 15-year-old daughter who is living in the USA this year and who saw some of the debate (before falling asleep...)

"I just remember that Obama's cute and smart.

And that McCain is NOT."

Now I really can't wait until next week's debate, when we'll get to see "cute and clueless."

With running mates like this, who needs enemies?

While John McCain is trying to get time off to prepare for his presidential debate ("Oh damn! Maybe I shouldn't have said I didn't know much about economics!"), Ms. Moose is on the campaign trail, and doing quite the "job" of it. Judge for yourself in this extract from an interview with CBS News:

"Couric: You've said, quote, 'John McCain will reform the way Wall Street does business.' Other than supporting stricter regulations of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac two years ago, can you give us any more example of his leading the charge for more oversight?

Palin: I think that the example that you just cited, with his warnings two years ago about Fannie and Freddie - that, that's paramount. That's more than a heck of a lot of other senators and representatives did for us.

Couric: But he's been in Congress for 26 years. He's been chairman of the powerful Commerce Committee. And he has almost always sided with less regulation, not more.

Palin: He's also known as the maverick though, taking shots from his own party, and certainly taking shots from the other party. Trying to get people to understand what he's been talking about - the need to reform government.

Couric: But can you give me any other concrete examples? Because I know you've said Barack Obama is a lot of talk and no action. Can you give me any other examples in his 26 years of John McCain truly taking a stand on this?

Palin: I can give you examples of things that John McCain has done, that has shown his foresight, his pragmatism, and his leadership abilities. And that is what America needs today.

Couric: I'm just going to ask you one more time - not to belabor the point. Specific examples in his 26 years of pushing for more regulation.

Palin: I'll try to find you some and I'll bring them to you."

I'll try to find you some and I'll bring them to you? In what form? In a 15-page research paper with footnotes?

And she has been called a powerful campaigner. I guess I just don't get it.

It'll be just like starting over

I just marked 270 blog posts "as read" on Google Reader.

I must use it every day. I must. I must. Repeat 100 times.

How I plan to accomplish this:

1. Get home from work. Ignore breakfast dishes left out in the kitchen, accumulated mess strewn about the living room table, professional blog post to be written, the possibility of making yet another $25.00 donation to Barack's campaign, and the overwhelming desire to scour MySpace and Facebook for traces of what my youngest daughter is up to.

2. Get out of my faux-pro work outfit and toss on something scruffy and scroungy that reminds my husband that I am, after all, an American.

3. Get a glass of wine alone (!!) and before dinner (!!!), which reminds my husband...etc.

4. Get onto my Google Reader.

Does that sound like a plan?

Gimme shelter!

I think we can safely say that we have seen way too many photos of Alaskan wildlife in the presidential campaign.

I'm not a vivid dreamer, but last night I had a nightmare that really shook me up.

A bunch of raccoons were trying to break into my living room through our sliding glass door, except my house was somehow in the USA -- get it?

Suddenly, one mangy raccoon was actually running around inside and I decided it had to go.

Oh, damn, I don't own a gun! So I took a deep breath, grabbed it, and it bit my hand real hard. Even in my sleep I could feel the palin.

Then the scenario morphed into a TV debate: Sarah Palin against Barack Obama.

(I know, Republicans, I know, Palin is not running against Obama! Except if your candidate croaks, which I guess we can all start praying won't happen, or goes totally senile, which I honestly think is taking place before our eyes, we are stuck with Ms. Moose...so stop pretending you just can't understand why people would ever make such a comparison!)

And Sarah slammed Barack with some real tough-chick crack that had the whole country buzzing about something other than the economy, health care, the war, the lies, the lies, the lies....

Palin's problems: "Let's just make them all go away!"

This is painfully funny, or just plain painful, depending on how you look at it:

The Great Debates

"What is it exactly that a VP does every day? "

Sarah Palin

A long time ago, I thought John McCain had half a brain and that his debates with Obama might be quite interesting.

Now, after reading Big John's bizarre interview with Time magazine, and especially after his strageoid choice of a running mate, I'm starting to think he has only half a brain. And that his debates with Barack will be just plain weird.

The debate I'm really looking forward to now? Biden-Palin.