Posted by
reasonmclucus on Sunday, October 05, 2008 5:03:01 PM
I'll be glad when these media events dopey journalists call
"debates" are over. A real debate involves an extended discussion
of issues, such as was done during the debates between John F. Kennedy
and Richard Nixon in 1960.
The media events of today only give the participants sufficient time to
repeat political cliches and other sound bites. This
approach favors politicians like Sen. Joe Biden who lack
the intelligence to understand the complexity of the real world.
For example, Biden seems incapable of understanding that wars cannot be
conducted according to strict timetables because the enemy and the
weather only follow the script in Hollywood. It isn't even
possible to set a strict time table for Sunday football games which is why
CBS "60 Minutes" doesn't start at the same time every
Sunday in fall on the east coast.
On the subject of climate change Biden supported the primitive belief
that humans control climate because carbon dioxide has a magical power
to control air temperature. Gov. Sarah Palin recognizes that climate is
more complex, although unfortunately she supports the general myth that
CO2 affects temperature.
She failed to mention that the warming in the Arctic is part of the
normal cyclic change of the region. The Arctic experienced
similar warming in the 1920's as well as more extensive warming in the
distant past. The current warming in the Arctic, which may be
ending considering lower than normal temperatures in Anchorage this
summer, is due to the phases of the Arctic Oscillation and the Northern
Pacific Oscillation. These cycles moved warmer waters and
air into the Arctic, especially from the Northern Pacific.
If humans are impacting the situation, the impact takes the form of
black soot from Asia. The soot becomes mixed with snow
after which it is heated by the sun and melts the snow. Otherwise
the snow would reflect sunlight back into space with only limited
melting.
The debates cannot resolve disputes on issues because the comments are
too short.
The debates are more useful for demonstrating the personalities of the
candidates. Palin clearly has a more desirable personality for a
vice president than Biden. Palin was more animated and has an
energizing personality and a contagious enthusiasm.
Palin might be the best thing that could happen to Washington
since Teddy Roosevelt and Harry Truman were selected as vice presidents.