The latest battleground state and national polls are in

[DonCoquixote]

121. The problem with America

Is that we expect our leaders to be symbolic heads of state as well as practical types. In the UK, you have the Royal family to do the various cultural aspects, and you have a bunch of boring politicans and journalists to handle the boring but important stuff. It of course, does not always work out, but the fact that the "entertainment" and "political" aspects are cleanly,clearly separated allows there to be space for sanity, IMHO.

Yes the Uk has tabloids and reality shows, but there is space for serious newspapers like the Guardian, and of course, the BBC. Here, even the MSNBCS and CURRENTS have to make the ratings, so even their fresher, nutritious offerings come with a heaping dash of loudmouth sauce, with a side of carnival-fried hucksters. The PBS is always a target, and even they are known more for Big Bird and British programs than the documentaries that draw the daggers of the conservatives. Thanks to budget cuts, PBS has taken a more "cautious" stance, which in plain English means they are SCARED. It is not accident that Mitt went to the moderator and threatened to fire him; if Mitt did not add Big Bird to the mix, most people would not have cared.

The debate assessment is a fine example of this. Yes, Obama was a wonk, yes he needed to boil it down into bullet points, yes, his debate trainers need to be sacked, and replaced with the likes of Rachel Maddow or (ugh) even that damned Dig Dawg, Bill Clinton. His attempt to be civil, indeed,his very belief in civility, has been his great weakness. Yes, there is a civil veneer of America, but truth be told, as none other than Big Dawg said: "When people are insecure, they'd rather have somebody who is strong and wrong than someone who's weak and right." As the rest of the world sees, America is insecure, and it loves bullies because of that. Obama wants that civil society, that meritocracy that shows up every so often, but he, and frankly WE, need to realize that is NOT the dominating force in our minds and hearts.

The very fact that we reward Mitt for lying, the fact we consider Obama a failure for NOT lying, NOT yelling, and NOT resorting to tactics like the "Gish Gallop", is, in an of itself, a very damning example of our weakness as a culture. Mitt's antics would have gotten him thrown off most decent High School debate teams, especially for using a technique known as the Gish Gallop, which is so well recognized that even shady, pass-the-hat preachers avoid it, unless they know the audience is a REAL DENSE bunch of SUCKERS.

Then again, as the fellow who got the "haircut" can tell you, Mitt has not been held to account for himself since high school. And therein lies the secret appeal of the GOP; they sell the idea that as long as you have the money, you have a God-given right,indeed, a duty, to be as big of a bully and an asshole as you want.

I have to end on a high note. The reason the GOP is pulling out all the stops is because they know, whether by demographics, or by China getting sick of funding our war machine, or the rising sea tides eating our cities, that the Men and women who have called the shots here in America will simply have that power taken from them! Provided we keep our heads about us, we can take actions in both the long and short term to ensure that, when the powers stumble, we make sure they do NOT get back up. A large part of that will be changing our national culture, where the Mitt Romneys are not praised for behavior that civilized societies would NOT reward.

PS: for those who have not heard the term Gish Gallop: http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Gish_gallop