~ the vice presidential debate makes our brains hurt. it seems contradictory that cheney says that marriage is an issue for the states, then immediately criticizes massachusetts, a state, for advancing marriage in that state. anyway, cheney did not say much that we agreed with, but there was one thing in which we can’t find fault:

CHENEY: They know that if you go, for example, to factcheck.com, an independent Web site sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania, you can get the specific details with respect to Halliburton.

we agree that you should peep out the site he recommends. trust us: http://www.factcheck.com

also, we hope that ms. ifill is forced to forfeit what they paid her for moderating; whatever it was, it was too much.

~ we hain’t even heard the vice presidential debates yet, but the bush campaign expects its followers to run around the internet and talk radio tonight , giving a positive assessment of whatever they haven’t heard, as evidenced by a letter [w] they have just sent. it should be expected that the kerry campaign is doing the same thing; if not, their followers are getting ready to do it on their own. in fact, the mere mention of this strategy and of a link [w] to a list of sites, could lead one to believe that the angry red planet encourages the petty involvement in exchanges on online forums and flooding of online polls.

~ “The people who told us That two and two is ten Are now trying to tell us That two and two is five” –bbragg.

thanks to paul bremer for informing us that there were not enough troops in iraq to keep the peace and to prevent looting and the ensuing insurgency. even if john kerry hadn’t told us this last week, most of us could tell there were not enough troops after the invasion because we noticed that the peace was not kept whilst looting and insurgency ensued. the low number of troops was donald rumsfeld’s great idea; he spent a lot of time admonishing retired generals and armchair napoleons who said that the forces were insufficient. perhaps he will now admit that he screwed up by trashing the powell doctrine?

well, for rumsfeld’s part, he decided instead to throw in his information that “[he has] not seen any strong, hard evidence that links the two” concerning Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda. is not this pretty much what we learned from the new yorker and alternet and the nation and common dreams over two years ago? even teenagers in silver body paint on the streets of new york seemed to have this knowledge years before these old men in ties and jackets.

why do security moms still think that this party is competent to either pursue the war on terror or unravel the quagmire in iraq? the republicans are more interested in micromanaging the conflict with an eye on defense contractors profit margins (see bush’s debate comment that it is too expensive to inspect cargo on planes and ships for bombs or nuclear material) than in achieving victory.

~ could georgia be getting ready to bring it? it’s unlikely, as this is the home of newt gingrich and bob barr, where even our democrats give speeches at the republican national convention. nonetheless, we have atlanta’s large gay community pouring out to vote against the proposed anti-marriage amendment, and many blacks are turning out, excited to support denise majette, inhabitant of our native stone mountain and georgia’s first chance for a black woman in the senate. fortunately, georgia’s registration forms do not have affiliation indicators, and so they can not be easily trashed based on the party of the voter like they are in states such as florida.

“If you walk into our mail room, we have stacks and stacks of new forms coming in,” said Kara Sinkule, spokeswoman for Georgia Secretary of State Cathy Cox, who oversees elections. “It”s a great problem to have.”

Her state is on pace to see a 50 percent increase in new voters for this presidential election compared to 2000. In the past year, 371,376 new voters registered, with 87,110 new voters in September alone. And the surge grew even bigger in the first few days of October.
–msnbc

regardless of what happens next, the anecdotal evidence collected by the angry red planet during our forays into metro atlanta neighborhoods for the sake of registering voters includes many thrilling conversations concerning issues such as free trade, immigration, and the overextension of our military, which leads us to believe that folks out there are really listening in numbers great enough to allay our fears. thankfully, it seems that they haven’t fallen victim to the proven falsehoods on fox [w].

~ red state or pink state, we learned during the above mentioned forays that jehovah’s witnesses do not vote in earthly elections.

~ happy birthday to jimmy carter, georgia state senator, founder of the carter center, and author of ‘The Little Baby Snoogle-Fleejer’. you can break off a greeting to him at his website [w].

~ y’all know how non-partisan we are here at the angry red planet and how much contempt we have for the contrivances of electoral campaigns such as the highly orchestrated presidential debates, but how tight was the line about the cuban missle crisis and current u.s. credibility?

…We can remember when President Kennedy in the Cuban missile crisis sent his secretary of state to Paris to meet with DeGaulle.

And in the middle of the discussion, to tell them about the missiles in Cuba, he said, “Here, let me show you the photos.”

And DeGaulle waved them off and said, “No, no, no, no. The word of the president of the United States is good enough for me.”

How many leaders in the world today would respond to us, as a result of what we’ve done, in that way?
–john kerry

that is the broad view of the nation as something more than a playing field for political teams which we appreciate more – though only slightly – than localized swipes such as Kerry’s “…today, there are four to seven nuclear weapons in the hands of North Korea. That happened on this president’s watch.”

admittedly, it was nice to hear kerry acknowledge that he visits the angry red planet, as evidenced by his mention of our najaf policy.