Where's my bailout?

It's been a while since I blogged, and so much has happened!! Since my last post...3 more financial institutions have collapsed, a republican presidential campaign has been suspended and unsuspended, a reasonably boring presidential debate occurred and there were about 20 instances of what I now call a "Palin," which is defined as an instance where a person talks but makes absolutely no sense, and clearly makes herself out to be an idiot. Just look on youtube, you'll find lots of them there. Kudos to the liberal media for not staring into the camera in the middle of those Palin interviews and just saying "are you kidding me?" Bigger kudos to Jack Cafferty from CNN - type "jack cafferty palin" into youtube and you'll find what I'm talking about.

Let's talk about the presidential debate for a few moments. The pundits keep talking about two memorable catchphrases: 1) "you just don't understand" - the phrase that McCain's handlers clearly told him would be the new "there you go again" from the Reagan / Carter debates; and 2) "you're right, John", which Barack said a few times when McCain gave a reasonable answer before Barack had a chance. Not sure why pundits made such a big deal out of that - is it required that the two candidates disagree on everything? It's not like the candidates are black and white...wait, actually, they are. But you know what I meant.

What I remember from the debates was a little bit different. First, I remember how much of a condescending weenie McCain showed himself to be, with his passive-aggressive remarks intended to insult a fellow sitting senator. I'll grant that the "you don't understand" comments were a reasonable attempt to highlight a capability difference, and I can accept that attempt, but there were all those other quips he threw in there that were just plain rude and disrespectful.

Second, I remember McCain's attempt at humor when he made the terrible pun about the $8M that was going to study bear DNA - he said "I'm not sure if it was criminal or paternal". John, I'm 8 months old and even I know the word is "paternity", which you'd know if you didn't graduate 894th out of 899th in your naval academy class. And John, I'll bet that $8M was going to someone studying the nearly-endangered animals to keep them from going extinct, like the dinosaurs went extinct back in 1956 (according to Palin). And John, it just wasn't very funny. I could even hear the crickets chirping after he made that quip.

Third, I was SOOO happy that Barack finally got in McCain's face a few times, calling him out for conflicting statements and bad behavior - like when he said that McCain had no right to fault Barack on making public foreign policy statements when he himself had sung that totally insensitive Bomb Iran song. Now if only Barack would start running ads highlighting the Keating affair, and the fact that McCain left his wife after she was disabled in a car accident, and the fact that he is, on the whole, an arrogant ass (blame my dad for teaching me how to curse), then maybe I'd donate some money to the campaign. If I had a bank account, that is. And money. I'm a baby! What do you expect!

I'm pretty much in a huff now. Thinking about all this is getting me upset, and as we all know the most calming activity that exists to perk a person up is...watching videos of me!!

Here I am eating some peaches while my parents try to teach me how to clap!




And for you die-hard Spencer watchers, here's a longer video compilation of me crawling and playing (my apologies for the poor resolution, I'll try to fix it). I must admit that I personally find it kind of boring to watch 3 minutes of myself in everyday action, but I'm not the target market for this blog, you know...




For those of you who watched that video, consider this: you can never get those 3 minutes back. Sorry.

OK, now for some pictures...

Here I am in my full University of Virginia attire! A lot of good it did them, though. The Cavaliers got pasted by lowly Duke yesterday. Groh must go!










Doesn't it look like I got into a fight? If you think I look bad, you should see the other baby! No, I'm just kidding...with all this climbing and standing I've been doing, this was bound to happen. But you should see the hurting I put on that rocking chair!











Here I am doing my favorite activity, swinging!!












Oh my goodness, this is so cute I'm kvelling. Yes, I can speak yiddish.







I cannot - repeat cannot - wait for the vice presidential debate. It's going to have better ratings than the Super Bowl. The only show that could possibly get better ratings would be a live broadcast of Anderson Cooper clearing land mines where CNN guarantees he blows up. Of course, his hair would remain intact. But barely better ratings. It certainly helps that Palin's a bit of a babe. So set your Tivo to stunning.

Love,
Spencer