No. She was being asked to defend her 9th grade I-Search paper without having written it, or even picked a topic.

Pocket Ninja: No. She was being asked to defend her 9th grade I-Search paper without having written it, or even picked a topic.

Uh... she definitely picked a topic. "Let's bring this back to energy."

I've seen eighth graders give better book reports on books they've never read.

Ha. Awesome analogy to Fargo.

Pocket Ninja: No. She was being asked to defend her 9th grade I-Search paper without having written it, or even picked a topic.

My topic today was on the marsupials of Australia. Well, as we all know, marsupials are pretty cute. But why does my opponent want to just focus on the Australian marsupials? From my years and years of executive experience in energy companies and being a governor and whatnot, I can safely say that we should be spreading the freedoms inherent in all humans to other countries with humans. And marsupials. McCain and I, the Mavericks that we are, will work hard to cut taxes for hard-working Middle America while keeping our domestic energy safe from those marsupials, dontchaknow!

I was expecting Biden to start throwing his theses at her at any moment.

Did she have ANY answer that didn't include "Alaska"?

I mean, if I went to a job interview and talked ONLY about my current job (instead of general topics, knowledge, and insight), I'd never get the job.

Wait, I've already said too much.

I loved it when Biden was breathing in hard enough to hear it on the mic. He was barely able to keep from muttering under his breath "stupid biatch".

Her unexpectedly strong defense of the thesis she didn't write reminded me of Rodney Dangerfield's defense in "Back to School":

In response
to Roman numeral ...
section three, part two...
of subset D...
of the question...
the answer is...

Mr. Melon?
Mr. Melon?

Hey, relax. This man's been put
under a lot of pressure.
Let's take it easy on him.
Say it! Say it!



The answer is... four?

Right.
_____________________________
Come on guys. She wasn't half bad.

TFA: When she was on familiar ground, she perked up, winked at the audience two of three times, and settled with relief into the folksiness that reminds me strangely of the characters in "Fargo."

Palin is best in that persona. You want to smile with her and wink back.

I wouldn't say that persona makes me want to smile and wink back, especially when a person aspiring to be the VP has it. Grind my teeth, face palm, get a stiff drink, strangle the air in front of me... that's more likely.

NikolaiFarkoff
I mean, if I went to a job interview and talked ONLY about my current job (instead of general topics, knowledge, and insight), I'd never get the job.

Your bigger problem would be dodging so many questions like she did.

notmtwain: Come on guys. She wasn't half bad.

She wasn't half good, neither.

FTA: When she was on familiar ground, she perked up, winked at the audience two of three times, and settled with relief into the folksiness that reminds me strangely of the characters in "Fargo."

Palin is best in that persona. You want to smile with her and wink back. But who did she resemble more? Marge Gunderson, whose peppy pleasantries masked a remorseless policewoman's logic? Or Jerry Lundegaard, who knew he didn't have the car on his lot, but smiled when he said, "Ma'am, I been cooperatin' with ya here."

THIS.

notmtwain: Come on guys. She wasn't half bad.

Congratulations on demonstrating that the McCain strategy of "let's lower expectations to the point where anything short of vomiting onstage will be seen as pretty darn good" had at least some effect.

She Must be stopped

notmtwain: Come on guys. She wasn't doesn't look half bad.

FTFY

notmtwain: Come on guys. She wasn't half bad.

She was nowhere approaching the vicinity of "half good" either. She was mostly a lot of nothing, with some sort of weird facial twitch that was supposed to be a folksy "wink", and an unfortunate urge to talk down to people as if she were, in some unexplainable way, their intellectual superior.

Pocket Ninja: notmtwain: Come on guys. She wasn't half bad.

Congratulations on demonstrating that the McCain strategy of "let's lower expectations to the point where anything short of vomiting onstage will be seen as pretty darn good" had at least some effect.

I think you are kidding yourself. I'm not voting for McCain but I still can respect a fine performance. I'm not saying each quote was good or that she didn't fluff a few lines. (I was particularly annoyed by her refusal to answer the question being asked.)

I would be shocked if the post-debate polls don't show that most voters think that she did as well as Biden.

Fascinating review. I'm especially glad that a man who has vast experience in studying body language believed, as well as I do, that Joe's choking and unanticipated moment discussing his deceased family was genuine.

stargazer101: that Joe's choking and unanticipated moment discussing his deceased family was genuine.

I didn't think for a second that it wasn't, and frankly it's pretty disgusting that anybody would. That's not something he goes out of his way to exploit, and it's asinine to think that it wouldn't be a hugely emotional issue for him.

Am I the only one who was reminded of Kirstie Alley's character in "Drop Dead Gorgeous" whenever Gov. Palin spoke?

co-conspirator: notmtwain: Come on guys. She wasn't half bad.

She was nowhere approaching the vicinity of "half good" either. She was mostly a lot of nothing, with some sort of weird facial twitch that was supposed to be a folksy "wink", and an unfortunate urge to talk down to people as if she were, in some unexplainable way, their intellectual superior.

She was a puppet with a drawstring in her back.

Angry Drunk Bureaucrat: notmtwain: Come on guys. She wasn't half bad.

She wasn't half good, neither.

She was an undistributed middle?

Snarfangel: Angry Drunk Bureaucrat: notmtwain: Come on guys. She wasn't half bad.

She wasn't half good, neither.

She was an undistributed middle?

What we need here are 5 candidates 1/10th her size.

It could not have been anticipated by Palin. The next camera angle was above and behind her. She paused. The silence seemed to anticipate words of sympathy and identification from her. But Biden had ended in a sentence using the word "change," and her response, reflecting no emotion at all, cued off that word and became a talking point about McCain. This felt to me, at worst, insensitive and callous. At best, that she had not fully heard Biden. In either event, her response troubled me. If a man had responded in that way to such a statement from a women, he would be called a heartless brute.

Nicely put, Ebert.

A comment I submitted:

Regarding "going up": On several points, it also sounded like Biden started down that particular road, but would back himself up with a "let me make this clear" and try again. I think he was trying to rein in his Gaffe-O-Matic tendencies, and as a result he often came across as if he were stumbling over his own mouth.

Palin sounded like she was reading off a Teleprompter in her head, dontcha know?

My 1/50th USD as I DVR'd it since I couldn't watch it live, and so I wasn't in the discussion thread:

Palin successfully lowered expectations, but also didn't come across as a total dimbulb. The "aw gee shucks" stuff sounded canned -- it's my impression that the McCain campaign saw that her Hockey Mom side was playing well early on, so they tried to push that heavily throughout the debate to try and re-ignite that fire that bumped McCain's poll numbers.

Biden was adept at attacking appropriately -- "This is a profound difference between us" and the like. Nothing personal, 100% policy. He also seemed to attack McCain one-for-one with Palin's attacks on Obama.

I gave the edge to Biden, B performance against a C.

Looks like Obama's going to coast to victory. There's no way they're going to let Palin loose on interviews again. It's unlikely either of the next debates will do much.

Bill_Wick's_Friend: It could not have been anticipated by Palin. The next camera angle was above and behind her. She paused. The silence seemed to anticipate words of sympathy and identification from her. But Biden had ended in a sentence using the word "change," and her response, reflecting no emotion at all, cued off that word and became a talking point about McCain. This felt to me, at worst, insensitive and callous. At best, that she had not fully heard Biden. In either event, her response troubled me. If a man had responded in that way to such a statement from a women, he would be called a heartless brute.

Nicely put, Ebert.

It's pretty obvious that she didn't dare go off script, so was unable to respond. It's also likely that she was so focused on what she was going to say that she wasn't listening to Biden.

But at least they've announced their Socialist "redistribution of food" ideas.

While I don't feel like Gov. Palin did a bad job, I don't see her performance changing too many votes. She just didn't have that great moment which would cause a lot of people to jump up and say "I simply MUST vote for a ticket she's on". Now, those people are out there, but they were already going to vote McCain/Palin.

Staying steady is not what a campaign needs when it's behind.

I think she set herself up for a Presidential run in 2012, though, and it would not shock me if that was her overall personal goal.

Also, I'm glad I was watching that debate with a strong drink in front of me and a few already in my system.

notmtwain: I would be shocked if the post-debate polls don't show that most voters think that she did as well as Biden.

Be shocked.

absoluteparanoia: BATS AREN'T BUGS!

Calvin made the same mistake.

True, but at least she didn't plagiarize any of it.

/sorry
//someone was gonna say it
///mind's well be me

I sensed that Sarah Palin was nervous.

My wife commented to me that it looked like her hands were shaking.

I await the Ric Romero article on Sarah Palin's suitability for the office of Vice President.

I mean Christ guys, come on. She sucks. You can stop wanking about it any time. You don't want your balls to shrink to the size of raisins.

Thanks Roger. How 'bout you go review me a movie now?

Totally unrelated, but it looks like the "Financial Markets Bill" is going to pass. 240 "Yea" votes so far.

This is the moment people connected with Biden as a human being. This is (one of many) moments that will ensure an Obama-Biden landslide this fall.

Link (new window)

Right-wingers, enjoy your hateorade. It's all you're gonna have for the next eight years.

Pocket Ninja: stargazer101: that Joe's choking and unanticipated moment discussing his deceased family was genuine.

I didn't think for a second that it wasn't, and frankly it's pretty disgusting that anybody would. That's not something he goes out of his way to exploit, and it's asinine to think that it wouldn't be a hugely emotional issue for him.

Fox "News" to claim that Joe's choking over the remembrance of his deceased family was faker and more scripted than wrasslin' in 3... 2... 1....

What about Biden? I felt he basically jiust stood there and said what he thought, weaving in some talking points, of course. He seemed to want to come across as level, convinced, confident, and he did. To recycle a figure of speech, it was not a surprise to find him standing on his hind legs.

clearly.

Civics question: If McCain dies in office, does Nancy Pelosi become Veep? Or does she only assume the office of President if both are incapacitated simultaneously?

She exceeded everyone's expectations, certainly, but that's not saying much. She reminded me, personally, of John McCain in a skirt. Her strategy (or tactics?) were the exact same, from the question dodging to the "white flag of surrender" nugget that she just sounded oh so happy to get a chance to chirp out.

So Palin has risen to the level of John McCain. Personally, I think that the question of whether or not this is an improvement is debatable.

deadapostle: Pocket Ninja: No. She was being asked to defend her 9th grade I-Search paper without having written it, or even picked a topic.

Uh... she definitely picked a topic. "Let's bring this back to energy."

I is energy expert, because the earth is 6000 years old and God told me where he put the oil. You think oil comes from plant matter? Ohhh Joe, you're so full of stories. (wink)

mediaho: Civics question: If McCain dies in office, does Nancy Pelosi become Veep? Or does she only assume the office of President if both are incapacitated simultaneously?

I believe that (gulp) President Palin would choose a new Veep, with Pelosi staying on as Speaker.

RevLovejoy: mediaho: Civics question: If McCain dies in office, does Nancy Pelosi become Veep? Or does she only assume the office of President if both are incapacitated simultaneously?

I believe that (gulp) President Palin would choose a new Veep, with Pelosi staying on as Speaker.

...and typing that just made me die a little more inside.

RevLovejoy: ...and typing that just made me die a little more inside.

Reading it had the same effect. Thanks for the answer and the heartburn.

B-b-but Gwen Ifill wrote a book about Obama! These debates were tainted and don't count.

amirite?

she felt she'd survived the deep waters of improvisation and was climbing onto the shore of talking points.

What a line. Great image.

"In university terms, (Palin) was being asked to defend her doctoral thesis without having written it"

lol. I think that sums up the debate, I'm going to start using that comparision.