One Week to Go

Is this the most important week of our lives?

Oh behave, Mr. Hyperbole!

Surely, the presidential election will determine an awful lot in our country, but does it really compare with:

• The week you got married (for the first, second or third time)?
• The week your child was born?
• The week your parent or spouse passed away?
• The week you lost your virginity? (I suppose I should have put this with the first bullet since we were all virgins when we got married, right?)
• The week you got baptized, confirmed, bar mitzvah'd, or consecrated by Mother Nature.

A little perspective is required. But that said, this election is extraordinarily important.

So was the 2000 election, but we just didn't know how important that was. If American knew 9/11 was going to happen, would we have elected a governor from Texas with no foreign policy experience and a reputation for not taking life too seriously. No way! Gore would have won in a landslide. Who knows how things would have turned out but you can be sure we wouldn't have lost more than 1,000 Americans in Iraq nor would have we run up a $500 billion deficit. People's First Amendment rights would be intact.

And we'd probably be in the midst of a Gore vs. McCain election. Imagine how much more civil and constructive that campaign would be.

Down the home stretch, let's all keep our perspective but not let up in our drive to get Kerry supporters to the polls.

What I did on my 45th birthday

I ate cake today.

I also had a donut. Yes. Cake AND a donut.

I also had a piece of apple pie made by my lovely wife, which was preceded by a carb fest of stuffed chicken breasts and mashed potatoes and gravy. (Oh, yeah, and lima beans just to add color.)

Cake, donut, pie. The triconfecta. (That's trifecta and confection combined.) The pie was the best treat of all. Sugar and love, love and sugar. Hooooorah!

I am 45 today and food makes me happy. I will have a beer in a few minutes. And tomorrow I will run.

I didn't just eat all day, though. I also signed a petition on the Sojourner's Web site. It starts out "God is Not a Republican or a Democrat." Just go to www.sojo.net/petition. We need to let Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson and the guy who owns the Harbor Coffeehouse and other right wing political Christians know that they do not automatically speak for all followers of Jesus Christ.

I worry about Christianity when its adherents confuse their religion with their politics. Count me as one of the guilty. Just because I'm a Christian and I believe John Kerry is the better candidate does not mean that John Kerry is the choice of Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

Nuff said. Go to www.sojo.net/petition and sign the petition.

Kerry Kicked Bush Tush

I don't know who the media were watching, but in my estimation John Kerry kicked George Bush's kiester (or is it keester?) in the debate last night.

Joe Scarborough on Chris Matthews' show after the debate said George Bush talks like the common man, so he connects with middle America. If you want to know what the common man talks like, read the Fan Line in the Patriot News sports section. You want a president who talks like that? You want a president who hms and uhs and smirks?

John Kerry won this debate clean and fair. He went in with voters suspicious of his ability to appear presidential. He appeared far more powerful, far more statemanlike, far more composed than W.

Here are some polls and quotes:

CNN / GALLUP POLL ON WHO WON DEBATE Kerry: 53 Bush: 37
CBS POLL Kerry: 44 Bush: 26 Tie: 30
ABC POLL Kerry: 45 Bush 36: Tie: 17

Mort Kondracke: "This is the President's turf, this is the place that the President is supposed to dominate, terror and the war in Iraq. I don't think he really dominated tonight. I think Kerry looked like a commander-in-chief."

Kate O'Beirne, National Review Online's the Corner: "I thought the President was repetitive and reactive."

Jonah Goldberg, National Review Online's the Corner: "The Bush campaign miscalculated on having the first night be foreign policy night."

Bob Schieffer: "The President was somewhat defensive in the beginning"

Mark Shields: "The President showed a few times obvious anger"

Bill Kristol, Weekly Standard: "I think Kerry did pretty well tonight, he was forceful and articulate."

Bob Schieffer: "Kerry got off to a very good start."

Joe Scarborough: "It was John Kerry's best performance ever.As far as the debate goes, I don't see how anybody could look at this debate and not score this a very clear win on points for John Kerry."

(MSNBC)Andrea Mitchell: "This is the toughest we've ever seen John Kerry. He attacked the very core of the President's popularity. He's basically saying, who do you believe?"

(MSNBC)Tim Russert: "Tonight he seemed to find his voice for the Democratic view of the world."

Fred Barnes on FNC: "Kerry did very well and we will have a Presidential race from here on out."