the vp debate goshdarnit

this debate made realize just how low my expectations of sarah palin really were. my initial reaction was, "hey, not bad." then immediately, "are you shitting me?" i was impressed because she said "ahmadinejad" 3 times beautifully? the not so bright one time beauty queen put her training to use, smiling into the camera as she spoke, using big words to hide her lack of substance. she was well rehearsed, and 'performed' better than john mccain, at least engaging her opponent, and stayed more on topic than mccain did. of course she didn't always answer questions directly, spewing obviously rehearsed lines and slogans whenever possible. her circuitous reasoning, empty slogans, and contradictory points, like saying john mccain, the "maverick," "voted along party lines" 96% of the time, were not blaringly obvious. her smoke and mirrors technique, turning the question of her inexperience into a call to America about people and the government, was probably pretty effective. and hey, that's a talent in itself. and well let's face it, a large part of "politics." even though her "talking straight" was as straight as the Castro district on Halloween, and "everywhere like and the such as," she only let those of us down who were hoping she'd drool on herself and make a ms. south carolina snafu.
biden was a contrasting image. looking like he was about to fall asleep in the first half of the debate, he came alive in the second half when the discussion turned to foreign policy, his specialty. he became impassioned and focused, coming across with clear points. His reputation for rambling didn't make a showing tonight, and he did well by attacking mccain's past policy and statements which went largely unanswered. the highlight of the debate was when he called mccain's healthcare plan the "ultimate bridge to nowhere." on the whole, he sounded professional with solid points. though calls to home depot and Scranton made me cringe, an obvious attempt to appeal to the "average American." unfortunately, if being dumb and ignorant is more like the average american, well heck, palin has the advantage on that one.