Tony Soprano on Capital Hill....I bet the folks at HBO are kicking themselves right now

Note to future presidential debaters:

Just because you are given two minutes to talk does not mean you have to fill it up.

Pretend those 120 seconds are like a $120 gift card to the grocery store. Sure you could go in and easily find enough items to use up $120 in one shopping trip, but doesn't the gift mean more if you just use it as you go along, $5 here, $10 there, to pay for the occasional treat?

Holy Cow. "Do you like Puppies?" "Yes. I love Puppies." See? Nice and easy. None of this "Well that's a valid question and really when I think of puppies the first thing that comes to mind is the softness of their fur and how their paws are always so big. That's how you can tell how big your puppy will grow to be, did you know that? The paws are an indicator. Now say I wanted to have a little dog, because I have a little house. I wouldn't pick out a puppy that has huge paws because that will be a huge dog. I'd look for a smaller breed, like a beagle or perhaps a terrier. While I do love the bigger dogs, Shepherds and Rottweilers, I think the best puppies are the ones who learn quickly, so when picking out your puppy it is best to look for a breed known for thier mental abilities, and you know they say Dogs are Man's best friend so I would definitely love to own a dog one day. Dogs start out as Puppies so I would have to say that yes, I am in favor of Puppies."

Oy.

I think this debate's moderator (darn my brain going and thinking about puppies, now I don't have room for his name) is by far my favorite moderator of any of the debates, including the VP debate. I loved that he asked questions like "Do you believe homosexuality is a choice?", "How do you plan to pay for your health care plan?", "Why aren't there enough flu vaccines?"

I will give Bush enormous credit for actually answering the vaccine question. He could have totally stepped around it or blamed it on the liberals but he didn't. I still don't like the guy but I like that he let some cheap shots go by, especially when Kerry compared him to Tony Soprano. That was a cheap shot and I felt my respect for Kerry go down a peg, even though it was a darned funny simile.

I especially liked the final question "What have you learned from the women in your life?" Fabulous.

All in all I am glad the debates are over. I think Kerry won, but not by much this time. Bush kept his cool, something he hadn't been able to do for the first two debates and keeping that cool helped him come off a lot better this time. I still think he's a liar, and I want him voted out, but he did hold his own this week.

Now we can all get to the really important issues: what kind of digital camera should I get and how should I pay for it?? Oh the toys the toys that are calling to me. Olympus, Kodak, Nikon, Fuji, Samsung! How will I ever decide?