We here at Off The Bus receive an incredible volume of Op-Ed submissions. We have a team of editors that comb through the hundreds of emails each day in our project inbox, looking for the best citizen-generated pieces to share with the OTB reading community. Unfortunately, this leaves many pieces that many people toiled on for many collective hours unseen by the world. What I have noticed while performing my editorial duties is that all of these pieces, when taken in together, represent a fascinating window into what a large slice of the politically active public are thinking. With that notion in mind, I present The Weekly Roundup, a collection of musings from the vast expanse of our submission pool, as your window into what your peers have been thinking and saying over the past week in the election cycle.
There were two domineering topics this past week that drove submissions beyond the usual volume that Off The Bus receives: the economic crisis and Sarah Palin (go figure).
Conspicuously absent from the deluge of emails was an abundance of Op-Ed reactions to the presidential debate that occurred a mere week ago. The submissions dealing with the economic crisis far outweigh those on the debate between Obama and McCain, with those on Sarah Palin running second in volume.
This is telling in that the economy is far more important to the public right now than presidential political theater, despite Jim Lehrer devoting half of a foreign policy debate to the domestic catastrophe. Sarah Palin and the 800 pound Katie Couric interview, however, have staying power even in the midst of a Wall St. meltdown.
In some instances, all of the above were captured in one sentence: "I would rather have someone who graduated magna cum laude from Harvard steering the ship of state through troubled financial waters than a man who graduated fourth from the bottom of his graduating class of almost 900 students and who has a person for a running mate who has difficulty putting together a complete sentence." - Elizabeth Barry
But many wrote in expressing their angst at the proposed bailout and the expediency of the House: "The politicians are scrambling to reframe the credit market solution from an unpopular bailout for Wall St. to an asset swap which will eventually return the taxpayers investment, desperately trying to cover their butts for the election that takes place in 34 days." - Ron Trucker
Or the trepidation was summed up nicely in the title of one submission: "Wall St. may be sick, but we are dying." The same author touches on a fear that many of her peers share derivatively: "I'm not an economist, so I'm having a hard time determining what is actually true, and what is just partisan propaganda." - Kris DiGiovanni.
The crisis even inspired Leon Freilich to succinctly muse "The Vegas gambler who loses his stash / Expects no help recouping his cash."
The indignation at the prospect of bailing out investment banks with taxpayer money runs deep, and reinforces the polls this week that show McCain slipping quickly as someone with over two decades in the Washington establishment under his belt.
And yet, in the face of tanking 401k's and property values, one lady from Wasilla still manages to elicit untold levels of venom from the OffTheBus community.
"Sarah Palin has shown the American People that she is clueless," (MissBD) was about as cordial as I could find. One submitter managed to reach the now-infamous Joe Six Pack for comment on his close association with the Alaskan governor: "'I wish that moron would just shut up already," sneered Mr. Pack. 'I mean, as if people don't already think I'm the worst caricature of a beer-swilling, NASCAR-loving, small-minded, small-town dolt. This ain't helping.'" - David Schrader
Another posited that all Sarah Palin has left to run on is vanity. Ouch.
With the Couric interview creating levels of water cooler vitriol around a VP selection not seen since Dan Quayle needed Webster's help to spell "potato," it is safe to say that Sarah Palin had reached the nadir of public opinion shortly before taking the stage and asking "Can I call ya Joe?"
While the initial rage against the Palin machine was fueled by the sneering tone of her convention speech, the anger was gradually supplanted with mockery: "Sarah Palin's chisled smirk (separate from her unmoving painted on eyeball sockets) painfully annoys me." - KimKop
Check our Op-Ed section for the bevy of responses to the debate itself and whether or not Palin defused the ticking time bomb of her reputation in the public's eye with her performance.
A preview, from Patricia: "After watching the debate last night, I'm more convinced that this woman (Sarah Palin) does not know what the hell she's talking about."
And finally, as the cherry on the icing and in the grand tradition of The Daily Show's "moment of zen," I present to you a little Fringe Wisdom to ponder until next Friday:
"Barak's paternal grampa was an important slave trader (fact), had 14 wives.... 10 illegal (fact)... located conveniently along his trader routs . Sarah was one of 14 (fact).... Barak's paternal gramma died when young (fact).... reason for his father to be outsourced to Sarah, herding one goat (milk) and 4 chickens (food)... (fact).... Sarah was a good aunt (fact). He grew up for her feeding his face.... (fact !!)"