Okay, this sourcing of Palin's closing remarks is both awesome and appalling.

Debate meara:

she still sounds like she is reading lines or scared to death or something

Or both. Though I do have to give her points for flat-out saying "Yeah, I have a bunch of stuff I'm supposed to read off these index cards so I won't actually be answering questions. PS, go fuck yourselves. Gosh-golly tee-hee!"

Damn. I was all excited that Biden called it "gay marriage" and now he's backpedaling.

Yeah. BOO Democratic Party. Grow some fucking balls already.

wait...How does McCain know how to win a war?

He crashed 5 planes, got captured, and so wasn't really in the loop when we lost?

I yelled at my TV, why is the INFANT being carried out at 10:30 PM!?!?

Eh, 4 month olds don't sleep anyway. [edit: or 6-month olds. At least, mine didn't.]

Wednesday, October 15, 2008, 9 p.m. EDT at Hofstra University's Hofstra Arena in Hempstead, New York, moderated by Bob Schieffer, CBS News chief Washington correspondent and host of Face the Nation. This debate will focus on domestic and economic policy.

DH's aunt is a prof at Hofstra, and is livid that the staff won't be allowed to attend the debate.

Palin was making every one of my senses hurt with rage last night. With the WINKING and the pageant grins and the fake-folksy interjections, and the "Oh I'm just a hockey mom, I don't understand big government!" FUCKING BULLSHIT. If you DON'T UNDERSTAND GOVERNMENT, THEN YOU SHOULD NOT BE IN IT, YOU STUPID FUCKING BINT.

Eh, 4 month olds don't sleep anyway. [edit: or 6-month olds. At least, mine didn't.]

I think that babies with Down Syndrome tend to sleep more than other babies. He's looked asleep most times I've seen someone holding him on TV.

Or they could be dosing him with Benadryl.

Or they could be dosing him with Benadryl.

Or Yukon Jack.

I thought Palin did well. She seemed nervous and scripted, but she still did fine. I think people who like her weren't given any reason to change their minds. However, I think a potential president should have more gravitas than Wally Cleaver.

I think Biden did well too. He had to meet a higher bar than Palin, but I think he did the job.

I though perhaps Palin's one really bad moment was when she was asked about the office of the Vice President being in the legislative branch. I felt that went right over her head.

Well, CNN [link] is saying that Biden won, but that Palin exceeded expectations which is totally in keeping what we were saying on here, that the bar for her was so so incredibly low, it wouldn't take much.

About what I expected. If you look at the recent interviews, she's generally fine giving a more-or-less on topic answer from her talking points. It's when she's called on something or pressed for specifics that she falls apart, and that wasn't really going to happen here.

I though perhaps Palin's one really bad moment was when she was asked about the office of the Vice President being in the legislative branch. I felt that went right over her head.

I think that piece is going to grow in significance. Not so much about it being over her head (which it was) but about the insight it gave into how in line she and McCain are with the power-grab mentality of the current administration. When she starts talking about the VP choosing to exert more control over Congress, you're starting down an ugly (an unconstitutional) road.

A comment posted on Gothamist.com on the debates - made me chorttle and then nod:

At one point Palin let loose with a tick of colloquialisms so wall-to-wall that it felt like she was about a quarter inch away from a 'ding-dang-diggity' or a 'well, whoopty-doo, fancy pants!"

She continues to strike me as not so intelligent, but certainly neighborly.

Sadly, this is all it's taken to woo American voters twice in the last 8 years.

At one point, I wondered if she doesn't know what an Achilles heel is, or if she was just ignoring the question on purpose.

brenda - I agree with you on that. Olbermann was already making much of it last night.