October 8, 2012

The real reason Obama was no good in the first debate

Arriving everyday here at iSteve, along with my readers' many astute observations, are a vast number of spam comments. Most start off with some semi-literate gibberish apparently composed by a Third World digital sweatshop worker and end up with a sales pitch for Ugg or Christian Louboutin. Google funnels most spam comments into the Spam file, but I periodically have to go through the Spam and look for real comments. For example, Google always sends Svigor's comments to Spam, which I assume is wholly coincidental. Here's a comment from an Anonymous on the first debate that I just rescued:
Obama was jonesing for a cigarette. Smokers concentrate better when they are smoking. I'm surprised he didn't yawn. Obama should come out as a Smoker's Rights advocate, then he could smoke in public, and, reduce taxes on the poor. 

36 comments:

Anonymous said...

Roger Simon had an interesting point about boys who are raised by strong fathers versus boys who are raised by [crazy] women.

It would certainly go a long way towards explaining the choice of Biden as VP - he's such a dunce that he wouldn't be able to intimidate anyone - not even l'il Stanley Ann's poor abandoned light-in-the-loafers mulatto bastard.

Yan Shen said...

Personally I find Svigor to be one of the most interesting and insightful individuals online.

Marlowe said...

I always thought Svigor's comments were spam.

Only kidding.

On the debate, I liked Al Gore's suggestion of altitude sickness since it reminded me of the following piece of writing:


It was not a good scene to confront with a head full of acid. We drank heavily, trying to act natural, but the drug set us clearly apart. Bloor became obsessed with the notion that we’d stumbled into a gathering of drunken greedheads who were planning to turn Cozumel into ‘a Mexican Miami Beach’ – which was true, to a certain extent, but he pursued it with a zeal that churned up angry resentment in every conversation he wandered into. At one point, I found him shouting at the manager of the hotel he was staying in:

‘You’re just a bunch of goddamn money-grubbing creeps! All this bullshit about tourism and development – what the hell do you want here, another Aspen?’

The hotel man was baffled. ‘What is Aspen?’ he asked. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘You know goddamn well what I’m talking about, you sleazy bastard!’ Bloor shouted. ‘These dirty concrete hotels you’re building all over the beach, these dirty little hot-dog stands and -’

I hurried across the patio and grabbed him by the shoulder.

‘Never mind Yail,’ I said, trying to focus one of my eyes on whoever he was talking to.

‘He’s still not adjusted to this altitude.’

I tried to smile at them, but I could sense it wasn’t working … a drugged grimace, wild eyes and very jerky movements.

I could hear myself talking, but the words made no sense:

‘These goddamned iguanas all over the road … we did a one-eighty back there at the U-turn … Yail grabbed the emergency brake when he saw all those lizards, jerked it right out by the root … Thank Christ we had those snow tyres. We live at five thousand feet, you know, damn little air pressure up there, but down here at sea level you feel it squeezing your brain like a vice … No way to escape it, you can’t even think straight …’

-- The Great Shark Hunt, Hunter S. Thompson (Playboy, 1974)

gcochran said...

Altitude?

Anonymous said...

I'm sure Obama was using a nicotine patch. Perhaps he should swill down a few cappuccinos and turn into the Great Cornholio.

Jim O said...

We're astute? {{{{blushing}}}

Unknown said...

Probably low on energy for lack of the protein Michelle is denying her family and our school aged population.

Harry Baldwin said...

In Michael Lewis's article on Obama, he says that he asked him to show him his favorite place in the White House, and the president took him to the Truman Balcony, a small private balcony off he residential section.

Lewis writes, "He explains to me how he will just come out here at night and sit, and he likes it so much because it's the only place he gets where he feels outside the bubble."

It doesn't occur to Lewis that this is where Obama goes to have a cigarette. Protecting the president's smoking habit is as high a priority of the press today as was covering up FDR's inability to walk.

Difference Maker said...

If anything I would have thought Obama would have an advantage at altitude because he is, you know, half Kenyan

Truth said...

"For example, Google always sends Svigor's comments to Spam, which I assume is wholly coincidental..."

You've read Svigor's comments?


Hahaha, just messin' with you buddie!

Anonymous said...

That comment was no joke. Nicotine replacement is no substitute for smoking. Smoking allows for very fine dosage control - deep drags to relax, quick puffs to stimulate. I presume Obama probably still smokes - the Truman Balcony thing led me in the same direction. If he really quit, there would be a media celebration of his super-human willpower, and there would be another health issue bandwagon for Michelle to ride on.

If you really want to understand the allure of smoking, read Smoking: The Artificial Passion.. It is probably the most insightful and non-judgmental book ever written about the habit. It explains that smokers perform certain tasks better than non-smokers because of increased concentration, on the other hand, when smokers aren't smoking they perform less well than Nons. There's the rub, once you're a smoker, like being a meth head, you've changed.

I doubt you will ever see another book like it, since having the right attitude about smoking has almost reached the level of having the right attitude about race.

Londoner said...

Svigor is one of the most formidable debaters on this site (or any other).

Ah...

http://svigor.wordpress.com/2012/01/07/google-deleted-my-blog/

David Punt said...

It seems like G**gle just doesn't like Svigor- didn't they erase his blog? Unfortunately, I'm not naive enough to assume its all just a coincidence...

Anonymous said...

"Personally I find Svigor to be one of the most interesting and insightful individuals online."

It's a trap!

Glaivester said...

We all know that smokophobia causes lung cancer.

peterike said...

The real reason Obama wasn't good in the first debate is because he isn't very bright. He was lucky last time around, having to only face a half-witted old fool who wouldn't challenge him on anything.

In the Dem primaries, the task was basically to show who can appeal more to the Dem base, not to try to defend yourself when someone calls you out. So 2008 was perfectly suited for Obama's meager talents at regurgitating memorized talking points (to say nothing of never being challenged by the press). Once forced to think on his feet -- for the first time ever -- he collapsed like a tower of jelly.

Auntie Analogue said...

Bereft of teleprompter, Obama found himself missing Valerie Jarrett's whispering the desired calculated, calibrated responses into his big ears?

But, I must say, I find the ciggie craving hypothesis quite persuasive.

Anonymous said...

That mistress is HOT. That´s the first female that I´ve seen prior to probably the 1940´s that I have found attractive.

Anonymous said...

oops I commented in the wrong place

Anonymous said...

Naw. It wasn´t cig cravings. I´m a smoker and you don´t change that much. He obviously isn´t a big time smoker either. Otherwise we´d see more pictures of it...

He was just beeing uppity..

Anonymous said...

WTF? I love, love, love Svigor!

Thanks for lifting his comments out of the SPAM filter, Steve.

Oh yeah, our beloved Whiskey - I really don't hate, hate, hate you, I just wanna spend more time with Svigor...

The Legendary Linda said...

In the Dem primaries, the task was basically to show who can appeal more to the Dem base, not to try to defend yourself when someone calls you out. So 2008 was perfectly suited for Obama's meager talents at regurgitating memorized talking points (to say nothing of never being challenged by the press). Once forced to think on his feet -- for the first time ever -- he collapsed like a tower of jelly.

Last week's debate was hardly the first time Obama failed to think on his feet. He was repeatedly declared the loser of the Democratic primary debates too, and his lack of debating skill did not go unnoticed:

http://observer.com/2008/01/at-the-debate-obama-does-not-soar/

However what Obama lacked in quick thinking skills he made up for with brilliant speeches, perspicacious early opposition to the Iraq war, outstanding (affirmative action) academic credentials, an irresistible narrative as the first incipient black president, and above all, an endorsement from Oprah: the most popular woman in American history:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4631421.stm

Anonymous said...

Svigor is the kind of commentator that would've been middle-of-the-road several generations ago, but now seems like a radical. It is refreshing to read his comments.

As Jonathan Bowden pointed out, even the respectable Left of the 1920s and 1930s, if teleported to the present, would probably be condemned as right-wing radicals in most ways.

Anonymous said...

Svigor's comments are great. I'm glad you rescue them. I am not Svigor, btw.

Max Frisch said...

I'm not Svigor, and neither is my wife.

rob said...

Svigor's comments go spam automatically! Shocking. Possibly Svigor's computer or email has been zombified...heeheehee. He should contact Google immediately re: censorship. Information wants to be free!

Google's going to make Whiskey a syndicated commenter next. Every time he writes a comment, it'll go to dozens of blog posts. The goog might introduce slight variations, vary the syntax, change up paragraphs a bit. But how would we be able to tell?

This is a very interesting NYtimes article about using ADHD to improve academic performance for kids who don't have attention issues, but are just dumb.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/09/health/attention-disorder-or-not-children-prescribed-pills-to-help-in-school.html?hp&_r=0

I have a feeling that most of the target population is not as blond as the picture would suggest.

Svigor said...

Google funnels most spam comments into the Spam file, but I periodically have to go through the Spam and look for real comments. For example, Google always sends Svigor's comments to Spam, which I assume is wholly coincidental.

*Stands and bows to the four corners* Thank you, thank you, thank you very much...

Svigor said...

Personally I find Svigor to be one of the most interesting and insightful individuals online.

Who are you, and what have you done with Kato? Haha, srusly, if that's really u Kato, you're a mensch. No way anybody could take the torture I've served you and still have a kind word, and not be a mensch. Unless he was an evil genius. Dr Dewnehlohmoh.

Truth said...

Do Jews still say mensch?

BB said...

To be honest, Obama looked genuinely sick. I´m thinking diabetes, a swollen prostate, etc... Are there any extant leaks or actual reports on his health?

Drawbacks said...

"Are there any leaks?" If he has a swollen prostate then I'd expect so.

Pat Boyle said...

I have been claiming for years that Obama isn't all that bright. (IQ 128) So I suppose that I should be gratified that so many are now also suggesting that Obama is dumb. But when I watched the debate I thought he was much smarter than I had always thought. I had prepared by watching previous Obama debates on YouTube. Last thursday Obama was better than his typical debate performance - at least at first.

There is a much simpler explanation. I was captain of my college debate team. I headed up the negative side but it didn't matter because the topics were carefully chosen to be roughly equally plausible. But not this debate.

In academic debate terms the subject would have been: "Resolved the Obama adminsitration has been an economic success". It would take a cross between Demosthenes, Cicero and Clarence Darrow to plead that case effectively.

Albertosaurus

Kylie said...

"Personally I find Svigor to be one of the most interesting and insightful individuals online."

Same here.

Svigor said...

Do Jews still say mensch?

Not...Sure

Anonymous said...

Svigor is the man! He cuts straight and clean right through the BS. Steve should link to Svigor's blog.

kaganovitch said...

Yes jews still say mensch. All the more so among the still yiddish familiar orthodox population, but even the secular over 30 crowd still use it. My impression is the under 30 non affiliated jews don't really.