Am listening to the 1776 soundtrack this morning.

"I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is called a disgrace; that two become a law firm; and that three or more become a Congress! And, by God, I have had this Congress!"

With the topic of the current VP coming up, I remembered that Cheney still exists. I'm sort of surprised they won't even reanimate him to deliver some "Frankly, blah blah blah" gravitas during the financial situation we're having. Well, maybe not really surprised, but boy has he disappeared from the face of the Earth.

The best ratings anyone got in the debate with an attack was when Biden was hammering Cheney. I suspect the GOP's polling says he's about as popular as scrapie right now. He needs to do something to make the people fear and respect him again. Maybe he should shoot a man in Reno just to watch him apologise.

Palin was certainly scripted, and that avoided a repeat of the Couric debacle. But I note that it meant, first, Biden had a free pass to hammer McCain (and the audience was buying it), knowing she couldn't respond without getting off-script; and second, that when Biden choked up talking about his family loss, Palin kept sailing blithely on without so much as an offer of condolences. They can bond over both supporting Israel, but she couldn't get out of her script to acknowledge her opponent has known real tragedy.

I don't see this debate changing the numbers (does it ever?), but the fact she didn't drool probably helps make McCain's existing support more solid.

Palin scares the CRAP out of me -- she was well-prepared, and since the format meant that Palin wouldn't have to actually answer the question she was asked, she could bust out with that snake-oil huckster beauty-pageant blather that had NO CONTENT at all in it.

The pageant queen smile was creeping me out BIG time.

Right? She kept saying stuff like "Government should get out of the way of the American people," etc., and I thought, if you have such a low opinion of the Federal Government, then WHY DO YOU WANT TO BE IN IT???

It makes a kind of insane troll logic sense when you break it down - she hates government + she's completely unqualified for office = as VP, she would make sure the government was as adorably powerless as she is!

Palin was certainly scripted, and that avoided a repeat of the Couric debacle. But I note that it meant, first, Biden had a free pass to hammer McCain (and the audience was buying it), knowing she couldn't respond without getting off-script;

And also explained why she barely answered any of the questions.

She's a total huckster -- if you keep talking and grin and wink, you can say literally ANYTHING, and it'll come off like you're the world's greatest orator.

This is so frighteningly true. And makes it even worse that all Palin did was not fuck up. I'm terrified of the people who just want to be mollified by their elected officials. It seems like, "Just put a warm blankie over my head and make sure I can't see bad, bad things" is the battle cry of too much of the electorate.

No lie. I'm scared. AND I know that dwelling in the fear isn't going to improve anything so...I need to do something. But first I need to figure out what that might be.

I didn't listen to the debate and am despondent to read all the 'she did better than expected' headlines. That is not what I wanted to hear.

Seriously, don't waste any despair on it -- "she failed to actually drool" is the press script that we knew they'd go for going in, because it's the only way they ever judge debates.

It's not getting them any votes they didn't have before (VP debates just don't change minds, and anyway, actual watchers rather overwhelmingly thought Biden won), and I'll bet actual money that she pretty much disappears from the radar screen now -- they'll have her do live appearances for their own supporters, but this debate was her only official campaign function and just look how well her national press exposure has gone for them.

Palin's wink-and-smile routine:

It's as though she was saying "C'mon, America, you know you wanna fuck me. Let's go to your car."

It's not getting them any votes they didn't have before

I absolutely believe this is true as well.

Seriously, don't waste any despair on it -- "she failed to actually drool" is the press script that we knew they'd go for going in, because it's the only way they ever judge debates.

This is true, especially Veep debates. Seriously, she can't generate any upside for the campaign. All they're saying is that she stopped generating downside. Her story's pretty much done at this point. McCain gambled in picking her, he lost, he's now managed to cap off his losses. Now he can get back to the economy kicking his arse.

I finally read the Rolling Stone article (and literally had to go shower afterwards) and all I could think, the further I got along in it was that for McCain, with a background so steeped in familial rivalry coupled with no shame in abusing nepotism in order to get ahead, I have to think the primary reason he chose Sarah Palin was because if he's elected Prez, he's finally outdone the old man and his grandpa and if he croaks, which is in all likelihood, quite possible, then he's left behind the first female Prez.

Top that legacy, bitches.

Re: the nepotism and pulling strings, I strongly suspect that any physical records that deem him fit to be Commander in Chief have been doctored.