Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Political Tuesdays - Red Meat


Debate evenings are the one time I regret not having Twitter.  Politics, the favorite blood sport of ancient Rome, has finally come of age with social networking, with the thumbs-down vote travelling across continents at the speed of electrons.  I personally have always had a slightly slower reaction time... I prefer to be one of the morning-after analysts rather than the Twitter and Facebook mob in the Flavian amphitheater.  At least in theory, the pay is better.

Joe Biden apparently finds nothing more hilarious than the prospect of a nuclear Iran.  Minutes after it became obvious that his strategy in the vice presidential debate last week was mockery, I started seeing Proverbs 29:9 ( "When a wise man has an argument with a fool, the fool only rages and laughs, and there is no quiet") floating across Facebook.  It was in various translations and has kept popping up ever since.  The thing is, Biden's performance was red meat to the liberal Democrats that form the core of Obama's support in this election.  Biden was not passive, as Obama was the week before.  But the majority of the country, particularly middle-aged, middle-class women like me, found Biden's demeanor dismissive and rude.  And it has cost the Obama campaign in the past week, even more than Obama's first lackluster debate performance.  Ironic for someone who claims it's the other guy waging "war on women."

So will the Obama campaign find just the right combination of passive-aggressive this debate?  Is there a good combination of passive-aggressive?  Does anyone really watch these debates anyway, or is it just another way for political junkies to while away the agonizing wait until election day?

The title for today's post came to me as I was shopping for dinner tonight.  I wanted to buy ground turkey to make soft tacos, but Safeway was offering it at almost $4 a pound, compared to $2.70 a pound for ground beef.  What's the deal with almost $12 for a family pack of ground turkey?  It used to be $.99 a pound, the cheap, healthy alternative to ground beef.  You'd think we were living in a mismanaged economy or something.  So we had the red meat instead.  Ready for the political season.

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