Blogging On the Front Lines: Perspective From a Local Dive Bar

Tonight's sponsor is the Skylark Lounge, just off of South Broadway. The lighting is dim, and the decor of choice is early fourties pinup art, courtesy of World War II era pop stars and starlets. Nothing beats a buxom pinup.

5:30 - I arrived at about 5:15 to beat the crowd, and beat them I did. Not long after I arrived, two equally foreign looking patrons staked out their own claims for a table. Sorry ladies, the best seat in the house belongs to me. Unfortunately, arriving early has its dangers too: I am on an empty stomach, I've already had a cocktail, and I'm fresh off a no smoking kick with a full pack of cigarettes and lighter in hand.

Should my typing get sloppy, I apologize to all two of my readers.

6:20 - I just had a nice conversation with a woman named Alicia, who's father was a speech-writer for President Carter. We talked a little about health care reform, the rising costs of privitized medicine and the shit storm of negative campaigning that's been unleashed the past couple of days. We're hoping that the Obama campaign rips into the McCain campaign for attempting to side track voters' attention from issues that matter. Politico.com is reporting that "few expect punches." I'm hoping otherwise.

6:26 - The tables are all seated. A few people look around for better seating, and most of the 25 lawn chairs set out in front of the flat screen TV are seated or covered in jackets. Conversation in the bar is getting noisy.

6:37 - I just checked the Dow. The market closed at 9447.11. As Thinkprogress.org points out when Bush assumed the presidency the Dow was at 10,587.59.

6:49 - The volume has been turned up, and the punditry begins. Josh & Ian have entered the bar, and discussion of what shots to order has commenced. I'm two rum & cokes, and one PBR into the evening. The debate hasn't even started. Wolf Blitzer yammers somewhere in the background about this evening's high tech graphs.

7:02 - Tom Browkaw just took the stage. Obama was cheered. McCain was booed. Loudly.

Allan Shaffer, a questioner, has a distractingly southern drawl. Economics question. Obama is up. The bar got surprisingly quiet. McCain answers, and his shoulders look unnaturally hunched and distracts with a discussion about energy independence and home valuation. No reaction from the crowd. The bar is packed. Packed and possibly over capacity.

Treasury Secretary question: Obama answers that we can't rely on trickle down economics. Neither answers who they would appoint as a Tresury secretary.

7:11 What's going to help the economy? McCain gets booed when he mentions that he suspended his campaingn. Obama is blinking. Alot.
Obama corrects McCain's answer about McCain being a deregulator. The crowd cheers. McCain's bill did not pass, and McCain's campaign manager is a former Fannie Mae lobbyist. Crowd cheers.

McCain starts talking, so does the crowd.

Teresa Finch asks a bad question (paraphrase) Both parties fucked up, how can we trust either party?" Crowd laughs. McCain says he was a consistant reformer and the crowd gets loud. Bipartisan talk is met with the crowd looking around. Smiles, shakes of the head, side talk and disapproval. McCain's comment of disapproval about a $3 million dollar "overhead projector" at the Chicago Planetarium pisses me off. I've seen that "overhead projector." It's badass.

Nerd approval of McCain declines sharply.

Ian comments that family is mentioned by Obama frequently. Obama's comments on energy independence within 10 years gets cheers.

7:28 - Since WWII, we have not been asked to sacrifice outside of blood. McCain states that defense spending has to be scrutinized.

Obama invokes 911 for the first time this evening. Bar immediately gets quiet. Mentions Bush telling us to so shopping, comment gets laughs and claps. Interest graph goes up. Bar gets interested again. Calls on Americans scrutinizing their own energy expenditures gets cheers. Doubling Peace Corps gets more cheer.

Obama anser about breaking America's bad habit of easy credit logets chatter around the bar. Scalpel on the economy metaphor gets cheers. McCain's Jello being nailed to the wall gets jeers and the crowd sharply loses interest. Crowd begins booing.

Straight talk express losing a wheel gets cheers and claps.

7:40 - McCain invoking Ronald Regan gets jeers and boos. I find myself booing as well. "Our best days are ahead of us." Met with blank stares, and shock that such a stupid comment could be made. Not stupid because it isn't true, stupid because it's a half-assed attempt at rallying the troops.


Three PBRs, 2 rum & cokes, four cigarettes - McCain starts talking out his ass about Obama fining for health care non-compliance gets the crowd rowdy. OBAMA ANSWERS THAT HEALTH CARE IS A RIGHT GETS CLAPPING AND CHEERS. Browkaw asks Obama to keep within his time. McCain's comment about fining for a time overage is met with blank stares.

8:00 - Obama's comment about invading a country that had nothing to do with 911 gets the loudest cheers of the evening. By far. Getting the $10 billion a month at home gets cheered. Discussion of ethnic cleansing has a silence accompanying it, not being around the world for everything is discussed. Providing logistical support gets cheers.

McCain opeingin with "my friends gets jeered. That line is getting old fast.

8:09 - "Should the United States ignore Pakistan's sovreignty?" is the gist of the question. Obama states that the war on terror began in the Afghan, Pakistani region. Obama does not feel we should coddle the Pakistani dictator. Expand non military aide.

McCain's talk about Rosevelt gets jeered.

Obama discussion of bomb bomb bomb Iran gets swoons for Obama from Crystal at our table. She's in love.

Cold war, blah blah blah. Russia, blah blah blah. Interest dips.

Drinking game: When McCain says "my friend" everyone drinks. McCain says "stinking corpse" interest drops through the floor. Some chick yells "shut up" loudly. The beer goggles around my eyes get shiny.

McCain refuses to shake Obama's hand. Cindy picks up for her husband and shakes Obama's hand for her husband. Maybe she isn't the c**t John McCain purports her to be. Maybe John's just a dick.

Speaking of dicks: At the end of the debate, some squirrely character dropped these off at our table.

ANWR