Debates & Such

Yeah, so it's been a while. I've been a little busy... But I have been paying attention to the election. It's been hard not to. :)

The first debate was a couple of weeks ago. It was out in Denver, Colorado at the University of Denver. As fate had it, I was out in Denver for the debate night for a conference! Unfortunately, the debate wasn't open the public so I couldn't even try to go. It was a strange feeling to watch the debate knowing it was taking place literally just down the road! :) I also watched the debate at a pub full of people - the first time I've ever done something like that. And it was surprisingly quiet, so I could actually hear the debate! And not a lot of crowd reaction either, that was a little bit surprising.

For the debate itself: Mitt was rehearsed. He had his bullet points and he hit them hard. I give him credit that he was well-prepared. Doesn't change the fact I didn't like or agree with what he was saying... President Obama was disappointingly distant. He wasn't nearly as active as he should have been and wasn't make very clear points. However, none of this changed my mind on either candidate.

Last week, we had the Vice President Debates. If I'm going to completely honest here, when Romney first announced Paul Ryan has his running mate and after listening to him at the RNC (not that I agreed with him on ANYTHING!), I thought he would do much better in the VP debate than Biden. However, I was proven wrong! And thank goodness! Now, I will admit that there were times when I thought Biden was being a little bit of a ... prick. A lot of laughing and smirking. I read on facebook that someone thought he was laughing because he was scared, scared of what would happen under a Romney/Ryan administration! Ha! But after every laugh or smirk from Biden, he followed up with the hard cold facts! He was fact-checking on the spot and knocking Ryan down! It was an entertaining debate, at the very least!

Tonight was the second Presidential debate and I feel like it's been far more entertaining than the first one. This debate is also a town hall setting which is always more interesting. There were a couple times where I thought a fist fight was going to break out! Both men showed up to this debate but definitely President Obama. He was energetic and lively and was hitting some good points. He probably could have done better and really fired back at Romney on some of the things he said, but maybe next time. Romney on the other hand, wasn't as well prepared as last time, at least in my opinion. He said some things that will definitely be held against him in the future.
For me, I think President Obama definitely won this debate.

Another thing I just want to mention is that it's been really hard for me not to comment on some people's statuses on facebook and such. I'm all about having an open mind and allowing everyone to have their own opinion. What I don't like is people who are posting things and have no idea what they're talking about or nothing to back up what they're saying. This is frustrating. If you're going to have an opinion, do the research to back it up first.

And finally, the marriage amendment in Minnesota. I've been reading and seeing a lot of different things for this and I'm very nervous for my home state. I'm worried that Minnesotans are going to vote yes on this. I'm worried it's going to pass. And this is not okay. I don't care what your personal thoughts on gay marriages are, it is not our place to judge them and deny them their basic human rights! I have NEVER heard a logical argument for why someone is against gay marriage. If it's against your beliefs - that's fine! No one is forcing you to have a gay marriage! A gay marriage is not going to affect you or your marriage in any way! If you think you have a logical argument against gay marriage, I'd love to hear it. If not, vote no. It's that simple. This is a very personal issue for me and one I feel very strongly about. I pray that the people in Minnesota do the right thing and show the rest of the nation their "Minnesota Nice". 

Well, that's about it for now! I did already send in my ballot so I've officially voted! It's actually pretty ironic... I was scheduling my high school visits and I was trying to make sure I scheduled some fairly close to home on election day so that I would have time to come back and vote. That SAME night, a volunteer showed up at our door and asked if we wanted to sign up for early voting! Yes, please! So we got our ballots sent to us and we have both sent them back. I feel confident in my vote and I look forward to Election Night! :)