I'm gonna have to go with the second one. I recently read "Just How Stupid Are We?" about the American voter, and apparently the answer is "Very." Note the capital v. Like really really really stupid. Partly uninformed, partly under-educated, a little bit lied to, but mostly just really really really stupid. Welcome to the world, my little daughter. Best of luck to you.
So I read this article in The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/opinion/28rich.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
I'm noticing that journalists are getting less and less gentle about calling McCain an ass. It used to be very cloaked, and try to preserve fairness, and be respectful, but more and more articles are calling him crazy, inept, and preposterous. This one sounds so professional and yet so angry. I admire the tone the author was able to strike. I just go on a rant, this guy was able to make calm reasonable points while saying McCain has sold out his country. Awesome. Look at this one too http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erica-jong/not-that-stupid-erica-jon_b_126184.html
People are angry, and expressing it. I love it. Now all we have to do is sit back and watch the campaign eat itself from the inside. It was so sad watching him at the end of the convention. I don't mean that snarkily at all, it really made me sad. "Stand up and fight with me! Stand up and fight with me!" It was like a tired old man talking about what he used to be known for. Like an honorary diploma or something hollow like that. If he had been making that call 18 months ago, it would have meant something, but now he's become the caricature of everything he was calling to fight against. It felt like the one glimpse of his real self that night, only it was so false in its empty promise. It honestly makes me sad to think of it.
Then there's the other guy. I swear, when he's talking, I just want him to keep going. I feel like he knows what he's doing, like he has a plan. Like he will listen to other people and hear what they say and take it into consideration. Like he knows he is in a really tough spot and is trying to figure the way out. I was listening to the radio today and they were talking about the economy. A senator who is working on the bailout was being interviewed and they asked how the next president was going to be affected by it all. He answered for a little bit and was in the middle of a sentence, "Well, they aren't going to invade their way out of it....well. I don't want to say that. If the same team is in power next year, who knows what they will do." He didn't sound at all like he was being sarcastic. Like he seriously thinks these guys might try to war their way out of it! Jesus fucking christ on a bicycle.