For true San Diego poliwonks, New Year’s Eve was just a warm-up act. We know many of you have been saving yourself for the real deal: Political Debate Season 2012.
Starting Friday, January 13 with the first official San Diego Mayoral Debate of 2012, we will soon be subjected to a seemingly endless series of candidate debates and it will all become a blur.
But if you are a diligent citizen, you know you should be paying attention to the debates and learning about the candidates even if they deliver nothing but a painful litany of clichés. It’s enough to drive any red-blooded voter to drink.
So why fight it? Allow me to provide instructions for the San Diego Rostra-approved Mayoral Debate Drinking Game, just in time for Friday’s debate at the U.S. Grant Hotel at 5 p.m. Cocktail hour, perfect for us.
This works best if you and three friends each choose one of the four candidates participating and play against each other. Otherwise you’re going to wind up in the emergency room with a serious case of alcohol poisoning.
If you aren’t attending in person, you can play by following the debate on Twitter. Look for the hashtag #mayor2012.
DISCLAIMER: In this litigious, risk-averse society, we must pause here to admonish anyone reading this column that it is strictly for entertainment purposes ONLY. Please drink responsibly if at all. Please do not be a dunderhead and drink and tweet/post/drive, or you will be the next person we write about on Rostra and it won’t be pretty.
Now, grab a cup and step up. Friendly amendments welcome.
Carl DeMaio
Take a sip if… DeMaio talks about pension reform.
Do a shot if… DeMaio tries to explain public-private partnerships or outsourcing.
Chug an entire bottle/six-pack if… DeMaio admits he actually has clones that stay up all night posting on Facebook and Twitter, and sending out email.
Bonnie Dumanis
Take a sip if… Dumanis mentions executive experience.
Do a shot if… Dumanis cites one of her endorsements but says she’s not the establishment candidate.
Chug an entire bottle/six-pack if… Dumanis admits she secretly wants to be Nancy Grace.
Bob Filner
Take a sip if… Filner mentions being the only Democrat in the race.
Do a shot if… Filner talks about being a civil rights activist or Freedom Fighter and going to jail in the 1960s.
Chug an entire bottle/six-pack if… Filner ever flunked you when he was a professor at San Diego State University.
Nathan Fletcher
Take a sip if… Fletcher mentions being a Marine.
Do a shot if… Fletcher explains his state redevelopment bill
Chug an entire bottle/six-pack if… Fletcher admits to being Pete Wilson’s love child.
Bonus Points
Drink if someone mentions potholes.
Drink if someone discusses his or her “vision” for the city.
Drink if someone gives a shout-out to Bill Walton.
Drink if someone brings up “Hell’s Bells.”
Drink if someone rags on organized labor.
Drink whenever someone from San Diego City Beat whines about the debate format or members of the media chosen to ask the questions.
Tipit!
Comments 24
I will donate a whole bottle of Irish Whiskey to any one of the candidates who asks SDCTA to donate their 1/4 of the door to the homeless (and I will donate another such bottle to myself to deaden the shock).
Chug an entire bottle/six-pack if… Filner talks about BILL HORN being a civil rights activist or Freedom Fighter and going to jail in the 1960s.
BILL HORN was a civil rights activist, Freedom Fighter and went to jail in the 1960s?? I think I’ll start that bottle now.
I object to the debate format and, especially, the panel chosen to ask questions, even though I have no idea who they are. Outrageous! This will not stand! I need a drink. Sazerac, please.
With instructions like that, better stick to O’Douls.
Author
Point of clarification, Pat: does SDCTA have to agree to the donation request, or is making the request good enough?
Author
Thank you Dave, you never fail to come through. For those about to start happy hour tonight, we salute you. I will stand you a drink the next time I have the pleasure.
I’ll drink to that. It’s Outrageous. Whatever it is. Here’s to those everywhere “who desire dysfunction to advance their selfish agenda”.
Good point Gayle. I will settle for a definite answer from SDCTA , “yes” or “no”. I will buy an extra bottle “to go” for myself if they say “yes” and will need a week to recover.
Sounds to me like Flannery just says the candidate has to make the request. I’d say Filner has the best shot, but it depends who gets the mic first.
Sorry, Maasive’s comment was posted before Pat’s clarification made it out of the queue. Too much beer here already. Norse of course.
With all the talk above, someone had better bring out the Kool-Aid.
Oh wait….I think that’s what everyone has been drinking!
No wonder…..
I feel like the audience should do a shot of Everclear if Fletcher mentions “A new generation of leadership.”
That slogan alone has driven me to drink for months.
Kool-Aid? Wasn’t Jim Jones a communist sympathizer from San Francisco who created a socialist society (the Peoples Temple) where the government took care of everyone from womb to the tomb? He, a one man death panel, got to decide when they were all ready for the tomb, right?
New Rule: “Kool-Aid” references are only accurate (due to the history behind the reference) when used to describe liberals, progressives, and/or Democrats, clearly.
Michael, we agree. The term “drinking the kool-aid” applied to conservatives is like using “going postal” about someone who works for FedEx. All due respect to Kool-Aid and the United States Postal Service, or course.
Belly Up to the Bar Part II – UStream of the Mayoral Debate http://sdrostra.com/?p=24339
I dropped off the bottle of “Feckin Irish Whiskey” at the Grant with my “Challenge to Donate a Fifth to the Homeless” on a stand.
Trouble is I gave it to Tony Manolatos! Now I’m worried he might crawl under a table and drink the whole damn thing himself. I’ll be watching you Tony. TJ, I’m relying on you.
Oh be fair, youse guys. And it IS you GUYS denigrating poor Gwendolyn’s improper Kool-Aid reference. Give the woman a break!
Obviously she is fresh out of the collegiate liberal indoctrination camps, brainwashed to cheerlead for the Left with the brash confidence of the under-educated. How dare you guys expect her to have any knowledge of events before her time?
Did you really assume that she would be taught — ya know — HISTORY while she was in college — spending eight hard years getting her BA in feminist oppression studies?
Come ON, man!
LOL….Richard and Michael:
Think you guys missed the “Drinking the Kool-Aid” metaphor
commonly used in the United States and Canada that refers to a person or group’s unquestioning belief in an ideology, argument, or philosophy without critical examination. The phrase typically carries a negative connotation when applied to an individual or group.
You might want to look up “metaphor” next time.
Bottoms up dudes!
Uhhh, they clearly know it’s a metaphor, Gwendolyn. Speaking of LOL. Are you saying you don’t know how the phrase was started, before it became a metaphor? Apparently.
Author
For the record, those playing along should have imbibed two full glasses of their adult beverage of choice plus three or four shots, by my count and verified by Rachel Laing of the Mayor’s office, who was sitting next to me. She played along like a champ until her glass was empty and then bowed out. She knows her limits.
All four candidates made their “sip” level remarks and “shot” level remarks… although Dumanis didn’t really disavow her endorsements as listed.
We regret that we didn’t add “use of props” to the Bonus Points section. This will be rectified next time.
For a brief moment we thought Nathan Fletcher was going to own up to being Pete Wilson’s love child, but he didn’t go there, not this time anyway.
Cheers and good night to all good political sports!
Thor’s Ass’t:
Today’s use of the metaphor “drinking the Kool-aid” goes beyond it’s history (JJ and company) and has hence evolved to referring to a person or group’s unquestioning belief in an ideology, argument, or philosophy without critical examination. The phrase typically carries a negative connotation when applied to an individual or group.”
The use of the metaphor is not meant to be seen as historical in its use. Hence, the use of “going postal” had history involving a deranged gunman in a post office, the term today refers to anyone who may be going on a dangerous rampage…anywhere.
The use of the metaphor is a powerful language tool in expressing an idea or thought. Taking the metaphorical reference strictly from it’s historical base, misses the point of its use. And that’s my point.
Now, take another big swig and it will all be clearer. Bottoms up and good cheer in this drinking game!
(This comment was inadvertently deleted and is now reposted by admin.)
Wow, way too serious, but Gwen goes out of her way to prove she can do internet research. Yes, Gwen, all of us understood your point from the beginning. It was a collective point in return that just because the metaphor has “evolved” to cover all ideologies, doesn’t mean it originated in other than one ideology. The term used to describe “a person or group’s unquestioning belief in an ideology, argument, or philosophy without critical examination,” sounds very much like the left has decided to Occupy it for themselves. Hint, hint.
Author
Brilliant suggestion on Twitter from @sara_h: if you missed out on our Mayoral Debate Drinking Game yesterday, you can fire up the uStream video and do it this weekend at your convenience. Rostra approved – the usual admonitions apply about not being a dunderhead about it.
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/lincoln-club