i had to think it over first

before i could really respond to the last round of debates. i left the debate (a big group of us met up at ivy tech to watch the debate and make calls during commercials and it was wonderful) feeling that barack had won. no question. hillary had to admit she was a liar on national television, barack stood strong in the face of questions he's going to have to answer at some point (b/c it's not like that douchebag sean hannity is ever going to stop whining about anything), and he was very adamant about defending himself, the movement he leads, and all of us who support him. i felt good about that because he stood strong in the face of an all out attack by abc.

but i'm also glad abc did what it did (niall stanage sums it up quite nicely over at the guardian, http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/niall_stanage/2008/04/the_dumbest_debate_in_america.html). abc and gibsonopolis (thank you, mr. colbert), in particular, did us all a favor by showing us exactly who is responsible for the mud slinging that's going on right now. that's it's the main stream media (msm) who perpetuates all the nonsense that keeps their ratings up and our focus off the things that matter. i mean, really, if we are all focused on tearing each other down over things like casual acquaintances, words taken out of context and mangled to destroy one's character, religion, guns, and everything else that divides us, we will keep voting for the candidates all the rich, white guys want in the white house. so they can keep exploiting us, squeezing the life from the middle class, forging imperialistic marches into oil-rich countries around the world, just to deepen the pockets of their greedy white friends.

so readers and fellow americans out there, let's just step back and say thank you to abc. you have finally shown the last man, woman, and child in doubt that it's you and your evil empire that fight to keep regular folks like us down in the trenches so that you can make more money. and a shout out to all you regular folks, like me, who are desperate for change, for a better country and a better world. let's all promise that we're going to stand up against those who fight to keep us down and get barack obama elected president.

i'm in indiana, fighting a battle on grounds of undecided voters. this is where the election can and will end. come join me, come join us. we've got the greatest group of grassroots folks on the ground with us and are armed for battle every day of the week. if we had a few more soldiers, we could cover more ground, and reach a few more of those undecideds who aren't really undecided, but need to know it's okay to vote for the young and inexperienced guy who talks about hope and believing in ourselves and tells us that we are the change we've been waiting for. these people want to talk, they want to hear why you're supporting barack obama, they want to know it's okay to vote for him. and all we need is a little more of you.

cross posted at daily kos