Having seen a bit more of the debate now I have to say the Biden performance was disturbing, at times even... what, offensive, repulsive, farcically theatrical? - and deepening the disturbance is how many on the left actually seem to think the night represented a great victory for them - it's not just rhetoric to say that the uber left's visceral hatred of conservative thought is so consuming in its rage that they truly have conflated disdainful contempt and an affected enlightenment into a single governing ethos - so convinced are they of their own righteous beauty when measured against the grotesque deformities of conservatism that for them the mere expression of outrage or scorn or sarcastic ridicule is argument enough, is self evidently good regardless of proof or explanation or substance. This is political fanaticism, pure and simple - hell, I may even be tempted to reach for the other 'f' word - fascism - it's a bit extreme but I don't think wholly ludicrous to suggest that at times things do seem to be kind of straying in that direction - certainly there's something a little fascistic about the way the press has allowed itself to become the suppliant tool of a political agenda.
I gotta believe that Biden's performance did not go over at all well with moderates, undecideds and independents - and so if Obama chooses to imitate that performance I'd have to conclude that he truly doesn't want to win. I know that some dispirited uber lefties like Andrew Sullivan [who I'm quite sure is actually, actually in love with the Obama] have raised the idea of Dear Leader not wanting to win - but let's remember that it was I a couple of years ago who first proffered up the wild conjecture that if things weren't going well Obama would quickly lose interest in the job and look for a way to get out while still remaining a hero to the left - and if he mimics Biden's performance then I'd have to conclude that that wild conjecture was dead accurate - either that or they've crunched the numbers and figure the only way they can win is by whipping the base up into a frenzy. How else does one explain Biden's bizarre antics? It had to be calculated, right? It couldn't have just been him being an idiot. Then again, we are talking about Biden, so...
