Debate The Last

[sleigh]

So Alex can get to sleep... :-)

Here's my quick take. McCain needed to knock it out of the park to even up this race. But every time he hit the ball, Obama fielded it cleanly and threw him out at first. To mix metaphors, McCain lobbed some volleys at Obama, but Obama was so entirely unfazed by it that they looked ineffective -- not to mention that when McCain gets aggressive (as he did much more in this debate) he comes across like your grumpy old uncle waving his cane and yelling at the kids to stay the hell off his lawn.

Obama won handily, in my estimation. I'm sure McCain supporters will dispute that. But I seriously doubt that many independents (who are the only ones who matter) were swayed toward supporting McCain by this.

Strangest moment of the debate for me: it happened twice when McCain talked about Palin and how she's 'understands' families of special needs children, he mentioned autism but not Down syndrome (which is what Palin's child has). Does McCain not know that Trig is a child with Down syndrome and not autistic? That was very weird.

Weakest moment for McCain: when Bob Schieffer asked both candidates how they felt their VP choices are qualified to be president, should that happen. Obama gave a strong defense of Biden and mentioned Palin not at all. McCain basically said Palin has excited the Republican base and families with special needs (like "autism") love her, and she'd done some great things for Alaska, and then ripped into Biden's voting record. It seemed obvious (to me, anyway) that even McCain didn't have much to say about Palin's ability to be president should that eventuality present itself.

However, I will say that I thought this was the best of the three debates. Bob Schieffer was an excellent moderator who kept control of the debate, fired off decent questions and followed them up, and basically otherwise stayed out of the way.

We'll see what the pundits say tomorrow.

Goodnight, Alex!

Comments

[lollardfish.livejournal.com]

At the risk of being politically correct, we like "child (or person" with Down syndrome." It makes the syndrome an attaching rather than controlling adjective, or something.

My hackles raise at "Downs kid," though I don't usually say anything.

[sleigh.livejournal.com]

Hey, you're allowed to be politically correct in that. In fact, I'll go change it...

[lollardfish.livejournal.com]

Well, the problem is that I say, "autistic child," or "short kid," or "smart kid," or "lazy kid," or "sick kid," or "disabled kid," or whatever all the time. So it begs the question of whether I should allow "Down syndrome child" or if I have to change the way I speak.

Or if there's something different about the phase "DS child" than all those others. I wouldn't say a Tourrette's syndrome child, for certain.

So ... I don't know. :)

[mizzlaurajean.livejournal.com]

I think becoming aware of it is important and then you can think about it over time and figure out what if anything needs to change.

I think it is different when talking about a disability a child has vs. a more generic "short, smart, funny" etc. But any of those labels can be difficult for kids so it's certainly something to think about. We certainly don't want any kid to feel boxed in or summed in a label. But never saying those things in certain context might not make sense either.

Adopting is also raising some of these questions for us with language and what's appropriate and when.

[jrittenhouse.livejournal.com]

Adopting is also raising some of these questions for us with language and what's appropriate and when.

"Oh, then, you're not her real dad, right?"

I know that one. Lots more.

[jrittenhouse.livejournal.com]

But then you become (with DS child reference) hard to understand; if you'd said it to me, I would have to crunch it for a second and say WTF internally, and then remind myself of your kid.

[sleigh.livejournal.com]

"I have a child with Down syndrome" I find understandable. "I have a Down syndrome child" is more economic with words, but I do see where there's a subtle shift in the 'weight' of the adjective with the latter.

[daedala.livejournal.com]

Try these: "autism kid," "midget kid," "genius kid," "layabout kid," "invalid kid," or "cripple kid." Those aren't all good nouns, of course, but they're what I came up with on short notice....

For that matter, "Democrat party."

Downs Syndrome is a noun, and I can't think of a proper adjective for it. "Trisomatic child?"

[lollardfish.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, you may be right that it's a noun vs adj thing. Interesting.

[daedala.livejournal.com]

Imagine that "trisomatic" were a proper adjectival form for Downs Syndrome. Or maybe "Downsian." Would "trisomatic child" or "Downsian" child bug you in the same way? I mean, aside from them being bad adjectives.

It occurs to me that this may be similar to the difference between ser and estar in Spanish.

[lollardfish.livejournal.com]

Right. No, I don't think so. Or, at least I think that's why "autistic child" doesn't bother me, it sounds like a reasonable thing to be called to my ear. But "Downs baby" makes my brain skew.