What was the question again?

Another brief sortie into politics: the US vice presidential debate today was not what I expected.

I like the idea of these debates but don't like the fact that the audience cannot participate. What I disliked even more about this particular debate was the moderator's almost machine-gun-like questions. There seemed to be little time for the candidates to answer questions without having to ensure that their sound-bites were there for the press and not much more. Fewer questions with an opportunity to encourage the candidates to provide more in-depth answers would have been my choice, but I don't have a say and may well be in the minority anyway. It was interesting nevertheless.

Voting eludes me in the upcoming election, I'm not yet a US citizen. Hopefully I can have a say in the next election and when that happens I know I'll be listening to the debates with even more interest. The candidate for whom I'll vote is something I will decide then, but what I'll be hoping for is someone who actually answers the questions. During this debate I think Biden actually addressed most of the questions pertinently whilst Palin often tried to steer the debate to the areas that she felt she could score points even if they were utterly irrelevant to the question asked. My perception was that those areas were very limited.

Update (21:50 HST): The debate was shown again here this evening and it confirmed something I thought I might have misheard from Palin.

"It's a toxic mess, really, on Main Street that's affecting Wall Street."

I felt insulted when I first heard it, now that I've heard it again I'm more insulted. This is why I think there should be audience participation because I doubt that's what she meant and it would have been relatively easy for someone to question her about this comment. Without that opportunity though, I now feel as if she blames someone like me, an average tax payer, for the Wall Street meltdown. I had nothing to do with it your honour.

For those who might not know, I'm not a US citizen but pay taxes to the US government just like any other US worker. I just don't have any representation. I can live with that for now.