Well, thank you goddess! Sparky and I watched the debate tonight, and yes, the Emperor really has no clothes! It's been proven. And thank goodness also that the networks actually showed the reaction shots (which they weren't "supposed" to per the 32 pages of rules) and we got to see Kerry taking studious notes while Dubya swigged water, rolled his eyes, slumped on the podium and flipped his piece of paper back and forth (which appeared to be covered in doodles).

And miraculously, the pundits even seemed to agree that Dubya was nervous, defensive, repetitive and completely inarticulate. Though he does seem to have practiced saying nuclear, after a pause and deep breath he even managed to say "nuclear prolification". But he did say emeny instead of enemy. Joe Scarborough and Chris Matthews even agreed that Dubya was seemed the annoyed monarch who did not want to be there and is unaccustomed to being questioned. My husband was so worried, not that John Kerry would do badly, but that Dubya would beautomatically be proclaimed the winner because that mean old smart guy was picking on him. That's how he won Texas, because Ann Richards (who was a wonderful governor, BTW) picked on "poor George".

Once again, can I make a plea - can we PLEASE have the smart, well spoken guy for President?? Please??? I don't want the average Joe Blow running our country, I don't want the "everyman" in charge, I want the smart guy who is going to plan things out before he acts. Running the largest nation in the world requires a lot of knowledge, education and experience. Here's an analogy to chew on - If you were going on a car trip and were bringing your family along, do you want to ride with the guy who never passed his driver's license test, who is prone to road rage and spent the first part of his life drinking to excess and snorting coke or would you rather ride with the responsible guy who reads the maps before he goes somewhere and would never drink and drive? Because that's where we are America, we've been riding with the road raging cowboy and we're out in the middle of nowhere and the other drivers won't get near us because they're afraid of OUR driver. But now he's finally running out of gas and hopefully soon won't be able to harm anyone else. We're going to take the keys away from him.

So we're both taking sighs of relief, and I have a feeling even the propaganda masters in the GOP won't be able to salvage this disaster. I do not want to wake up tomorrow to headlines that say "Bush Won Debate". If the media does not want to lose all of their credibility they will play it straight on this debate. Kerry slaughtered Bush. And Kerry answered everything clearly, succinctly and in plain language. Meanwhile Dubya interrupted, ran over in time), and kept raising his hand to object though when called upon he often had nothing to say. Except that the country needed someone who didn't change positions. Who didn't play well with others. And who refused to learn from or even acknowledge his mistakes.

And there are two more debates left... And next week is Edwards vs. Darth Cheney. This is going to get bloody.

But seriously, I REALLY want the smart guy to win this time. Will everyone get off their butts and vote this November? We can have a peaceful, prosperous America again. We've done it before, I remember, I was there. And your vote really is anonymous. And registering to vote does not mean you're more likely tol be picked for jury duty. They don't do that anymore, they use your driver's license info. Yes, really. So if you don't want to go to jury duty, don't drive. But please vote.