Okay, okay, I'll admit it. I didn't watch the debates. Any of them. Not in their entirety or even substantially. I did watch about 10-15 minutes of the first one and I watched about 10 mintes of the VP debate, but that's it. I even promised some people that I'd watch them all, but I never did. Why? I don't know. I think it's partly because I couldn't (or wouldn't, I guess) watch them live, partly because I didn't need to watch them and partly because I didn't want to watch them once I'd seen all the press about them. And the debates always make me cringe, what with the phony smiles, platitudes and personal stories. Lecchh.
So, now that I've got that off my chest, is it all over for McCain? Probably. Hard to see how he can overcome the financial disaster. (Is Hank Paulson George W. Bush's last 'get' at John McCain?} The Republicans are taking the brunt of the blame for all this mayhem. The only possible argument that they might try - and I doubt it would work - is that it now seems that Europe is in at least as big a pickle as America and this is the socio-economic model that Obama would like to implement. So, no system, no democratic nation is immune. It's not a strong argument, but I can't think of a better one.
