October 3, 2008
Morning Roundup: The Expectations Game Edition
Good morning, D.C. So, who won last night's hotly anticipated VP debate (can you remember the last time we had a hotly anticipated VP debate)? The general consensus seems to be that neither candidate had a major gaffe, and that the most likely result is that this debate didn't change the presidential race one way or another. Slate's John Dickerson writes that Palin managed to stop the bleeding for McCain. Jon Cohen at the Washington Post's The Trail blog says that both Palin and Biden scored points by beating low expectations, and that moderator Gwen Ifill also won the evening by coming across as extremely fair despite having spent the last two days being accused of a pro-Obama bias. And the Politico's John Harris and Mike Allen argue that Palin may have managed not to fall on her face, but since her job on the GOP ticket was actually supposed to be to put McCain over the top, she pretty much failed in every way. Of course, we all know who the clear losers were last night: those of us whose VP Debate Bingo cards and pre-planned drinking games relied on a majorly embarrassing moment for us to achieve an adequate buzz.
Fenty Proposes His Budget Cuts: Since the news came down that lower than expected tax revenue has left the District $131 million in the hole, we've been waiting to see how Mayor Fenty would deal with the first time he's ever had to make serious budget cuts. The Post has the scoop on what the mayor is going to bring before the D.C. Council on Monday. As was expected, a big part of Fenty's strategy is to eliminate 400 more vacant city positions, saving $31 million. Additionally, he'll also propose saving $10 million by delaying a planned investment in retirement benefits for city employees, and $35 million by performing a little bank account shuffle and grabbing accrued revenue from city agencies like the DCRA. The mayor has also attached his controversial D.C. Lottery contract to this budget.
Big Drug Raid Nets 22 Arrests: D.C. police arrested 22 people last night during a large-scale raid in and around the Clay Terrace housing complex in Northeast. The Post writes that Clay Terrace "was home to a notorious and violent PCP market." And in a funny twist, it appears as though the MPD's Major Case Investigative Unit found some of the suspects through their linked MySpace pages. Sounds like something you'd see on Law & Order, doesn't it?
Briefly Noted: Metro operator’s Redskins celebration causes complaints ... Case worker visited freezer bodies suspect in January ... Man who raped, killed elderly neighbor to be sentenced.
This Day in DCist: In 2007, we reported that Ian MacKaye was still alive, and in 2006, we said goodbye to Martha the eagle.
Photo by ericschoon
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Gov. Palin held her own. The only loser is Politico with their hard left opinions.
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I think we should be renamed the United States of Low Expectations.
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I think Obama's slogan should be "Yes We Can, if Frank Sinatra Says it's OK." 'Cause Frank calls the shots for all those guys.
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It was a great night for trained seals.
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I want to hear more about energy policy!!
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I hope nobody was drinking every time one of them said "maverick".....Biden said it at least 8 times in a span of 2 minutes.
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Gosh darn it, it was an odd debate. Low expectations? You betcha!
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Fenty should just take a cue from Wall Street and declare that $131 million a "negative growth investment derivative" and issue stock options. He'll have rich idiots lining up to move to DC.
Oh, snap. Too late.
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Because I hate the term maverick, Palin used it 6 times over the course of the 90 minutes. I think one drinking game should have been "How many times would Palin mention which state she is a Governor of?" I think she brought that up every 5 minutes or so.
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From what I understand it's an energy-producing state - I think I heard that somewhere...
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@fleurdeliz
I'm still wasted. Not only did we drink for anytime someone said "maverick", we also took a swig when someone said "table".
I think my roomies and I may have a drinking problem since we thought we needed more of a challenge by adding table to our drinking rotation. Also, did anyone catch what happened in the debate after ten? I can't recall what happened later on in the debate for some reason.
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This one time, in Alaska...
Maybe for the Presidential debate next week, another drinking game would be how many times does McCain do his lizard tongue/slurping thing. You might need to drink when you hear that.
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The only loser is Politico with their hard left opinions.
Yes, which is totally why they ran this piece:
You betcha Sarah Palin can debate
"ST. LOUIS — Sarah Palin was supposed to fall off the stage at her vice presidential debate Thursday evening. Instead, she ended up dominating it."
Anyway, I would agree she did fine. But let's face it, she didn't have a high bar to clear. Biden did fine too. No one screwed up. But it doesn't really matter. VP debates never influence the outcome of an election.
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Palin's ass looked great last night - she definitely won in the ass category. aside from that, she basically spewed some canned sentences that had been programmed into her brain over the last couple of weeks, added her own rambling touch to them, and threw in a gosh darn lotta cutesy talk dontcha know.
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I wanna be maya of D.C.
You're fired!
You're hired!
You're wired!
You're fried!
but we still have Ben's Chili Bowl!
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Soylent Palin she's made of talking points!
The more and more I see footage replayed the more I see her as being pwned. Especially during the achilles heel question. Biden almost cries, and all she respond with the same talking points she's used to answer every other question.
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By definition you aren't a maverick if you call yourself a maverick.
Sortof like giving yourself a nickname. That's not how it works.
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In my world Biden has no ass, sortof like a Ken doll.
Now I have to go all day thinking about Bidens saggy white ass, all cottage-cheesy oozing out of his K-mart brand undies.
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Somehow I doubt that Biden shops at Kmart.
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and i never knew the markets were hungry, until last night. jeeez, did she say that 100 times or what?
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What you weren't able to hear last night at the vice presidential debate:
Palin - "Thank you, Gwen. It's an honor to be here. I'll take What State Am I From for 500, please."
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Great, Palin manages to last for 90 minutes and gets cheers for that? I still want her quarantined somewhere above the arctic circle.