Der Debate

Or is it, Le Debate? I watched just about all of it except for the first 15 minutes. Kerry looked taller, more poised, polished, prepared, articulate. Bush was laid-back, simpler, firm and jovial. As one column I read put it, "Bush looked like a guy you'd want to have a beer with." Kerry looked like the lawyer you'd want representing you in court.



I want to stop here talking about who won and who didn't and discuss something that just about drives me stark, raving, mad. The look and sound of a leader is not what makes a leader. It reminds me of the scripture, "you got a nice suit on, you be our leader...." It's like that Peter Seller's movie, "Being There." He looked and sounded good, so he was on his way to the presidency at the end. Emanuel Kant was hunched over and deformed, but his philosophy changed modern thought since his day -- he is the Plato of his millennia. Steven Hawkins would never win a muscle contest or make GQ mag, but anyone into astronomy will hone-in on his words and transcripts. General Patton was said to have a high-pitched, screeching voice that was annoying, yet he's heralded as one of America's greatest generals. Do you buy a car because the salesman looked and sounded good? If you do then you probably pay too much for most things. The same goes for who should be president, and it makes me nuts when people talk about Kerry "filling more screen" than Bush or that Bush, "seemed more jovial and laid-back" (and stating Bush looks like a monkey or Kerry looks like Lurch ... I thought I was out of 3rd grade?). One thing and one thing only should be the basis of your vote: what a politician does. If you agree with what they have done -- the decisions they have made and carried out -- then vote for that guy. Kerry has one of the greatest records of diminishing the American military. If you vote for him thinking he'll be a good wartime general -- because, hey, after all, he spoke better! -- then you are deceived. Bush cut taxes and therefore will not support big government programs. If you think voting for him will get more money for your grandmother, then you are deceived -- but, hey, he looks fun to be with!...

Politics is not difficult for me. I look at what a candidate has done -- how they performed in the last political job they had -- and if I agree with that I vote that way. If their words back up what they've done before and after, then that's icing.

Don't vote because you hate the other guy -- that's not a reason. Vote because you have gray matter in your skull, and you've actually used it....