so i was thinking (vp debate)
 

So i was thinking. We've all seen palin against couric and palin against charlie gibson and..well, she's been less than stellar. ..ok, so she makes dan quayle seem like a rhodes' scholar. Seriously, gaffes are one thing, but she was not prepped properly for this..

So, i'm thinking. The debates are thursday and expectations for her are so low that she could seriously show up, shout "USA USA" and she'll be declared the winner. No offense to the ladies, but if this were a man, he'd have been laughed all the way to a part of russia she can't see from alaska.

THEN, the republican campaign is trying to limit the freewheeling discussion on the new debate....

so..it looks like the debate has this as the requirement: Palin has to show up and appear, well..not oblivious and ignorant and biden will have to show up appearing like a savant. I don't see how this is fair treatment to anyone, the american public, palin or biden.

Next up: Biden and Palin debate in St. Louis - CNN.com
could you imagine if this were simply boring white guy vs boring white guy....

I'm starting feel like a paranoid conspiracy theorist. I mean she just can't be this ill informed, can she? What are the odds they've been working the media to lower expectations so low all she has to do is show up and sound half way intelligent, thus declared the clear winner?

that is pretty much what im trying to say. Seriously, she can't be 'this' ill informed...and the "1 instance in 26 yrs, what has mccain done' and a swarmy, "I'll look and get back to you on that"..

what ..the..hell. even bush didn't get that much of a slide

Something certainly doesn't smell right. And yes, "I'll get back to you." Seriously? You couldn't foresee that question coming up? And what's up with that answer about Putin and Russia? "Umm, like they, like are near us, like. And you know when they enter US airspace they, like, do it over Alaska, so you know like, whatever." No that's not the actually quote I'm too tried to look it up. Though if I did it might not sound any better... like.

Of course she's 'that' ill-informed. You don't need to be a master of current events, policy, or even geopolitics to be a mayor of Wasilla or Governor for less than 2 years of Alaska.

What we'll see from Palin: memorized party lines, poorly delivered. Also, equal parts confusion and trying to look cute (if only Kerry would have figured out that works).
What we'll see from Biden: a difficult job in trying to simultaneously wipe the floor with Palin while also not appearing mean to her at all. Why? Despicable, stupid, partisan people seem to think that even being in the same hemisphere of questioning Palin means that they need to scream "Sexism!" and jump to her defense. Like the job of VP rests comfortably on a bed of pillows and she'll only have to deal with puppies and flowers.

I can't wait for her to lose. Why? Ignorant hubris. Undeserved confidence puts me off like nothing else.

well, here's a funny thing. My old professor is currently mayor of the town of york in south carolina, about 20K people...he did this while teaching a full time load at winthrop U. seriously, he says it, i say it..running a small city is not exactly experience for running a walmart, much less a freaking country.

i'm amazed.

Dude, you are such a liberal hahahaha. Yeah that sounds about right except Will has his mind made up a bit more then me.

Yeah, see my post about Palin in the other one. It's something long the lines of "seriously guys, what the fuck? She's a joke. Go riot or some shit. JESUS!"

:lol: true.dat

I would be surprised if Palin doesn't do much better than her recent interviews. I think her advisors and media coaches have over done it and she is walking on egg shells so afraid to say something that might hurt the ticket that she reverts to memorized talking points no matter the question asked. I don't think she or they they will make this mistake again.

Unfortunately she has been put in the position of defending the "I stopped the Bridge to Nowhere" and "Foreign policy/Russian proximity to Alaska" nonsense because I believe the McCain campaign wrote that in her beginning speeches on her roll out. She probably went along with it in the excitement of the moment. I imagine they regret embellishing so much now.

My thoughts exactly.

yea, the damon clip is pretty apt.

Here is what i am thinking..she gets to the debates and blows EVERYONE away, speaking eloquently on foreign policy, the current economic crisis, the iraq situation, iran, russia, georgia, what to do about taxes, corporate taxes, the middle class, gas prices and how to avoid the hurricane disasters...She'll come out and wow everyone, blow biden away, never once use a 'talking point', speak off the cuff and candidly and never once 'stretch the realm' of reality....


yep....that's my new story

It ain't gonna be purty.

Looks like she got caught off-guard about Pakistan while buying a Philly steak. Why does McCain have to retract her words, why can't she?

CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive - McCain retracts Palin’s Pakistan comments - Blogs from CNN.com

I wouldn't be surprised if something happened to postpone the VP debate or cancel it. Last week McCain suspended his campaign and mentioned that it could be moved in place of the VP debate. There is no doubt this will be the most watched VP debate in history and will probably beat last Friday's debate.

Maybe the McCain camp should ask Tina Fey to appear instead...

that's just it, i'm beginning to think she is honestly getting confused on what the party lines are and what she's going to say. Sooooo, you have mccain out doing damage control....

she reminds me of college students at exam time..you crush so much info into one small head and everything gets jumbled....

Biden has already said he isn't going to put on the kiddie gloves or hold back.. he said it would be condesending to do so..and he's right. I don't think he'll need to do anything.

What I'm looking forward to is the spin room reactions after the debate. I want to see just how the McCain camp tries to spin things if she gets creamed.

Geraldine Ferraro has already said she looked bad on tv and doesn't think she'll do well.. she said it on Fox News of all places..

Not even college, really. Reminds me of my high school students when I would call on them to respond to the reading, which they hadn't done... and didn't want to admit it. Or when I would call a student on their blatant plagiarism, show them the internet page where I found the original writing, and they still refused to admit that they did it. Immediate F grade, would have been suspension if they were in college. Wish the VP would get the same treatment.

hrmm thinking along the lines of 'f' grade.. some conservatives and republicans are calling for her to step aside now. That's usually a bad mistake, but I can't help but think it's the only way for McCain to recover at all..

Wasn't this the same strategy from the Bush camp in y2k? All the media could say afterwards is that W "acquited himself". "Performed functorally".

The public got the message: see? he's not so stupid! There could be more to him than we, the evil media, have been telling you.

However, having said that, she makes W look like FDR.

Palin is clearly out of her league. Kathleen Parker who is generally a consrvative has called for her to resign by saying that she needs to be with her family and no one would fault her for that. It would save MCcain's campaign. Palin is not only uniformed, she can barely remember the talking points that have been given to her to use when needed. Instead, she runs all them all together in places where they don't fit into the coversation! She does not even have a point to her answers. Just listen to her response to Couric's question on the bailout plan and how it will effect the average US citizen. PATHETIC!! She cannot possibly be the leader of the free world. It would be like taking a high school student from the cheeleading squad and making them president. God help us all.

I hope he does it, and I hope it leads him to lose even more badly. :D

well looking at the county polls in the battleground states.. he has to do something to have a chance. He's losing ground and if you can find a electoral vote map poll.. (I'll try and link one soon) he just doesn't have the votes. He clearly lost the first debate ..no matter how the republicans try to spin it.. he lost.. and now.. unless Joe Biden lays a serious egg.. he's going to take a bigger hit after that loony woman gets done talking.

electoral map thingie: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com...-gains-ground/

A month is an eternity in politics, McCain was able to really grab the spot light with the Palin pick. Who knows what they have planned for late Oct.

And Joe's more then capable of laying huge eggs. I like the guy but he's a walking talking gaff machine.

We shall see.

Well Biden is one of the reasons Obama hasn't really done so well in Ohio.. and yes he's capable of laying eggs.. but this is an unscripted debate.. Palin couldn't even handle the scripted interviews..

McCain grabbed the spotlight because it was an out in left pick and nobody really knew much about Palin. Now that people are starting to see her, they are starting to realize how crazy she is. The Obama/Biden camp is already using the "exceed expectations" strategy, by releasing statements that she's a leviathan of forensics and a great debater hoping to spin it even more into their favor. As long as he doesn't make a remark that is seen as sexist..he should be fine.

Yes a month is a long time in politics..but that's not necessarily a good thing for the McCain camp ..

Just think, if John Kerry would have acted like a dumb, adorable, suburban soccer mom, he could have rallied the Republican party. Hindsight, eh?

Most of you are pretty confident that she'll be an embarrassment but I'm much less sure.

Let me first say that I too am very skeptical and dismissive of her but this debate is too important for the campaign to be squandered. You never know what she'll pull out of the fire or what get's spun successfully. The onus is as much on Biden here not to blow it.

Perhaps she will use a Talk Radio debate style that successfully blocks, frustrates and flusters him. If she can successfully steer the debate into Flagpin territory then look out.

Or perhaps the questions will give her enough room exploit the pep-rally boosterism that served her so well at the RNC. The Democratc base sure won't buy this but if enough of the undecided do, well then that might just be enough.

Or perhaps she's a better study than we giver her credit for. You can bet she'll be rehearsing hard like a defendant for the stand right up until the date. Even if she's on the defensive for most of the debate that's not necessarily a failure. Certainly not a catastrophic one.

Do the candidates get to know the questions beforehand? Could they be leaked?

If the questions are leaked, the whole thing is compromised.

BTW, if I were in charge, I'd leak fake questions.

Yes Biden has to be careful.. but here's how I see this thing going..

"Governor Palin, what do you think about the situation in Iraq?"

"Well, I agree with John McCain."

"Is there anything you want to add?"

"I agree with John McCain.. and I use LIPSTICK!!!!"

So she'd be putting lipstick on a pig? :expressionless:

that'st he purpose of this thread, though: i"m thinking expectations are SO low on palin that the onus is completely on biden to either perform without flaw and absolutely perfectly with several just BAM moments..while palin will be ok saying "Yes...no..yes...no.."

I would like to point out (if it hasn't been already) that the VP debate rarely changes the election. In spite of the terrible performance by Dan Quayle his ticket still won. Maybe this election will be different since many do not expect McCain to last 4 or 8 years.

Rah Rah go team!! The democratic base won't buy it because all they want to know is where is my free stuff, free money, free education, free health care.

I would be willing to bet more than half the democratic base couldn't find Iran on a map much less pronounce it's presidents name.

The cult of personality, mtv party should win this one, and when they do, when they can not deliver all their promises, then what?

Don't answer, I know the answer, all shrubs fault, this mess could not possibly be cleaned up in one term. With both houses and the white house it should take 2 years tops to achive zen.

was there a point?

and umm..it did take over 8 yrs to get into this mess, do yu want it fixed tomorrow?

The Pew Center conducts studies of the public's knowledge of current affairs every few years.

From last year's report:

http://people-press.org/reports/images/319-2.gif

Oh my!

The most knowledgeable...viewers of the Daily Show and Colbert Report.

The least knowledgeable...viewers of Fox News (and the morning shows)

Gwen Ifill should start Thursday debate with the News IQ Quiz ....I wonder what Palin would score?

11/12 ...i blanked on kosovo...91.6%

11/12 - Wrong on Harry Reid.

Interesting that the O'Reilly Factor is in the upper informed group.

Wow I bet Pew goes into downtown Camden, Newark, or DC for that matter, please find a poll of the knowledgeable voters of the Democratic base, I think all you need to do is find the high school graduation rate of city areas that vote dem more than 80% you'll find your answer.

mike...the Democratic party has a wide and diverse base. :)

IMO, your comment is like suggesting that we go only to the most evangelical fundamentalists churches to poll the Republican base.

Really I read it as "I don't like the poll results, therefore I question the methodology." It's a lot like I don't like the news, question the source(s.)

No your wrong, I really do not think that most people who live in Camden, Newark, South Chicago, sit around watching the daily show, or Oberman.

It has nothing to do with the poll, and for just once I would love to hear one democrat admit that a good portion of their base, is uneducated, inner city urban dwellers.

gee mike, what ARE you implying with this quaint phrase "uneducated, inner city urban dwellers" who "live in Camden, Newark, South Chicago"?

Shh.... we want the conservatives to start putting a value in education and intelligence.

Heck yeah it does! :) Mike wants to ignore the significant portion of the Western United States that votes Democratic, I suppose.

I scored 11/12 on the NewsIQ quiz. I underestimated the number of U.S. dead in Iraq. :(

I scored pretty high too, but I'm not some sort of political genius or anything, I just happen to discuss it from time to time. I really shouldn't be in the 97th percentile. There should be a lot of people way more aware than I am. :sad:

Nope you're wrong. That's how I read.


So democrats aren't left coast/right coast elitists?

Why don'tcha tell us how you really feel, Mike? :)

Apparently the TFP is way more informed than the average population... interesting. I also got 11/12, missed the Dow average.

I was disappointed to see that women did so much more poorly than men. I wonder why that is, seriously. I commented to ktsp once that I very rarely see women on buses, subways, etc reading newspapers... usually they are reading magazines, which tend to have less substance (on average). What do you all think? Do you notice a lot of women reading newspapers in your area?

Beat ya by 1%, I'm guessing that has more to do with the number test takers at the time of each of our tests then our score.

I did think twice about the Dow. And Kosovo kind of threw me, but only because I miss interpreted a previous post.

that's kinda offensive since you know, all the redneck, inbred religious nuts in west virginia who won't vote for a black guy be "well, we don't trust the coloreds' are a huge portion of republicans...

yea, this could get nasty :) let's just say both parties have their fair share of uneducated people, just that some are inner city urban dwellers and some live 'off the paved road'

(no real offense intended ot those from Wva, i like the state, but that one interview stuck out in my head just now)

:(. 10/12 with several good guesses.

I'm not very well-informed, I suppose :\

Me neither. I read up on current events some but I'm certainly not an expert. But at the same time I'm not surprised unfortunately.

The only reason I scored 12/12 was because I happened to read an article about the Dow Jones today... I never follow the Dow Jones that closely.

Why would they deny it? The population of the US is large and diverse it only makes sense that both parties would have a good portion of undereducated supporters. And while the democrats might be proportionately more urban, the republicans are likely more proportionately rural.

The thing is, neither undereducated group is running either party.

Conspiracy theorists are already on watch for evidence of Palin wearing a wire during the debate.

I on the other hand am beginning to think that the debate won't be able to live up to the hype.

i am beginning to feel like ignatius p. reilly, finding so many things idiotic, an offense against all taste and geometry.


edited next day: dont post after a few beers if you're feeling cranky.
that's the moral of this story.

I scored 10/12. I underestimated the dead in Iraq and didn't know the senate majority leader name. I'm dissapointed in myself :(

I can't wait to see the debate on Thursday - I'm gonna record it so I can watch the Canadian leaders debate as well.

What it's like to debate Sarah Palin

this is really disturbing about what is really going to happen on the debates. Palin's going to appear genial and spin stories, etc, answer very little and come off looking great while not saying anything. the issue is: will the people buy the fluff? Personally, i think biden should obliterate her. as i once heard: play to win..if you're playing your own grandmother and the score is 5 to 4, then you should play to beat her 50 to 4.

That says it all. Interesting article, paq.

I find it unreal (I must be dreaming) that so much of this country actually stands behind candidates like this. They call it bashing when we question the capabilities of someone who could potentially run this country? We wouldn't want to hurt her feelings. :orly:

What a wonderful welcome to politics and what a stunning role model for our young girls in this new millennium.

what set me off last night was the appearance of a new and improved version of the old conservative canard of "the liberal media" which is now being set up as an "explanation" for the treatment sarah palin's been getting in the press. it appeared across the vehcile of that cnn asshat lou dobbs, who talked about it with a straight face while sitting in front of an american flag. approving commentary was provided by one of the dutiful lackies of the right brought to you by the heritage foundation ("what would reagan do?")

this blog from salon does a good job demolishing this idiocy and provides a little more information about palin-in-alaskan-politics.

Sarah Palin and Mark Halperin's complaints of "liberal media" - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com

it's too long to bite here.
because it's a blog, i would invite you to check the sources linked.

the palin style of actually governing is alarming...far more than is her seeming inability to answer a question.

roach, i swear i read that exact post somewhere. something about lou dobbs and the heritage foundation saying "the liberal media is treating palin unfairly' followed by a poll something like "should the liberal media treat palin more fairly' or some stupid shit. at any rate, i have to say, take off the kid's gloves bc man or woman, NO LEADER OF A FOREIGN COUNTRY CARES AND WILL ALTER THEIR STANCE bc you put a woman up.

they didn't have kid's gloves with clinton..obama..mccain...quayle...bush sr...clinton...gingrich...so why should she get any different treatment. I don't get this whole "oo, i'm a woman' thing. You're vying to be in line for the 2nd most powerful person..in..the.freaking..world. If you can't handle someone saying "maybe you don't know the issues...maybe you're unprepared' then get the fuck out. this is getting ridiculous.

perhaps someone should bring up the sexist argument. it's quite sexist to assume that any media outlet is being unfair to her. it's also quite sexist for the campaign to hold her in a box. we need to know what she's about in order to vote for or against her. McCain is certainly losing in his judgement argument.

thankfully, Biden already said he wouldn't be wearing kiddie gloves. let's just hope he doesn't become the wind bag gaffe that he can be sometimes.

Heyyyyyy now, Ahmadinejad's all about the kid gloves... especially when it comes to women. :rolleyes:

seriously, i don't get it, are we going to protect her from the world if she becomes pres? Hell, give me clinton, i know she'll bust some balls....palin would smile and ..do what, exactly?

are we so far behind that we really have to alter how we deal with a political figure bc of race or sex...seriously? I don't even see obama getting much press on his race..i mean, did you know he's half white :)

of course we've come to this point.. look.. when it comes to radio and television.. the conservatives pay the freight so to speak.. so naturally we'll see the spin on their side. Notice that douche bag Glenn Beck has become more and more conservative by the day? There's a reason for that.

This is simple attempt by people who support the McCain camp to get more attention back on Palin. She "energizes" voters.. McCain makes them go to sleep.. hopefully, though, people will see beyond the fluff and all the Moose burgers and see what's really there.

i have noticed glenn went from "eh, i don't agree with him on much, but ok" to "holy fucknuts, is he channeling hannity, limbaugh and oreilly in one???"

i was very VERY glad people saw through mccain's "I"m going to suspend my campaign and fix the economy' stunt....very happy, kinda surprised, but it gives me "Hope"

It's kind of hard not to see through that stunt when his own party asks him to leave and the fuckwads can't even get to the floor knowing they have the votes..and then blame it on a supposedly hyper-partisan speech.

:rolleyes: At this point, given the economic issues.. I really can't see McCain doing anything.. I'd even to venture that his campaign is dead in the water.

but what do I know? I'm not a conservative.. :rolleyes:
-----Added 1/10/2008 at 03 : 45 : 04-----
oh and now we have an issue with the debate moderator. :rolleyes: The moderator has a book coming out about politics and race.. and naturally the McCain camp didn't know about it. Like she's going to ask questions that help Obama.. seriously.

Ifill's book was no secret - Yahoo! News

Leave it to Faux News to make a big deal about this

Hypocrites much?

Flip the Ifill scenario and see how you feel about it. Bloody murder would be screamed if "that douche bag Glenn Beck" was moderator. Ifill has a vested and financial interest in the successful election of Obama. I believe it is reasonable to also claim a conflict of interest for iFill to preside.

It shouldn't be a big deal... just reassign one of her colleagues the task. The appearance of objectivity is all that's really necessary.

the problem with this wrangling is that it's public. because it's public, it's theater. because it's theater, it isn't going to be read as transparent, and so it looks like the mc-cain campaign is trying to get someone self-evidently sympathetic to a conservative outlook to "moderate" the debate. but if the campaign's really concerned, and if it imagines that it actually had the possibility of changing the moderation--as if that matters---you'd think they'd play this in a backchannel manner. so the fact that it's public seems to indicate that there's no hope of this happening, and what's being set up is a proactive tactic aimed at providing an explanation for failure.

Not hard. The next presidential debate is being hosted by Tom Brokaw, NBC's liaision to the McCain campaign and spreader of McCain lies on Meet the Press. Do you hear many liberals complaining about it?

To me the Ifill thing does kind of smell funny. So far playing the victim is the only thing Palin has done well. This Ifill situation is simply one more set up for her to play that role. I'd sure like to stop giving this women ready made excuses for when she falls on her face. The other day it was "it's all gotcha journalism" Then it was "that doesn't count the question came from a voter." Seems like everyday it's "the media's all "mean" to her." Yeah they're mean, they ask her questions and she give nonsensical answers. Damned evil media. Hell call someone like Bob Schieffer and see if he's free that night.

I hate the thought of giving her and the McCain camp one more excuse why her answers make no sense.

Seriously can you imagine if Obama stared blankly when asked about SCOTUS cases other then Roe V. Wade? Or answered "Magazines and newspapers? Oh, I read them all, you know any that are put in front of me." It'd be on a 15 minute loop 24/7 for a week on Fox.

Bob Schieffer moderated one of the debates in 04. It was well known that he had long standing social ties to the Bush family and that he was a frequent personal golfing buddy of GW. In fact, Bush appointed Schieffer's brother to be ambassador to Australia in his first term, and ambassador to Japan after his reelection. He and McCain go back together a long way as well, with Schieffer being an enthusiastic traveler on the "straight talk express".....btw, Schieffer will moderate the last debate.

In any case, Iffil should make some disclaimer at the start of the debate.

dc - Regarding the relationship with Schieffer to GW or McCain, I don't see the parallel with Ifill standing to benefit substantially from book sales if Obama wins. It's like Pete Rose betting on Reds games.

I agree that appearances of cronyism should not have been tolerated if that truly was the case with Schieffer. The ambassadorship to his brother could be questionalble, but two of my siblings are opposites politically to my little sister and me. Bob Schieffer's brother could have earned that all on his own... who knows? So I have difficulty seeing the Schieffer analogy as being equal, but give points on the appearance of some kind of relationship.

If the McCain camp is OK with an Ifill disclaimer, then I think that would be fine. It could make things more interesting depending on the questioning and performance of the candidates.

-----Added 1/10/2008 at 07 : 49 : 48-----
Tom Brokaw is an evil white conservative. :thumbsup:

Well, not to mention that the book has been public knowledge since at least July, before McCain agreed to her as the moderator. If he's not going to do a minimal amount of research on the moderator's background before he agrees to her as moderator, he has no grounds for complaint the day before the debate.

I am posting this..but i'm going to have to take it all in...this is the 2nd time i've seen it and i'm still just in awe...i have to pick my jaw up off the floor...again

Right, she can sell it to the Democratic base that, according to reconmike, is uneducated.

umm
if you're talking about mccain doing research....

ummmmmmmmmm....did you see who he chose for vp and how much he researched her?>

Look, it's obvious that Ifill has some vested interest in OBAMA. She has not interest in Biden. It doesn't matter if Obama looses or wins..the book will still sell because it's about the race lines being broken in politics..not how great and mighty and powerful Obama is ;)

This is just a sad attempt for the McCain camp to downplay any expectations and it gives the republican spin room ample ammunition in case she fucks up majorly. "She would have done a better job if there was a different moderator asking the questions. She did great considering that fact" :rolleyes:

This isn't the first time (as so clearly defined above) that moderators have ties with candidates.. and I'd venture to say that it's more damaging to have a personal relationship with the candidate than having a vested interest in the candidate.. come to think of it.. WE ALL have a vested interest in the candidates.

..and this whole uneducated base thing.. I don't even want to comment on something so ignorant.

Wow, this reads like a fresh story covering the recently finished debate.

sprocket..no kidding, i can barely tell the diff between willravel's page and exactly what i saw on tv and from the analysts. She was trying too hard to sound folksy, look cute, and deliver SCRIPTED MEMORIZED lines about as well as your average 3rd grade actor on stage.

my favorite: "what is your Achilles heel" "my executive experience will be used effectively" or some shit like that. complete...complete disregarding the question..when a question was asked that she didn't have an answer for, she'd simply change the question to something she knew. 'i want to continue talking about taxes" Nobody had mentioned taxes.

seriously, it played out about like i expected, expectations were so low for her that this is being touted as a win by some.....msnbc put it as "a tie for palin is like a win'....
so far, al the polls i'm seeing show biden as the winner, but i'm sure it will be construed as a win for whomever someone liked before the debate.


Oh, last thing...her "You betcha's" and "bless their hearts' and the "maverick" lines...just sounded forced..like a constipated poodle.

I suppose it's not done for a moderator to pull the "repeat the question" trick?

It's what a few journalists here have done in the past with public figures that give non-answers, effectively calling them out on their bullshit answers?

NUK U LAR

She looked at her notecards way to much but no real big flubs. I really like the way Biden did, he took aim at McCain and didn't let up. As far as personal "moments" when he was talking about being a single father after losing his wife and child, it really connected, cause it was truly from the heart and not a play like Palin tries to make it.

I didn't know much about Biden other than he's been a long term congessman, after this debate I feel better about Biden. Palin still scares me, I don't want "Joe six-pack" in the White House, mayor six-pack is OK and Governor six-pack may be OK, but President six-pack no thanks..

Shouldn't she had said "Joan six-pack"?

HATE OUR FREEDUMB

Turns out she's George Bush in lipstick.

Her job was accomplished last night. She didn't stare into the camera with a deer in headlights look. She ducked questions.. and she stopped the bleeding on her image.

Will it work? Not one bit. The fact that she didn't answer any questions was just stupid and she had no ideas on how to fix things. "I agree with John McCain's plans here" doesn't show you know what you are talking about and surely doesn't send a "Maverick" message.

I was impressed by Biden. He really showed poise and control. I could tell by his face that he just wanted to launch into Palin several times but he kept his composure. I almost died laughing when he made his "ultimate bridge to nowhere" comment.

At this point it doesn't really matter. We'll be back to economics and the republicans will be hit hard in the polls again. Hell even McCain has decided to pull out of Michigan. He wants to concentrate on Pennsylvania.... hrmm..