An Invitation to the Dance

Well, it wasn't an invitation to a dance, per se, but I did receive an interesting "invitation" yesterday. This wasn't exactly a personal invitation, since it came in the form of a recorded call. You know the kind: you're just sitting down to dinner, the phone rings, and you say "hello", wait two beats, get ready to say it again, then are greeted by a tinny recording. Well, the recording I got was from the Republican Party of Arizona, inviting me to stop by either their headquarters or the Bush/Cheney headquarters and get tickets to a "TNT Presidential Debate Watch Party" (I looked it up, and TNT stands for "Trunk N' Tusk" - I'm guessing it's not a wildlife conservation group). The last Presidential Debate of the season will be in nearby Tempe, and predictably most of the tickets have gone to Republican and Democratic party chieftains, and the corporate sponsors that keep them in champagne and caviar.

The Arizona Republican Party has responded by renting a space for a "Presidential Debate Watch Party". Now this is a pretty big space - it's the baseball stadium for the Arizona Diamondbacks. It's 1.3 million square feet, and can seat up to 53,000 baseball fans, concertgoers, or Young Republicans. I'm guessing that Bush supporters will pack the stadium to see George stammer, flash his trademark "deer in the headlights" facial expression, and talk about Iraq's pursuit of "nuke-you-ler" weapons (much more dangerous than the mere "nuclear" weapons that North Korea possesses).

Let's face it, no matter who you are voting against in this election, the debates haven't exactly been an edge-of-your-seat experience - just dull exchanges of weak pre-scripted jabs that must leave the live audience bored beyond recognition. I can't imagine how it would be any more exciting on a Jumbotron.

The crowd at the stadium might be exciting: what if the Republican Party B-listers (the ones that won't be at the "live" debate) get all crunk on $10 plastic cups of wine and break out the funky dance moves they used at the Republican Convention? As fun as that might be to watch, I've got other plans for Wednesday.