AMERICAblog ONLINE CHAT TONIGHT - VP DEBATE - 9PM Eastern

Rob in Baltimore will be hosting our online chat tonight during the VP debate. Rob is just getting home now, so he should be online shortly to spell out the details. As usual, you'll need to send him an instant message at his AOL address, then he will invite you into the chat. Anyway, he'll explain all of that in short order. We had a great turnout at the presidential debate last week - I'd say a good 40-50 people at its peak. It was quite a fun way to pass the debate, hope you'll join in.

As for the debate, I'm not sure what to expect, or what to hope for. I suspect Cheney has been told to rip Edwards to shreds, the question is will he do it with a smile, or blatantly and violently? Cheney's theme will undoubtedly be "YOU'RE ALL FUCKING DEAD IF YOU VOTE FOR KERRY." But they're doing that table-in-the-round format they did in 2000 for the VP debate, and it tends to make everyone nicer. The only thing is, I don't think Cheney can afford to be nice. We'll have to see.

As for Edwards, I'm not sure what his goal should be. At this point, we tried nice and it got us a Bush lead for the past 2 months. I think he has no choice but to point out the disaster this administration has been, while hitting on the substantive plans he and Kerry have to solve things. But in the end, even though the public says they want substance, what works is flaying your opponent alive. I think Edwards needs to do that to Cheney.

Your thoughts?