The VP Debate

Sarah Palin neither fell off the stage nor did she burst into flames during last night's VP debate; for the Republican faithful apparently that was enough. As for the McCain-Palin ticket it wasn't even close to enough. the same day the McCain campaign gave up on Michigan; Sarah Six-Pack did nothing to shore up support for the ticket with 'middle-class' voters.

The punditocracy on the right is all a-twitter with glowing reviews of her performance last night. I want to know what debate they were watching. From Pat Buchanan and Roger Simon on MSNBC last night, Dick Morris on Fox News (should we even call it news over there?) to David Brooks in today's New York Times they all think her performance was stellar. In a sense they are correct; it was a performance, but not a stellar one. The audience could tell she was repeating her lines as written; that does not make for a stellar performance; maybe a good reading but not a performance. Tina Fey & the writers over @ SNL won't have work very hard to script the Palin bit for tomorrow night; she provided plenty of satire all on her own.

The contrast Joe Biden provided should give the Democrats more hope. The Senator from Delaware was a delight to watch; he had his facts at the ready, but more than that, I got a sense of what an Obama-Biden administration will do once they are in office. Biden provided real answers to the questions posed by moderator Gwen Ifill; he dismissed Palin as nothing more than a conduit with which to pummel the McCain record. Joe did his job last night; Palin didn't.

I have no idea what a McCain-Palin administration has in mind for the country except of course to deregulate the health insurance industry. More deregulation; that's exactly what we need; since it's working out so well for the financial markets.

The real winner last night was the american electorate; once again, we got to see exactly where each party and each ticket stands. Obama-Biden want to govern; they understand what the rest of us struggle with daily and want to help us struggle less; they understand that Climate change is a real man-made issue and they only way to solve the climate crisis is to look at the causes and determine the best ways to lessen the effects that are within our power. McCain-Palin, flash, trash and personality; continued reaction to world events instead of sober, thoughtful action after gathering the facts and determining the best path. The choice to me seems clear, but I'm an elitist who wants an intelligent, effective Administration.