Kerry's probably losing points with some people by not addressing some questions directly. Neither man is giving the best possible answers to what, so far, have all been pretty predictable questions. Bush answers the questions but says very little of substance and much that is arguable. Kerry starts by addressing the previous question, then works his way to the current one without enough time left to reply with substance.
Watching the Debate
Bush did okay — better than I would have expected — on the foreign part of the debate but he's flailing in the economic parts. A president who's run up the deficit can't lecture someone else like that about fiscal responsibility.
Watching the Debate
Too much repetition. You'd think these guys would learn a second or third way to phrase their main talking points.
Watching the Debate
Bush isn't as bad in terms of finishing sentences and making faces. But he sure seems defensive.
I don't get the point of having a live audience there if they're not allowed to actually talk to the candidates. People could submit questions and the moderator could read them and you'd have the same thing.
I always liked the idea of ordinary citizens being able to ask tough questions of elected officials. I think that's a great example of what separates America from so many nations where the leadership never has to answer to anyone. And it would really be impressive if those citizens weren't forbidden to deviate from their pre-approved questions or to ask follow-ups.
Watching the Debate
Bush does not seem to have a bulge on his back.
45 Minutes to Broad Statements
In the last hour or so, I've watched every human being even vaguely connected to politics say what they expect will happen with tonight's debate. I have no idea but I'm getting really tired of the phrase, "…first president to create no new jobs since Herbert Hoover." It's true…but Hoover didn't get mentioned this often when he was in office.
Recommended Reading
Fred Kaplan dismantles Bush's explanation of why the war in Iraq was right even though all the original reasons for it have been discredited.
Funny Stuff
Quite a few of you have written to tell me of silly recordings that made it onto the charts. Dave Kovarik and Dave Rutman both wrote that Steve Martin's "King Tut" made it to #17 in 1978. Chuck Berry's "My Ding-A-Ling" reached #1 — his only record to do so, says Jon B. Knutson and Jon also mentions Ray Stevens's "The Streak" from 1974 and Rick Dees's 1976 "Disco Duck." John Moore reports that Weird Al Yankovic's "Eat It" reached #12 on the Billboard charts in 1984.
Pat Kelly says that Allan Sherman's "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh" did not reach #1 and also writes…
The last straightforward "comedy performance" record to make the top ten that I can think of is "Sister Mary Elephant" by Cheech & Chong, a top ten single in 1974. The indisputably #1 comedy single would be "The Streak" by Ray Stevens also in 1974, and probably the unarguably comic novelty track to make the top ten was Dickie Goodman's "break-in" track, "Mr. Jaws." There are certainly top ten hits with aspects of comedy in them since, I'd include "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-A-Lot and the recent "My Band" by Emimem's side project D12, but I don't think either would qualify for Dr. Demento play status.
Yeah, I'm not sure I'd call some of the above "comedy records." Maybe "novelty records" would be a better term. All of them — except maybe the Cheech & Chong one, with which I'm not familiar — are all or almost all music, whereas "St. George and the Dragonet" was basically a spoken word recording. (By the way, is anyone on this planet familiar with the content of any Cheech & Chong records? The folks who never heard them obviously aren't, and the people who listened repeatedly to them probably don't remember that portion of their lives, let alone the comedy albums they heard.)
I doubt we'll ever again see a best-selling comedy single, at least all audio. If it happens again, it'll be an online video like the new one from the JibJab boys.
The Albertsons' Market Saga – Part 2
As you may recall, I had an unhappy experience the other day getting a home delivery from Albertsons' Market via their website. The shipment was incomplete, no one told me it was incomplete, and calls to the company's customer service line involved spending intolerable hunks of my life on hold. I am pleased to say the situation has gotten better…but before it got better, it got a lot worse.
Last night, I discovered that several of the items I had received were spoiled. So after going out to the market (not, for obvious reasons, an Albertsons') to buy the rest of my order, I later had to go out again to the market to replace the items that seemed dangerous to eat. This, of course, defeats the whole point of getting a home delivery. Calling their toll-free number to complain something was absent or rotten only caused me to wait a long time to speak to a low-level employee with no power to do anything more than say, "I'm sorry…we'll credit you back for those items."
Often in such incidents, I opt to cut my losses. Why spend hours on the phone just to get a lot more apologies from strangers and a few bucks refunded? This time, for reasons I cannot quite explain, this matter seemed to demand a follow-up. Last night, I called the local Albertsons' store (from which my order had been dispatched) and spoke to the Night Manager, and I also spent some time chatting with folks on the 24-hour customer service line. This morning, I called the company's corporate headquarters in Boise, Idaho.
Almost everyone I spoke to was very nice, very apologetic and eager to do everything within their power. Unfortunately, it took me along time to reach anyone with any power. It also took me a long time to reach the people with or without any power. My first call to Boise, I was on hold for five minutes before I got to talk to an actual human being.
That call finally resulted in me reaching someone in the "corporate customer service" department who promised me that his superior would call me back within two hours. I still haven't heard from that person. Later though, I called Boise again, where it took seven minutes to reach someone (this is their corporate headquarters, remember) and I kept being routed around the organization, spending plenty of time on hold between brief conversations with people who could do naught but apologize and put me back on hold.
Finally, I was connected with a lady with some authority to make things happen. First thing I told her was, "Well, my main complaint used to be about missing items and spoiled food, but now it's about spending twenty-two minutes on hold. (This would have been even more annoying if not for my trusty phone headset. I put the time to good use by sitting here and catching up on e-mail while the "hold" music played. Appropriately,the last tune I heard was a stirring rendition of "You Keep Me Hangin' On.") The lady assured me that within five minutes, I would hear from the Vice-President of E-Commerce for all of Southern California…and sure enough, within three minutes, I did.
Have to hand it to the guy: He did about as good a job of appeasing an irate customer as anyone could have done. I explained that a home delivery from Albertsons' should not then necessitate two trips to the local Ralph's Market to make up for their mistakes. I told him that I'm sure he and every Albertsons' exec would be shocked if they realized how tough it was just to get someone from their company on the line.
I told him I'd ordered $105 worth of groceries and wound up with about $78 worth of edible food. I even asked him my outraged question: "How is it possible for a huge supermarket to be out of Campbell's Tomato Juice?" In response, he said all the right things, took notes and gave me a full refund plus a nice credit towards my next order, should I be inclined to try them again. He also gave me his direct phone number in case I have any problems with that or any other order.
I was impressed. I think the company is woefully understaffed in the phone-answering department but, unlike some times in the past when I've tried to complain to a big corporation, I think I actually talked to someone with the capacity to rectify problems. That does not always happen and it makes a big difference.
How big? Well, I'm thinking of giving Albertsons' Home Grocery Delivery another chance. I'll let you know how it turns out.
This Day in History
Hey, guess what the Number One record in America was on this date in 1953. It was "St. George and the Dragonet," a parody of the Dragnet TV show, lovingly spoofed by Stan Freberg and Daws Butler. It was so popular that they (and their female co-star, June Foray) flew back to New York and performed it on Ed Sullivan's highly-popular TV show. Not only that but Freberg did a tour of Australia and crowds cheered the record, even though it was at least a year before Dragnet was even broadcast in Australia. Stan claims that when he later toured the continent, people were telling him, "Did you know someone stole your idea and made a serious TV show out of it?"
I'm not sure when the last time was that a comedy record made the Top 100, let alone the Number One slot. Allan Sherman's "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh," probably. Maybe Weird Al Yankovic got onto the lower levels of the chart with one of his songs. Anyway, it's been a long time.
My Prediction for the Debate
How will George W. Bush do in the debate tonight? It will depend on the new monthly jobs report that will be released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics later this morning. If they're pretty good, Bush will be able to sell the notion of a real economic recovery. If they're as mediocre as they've generally been, Kerry will have a tremendous advantage. And if they're down from previous months, Bush might as well not show up.
Set the TiVo
Very late Saturday night — or very early Sunday morning, depending on your attitude about such things — NBC reruns the full, 90-minute versions of old episodes of Saturday Night Live. These give you a rare opportunity to see the whole shows, since the reruns that air elsewhere (on E!, these days) are trimmed to an hour. NBC jumps around from season to season and this coming weekend, they're reaching back to 2/8/86 for the episode hosted by Ron Reagan. It's a fun show, as I recall, with the then-president's son dancing about in his skivvies in a parody of the movie, Risky Business, and also going back in time to meet his parents in a spoof of Back to the Future. But my favorite moment — and it may be one of the cleverest things I've ever seen on TV — was the guest spot by Penn and Teller, making their third appearance on the program.
The first time on, they did the bit where Teller is locked in a water tank and fails to escape on time. The second time on, they did the routine with Teller in the electric chair. And this time, they did…well, I don't want to give it away if you don't know it so I'll just say it's the one where they demonstrate amazing magic feats and make a big deal out of how it's all being done "LIVE!!!" If you know the spot, you'll want to see it again. If you don't know, trust me and set the TiVo or, if you want to be absolutely Stone Age about it, your VCR. I think it comes around two-thirds of the way through the proceedings.
Recommended Reading
Howard Fineman, whose past contortions to not criticize Republicans could earn him a featured spot in Cirque du Soleil, writes that George W. Bush is in trouble. Since I don't trust Fineman when he says things I don't think are true, I'm not sure I should put much stock in what he writes just because it agrees with me. But the mere fact that he's not out there spinning on Bush's behalf should cause someone to worry.
In the meantime, Benjamin M. Friedman delivers a cogent (I think) analysis of how the Bush economic plans differ from what Senator Kerry is offering. You might want to read this one as background material to tomorrow night's debate.
You may note that it's been a while since I linked to a political article that was not critical of George W. Bush. I haven't come across one that I felt was worth suggesting. But since I never think one side is wholly in the right, I'm open to nominations.
Recommended Viewing
Here's a Windows Media File video of Ohio Congressguy Tim Ryan speaking on the floor of the House. He was voting in opposition to the bill to reinstate a military draft in this country but wanted to explain why so few people, himself included, are satisfied by Bush-Cheney assurances that it will not happen. It's a short clip so if you can play asx files, take a look. This is what Kerry and Edwards should be saying.
Recommended Reading
Fred Kaplan gives some hard data on how things are going in Iraq. If Bush and Cheney think they're going to sell our country on the idea that all is peachy and under control over there, they're wrong.