Which presidential election are you watching?

Okay so I wanted to watch the last presidential debate but once again I found myself among others that just weren't as interested in the political process as I was.  Rather than creating a confrontational environment I thought it best to just go with the flow and try to catch the highlights or low-lights as the case may be after the fact.

I don't usually like to watch political events second hand i.e. through sound bites and talking heads' opinionated selective reporting because it is hard to get the full story let alone the real story but, if that is the only option, you take what you can get.

News however has a shelf life.  Some stories have shorter shelf lives than others.  Before I was able to see a much about the debate it was no longer being talked about.

One of the things I found most interesting is the amount of actual news coverage given not to the actual debate but the satire versions done by Saturday Night Live.  I know this is nothing new and really shouldn't be unexpected, not when a normal part of the political coverage involves a review of the late night talk show monologues to share the jokes from the night before.  It is about ratings after all and if pretend delivers better than reality, what's the problem.

So I get one more chance to watch the head to head to missing heads (there really should be more heads at these debates).  Wednesday should be good for me.  Nothing scheduled, wife busy at her volunteer job, no weather emergencies planned and it should all happen before my bedtime.  There is no guarantee that there wont be some intruding phone calls though.

Halloween season is here and The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror is allowed to air before November this year thanks to favorable football scheduling.  What better reason to spend some time watching the most fear inducing event we can create in this country.  If you aren't scared now you aren't paying attention.

Maybe I shouldn't be allowed to watch this all alone in an empty house with no one there to hold my hand and tell me it's okay and everything will be all right.  Maybe its not too late to arrange to watch Big Bang Theory reruns with friends instead.  Ah that's okay, I'll just make sure to leave the lights on.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.