Friday, October 03, 2008

Palin Wins Debate! Palin Wins Debate!


(Thanks to Hobodeluxe from Fark for the image.)
Stunning, really. No other words can be used to describe the perfromance of Sarah Palin during last night's VP debate. By not falling flat on her face, not going awkwardly silent when facing a question, and generally not imploding, the Alaskan Governor far exceeded any and all expectations.
The only problem? When the bar is set as low as it was based on her recent train wreck interviews, it was not nearly enough. Substance? Not much from Ms. Palin. Talking Points, endlessly regurgitated, regardless of the question in play or the context of what was being discussed? Plenty of that.
Laying on the Hooterville act about as thick as she could without auditioning for a guest spot on the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, Palin came across disingenuous and rehearsed. Refusing to answer direct questions (maybe she doesn't understand what an Achilles Heel refers to?), but instead drifitng off to blather on about "up in Alaska, we blah blah blah", "Barack Obama is bad, Maverick, Hackey Mahm, Joe Sixpack, etc." gave one the impression of a kid who'd been up all week studying for an exam, and reflexively spat out talking points whenever triggering words were uttered. Further, winking at the camera and the "shout outs"? Seriously? Can you imagine if Barack Obama pulled crap like this?
Except for a few suspect sourced polls (Drudge, I'm looking at you), Joe Biden was generally considered to be the winner of the debate. Looks like, for the most part, America's Bullshit Detector is operating efficiently.

Thursday, October 02, 2008

It's Showtime....


As of right now, tonight's VP debate is still on, though it would not be at all surprising if some last minute "emergency" forces the GOP to withdraw Sarah Palin and get the hell out of dodge.


The Republicans have tried numerous devices to frame this debate, haven't they? Expectations have been lowered to the point where if Palin simply shows up, doesn't bite the head off of a pigeon and flash the crowd, it will be considered a good showing. By accusing the moderator, Gwen Ifill, of being "in the tank" for Obama because she wrote a book about the recent rise of Black politicians - despite the fact the book was announced in August, and both sides agreed to use Ms. Ifill weeks ago, they've constructed another excuse for a poor performance by Palin. Today, McCain uncorked the latest in his ever increasing line of verbal gems - when asked why Obama's poll number were rising during the economic crisis, he responded that "beacuse life isn't fair". Wow.


The format should be helpful to Palin, since it won't involve a lot of back and forth between the candidates. However, given her recent cringe inducing interviews with Kaitie Couric, Palin has to be considered dangerous whenever she's near an open microphone and is posed a direct question. Joe Biden should simply answer the questions posed, using his breadth of knowledge on whatever topic is brought up, and the difference between the candidates will be readily apparent. It should not be difficult to allow Palin enough rope with which to hang herself.


Perhaps the most refreshing effect of the handling of Palin is that the media, and much of the country, doesn't seem to be buying the Rovian bullshit this time. Every excuse is treated with figurative eye rolling by the press, and even conservatives are calling shenanigans on the Palin pick in particular, and McCain's candidacy in general.
Should be an entertaining evening no matter what. Grab some popcorn, kiddies!