• Positives for Biden. The good senator from DE left the angry, pompous so-and-so persona at home tonight. Since I was a teenager, I've found Biden to be insufferable. Tonight, he was likable, even gentle. Of course, he had to be. His usual bombast and bluster would have ruined him. He was also articulate, and played the elder statesman role well. He was disingenuous as heck, but he looked and sounded good.
• Positives for Palin. She also performed well, and obviously did her homework. She didn't flinch, or look as though she was cowed by the stage or the person at the other podium. And she looked into the camera, as Obama did in the first presidential debate. I think she's a good communicator with the ability to connect with the common man (or woman). Roger Ebert snobbishly labeled her a "provincial," but that's actually part of her strength. Ebert and his ilk equate provincial with stupid or uninitiated. For my own part, I'm sick of ensconced Washington elites who have educated themselves into imbecility (to coin a phrase from Malcom Muggeridge) and are experts only at mucking everything up. I think it's high time some more "provincials" with common sense and flyover-country values had a chance at running Washington. But I digress...
• Negatives for Biden. Not too much I can say here, because it would require elaboration I don't have time for. For me, the negatives had to do with the substance of his assertions. For example, equating McCain's vote against a troop funding bill that had a withdrawal time-table attached to it with Obama's vehement anti-war stance was laughable. Which brings me to...
• Negatives for Palin. Palin's robotic adherence to the lines she's been fed by her handlers was frustrating. Note to McCain's advisors: For God's sake, just let this woman be the unapologetic conservative she is, will ya? Biden handed her so much red meat to pounce on, and she hardly bit on any of it. As a result, he got in a lot of free punches that she could/should have knocked out of the park. Grr...

Labels: 2008 election, Joe Biden, Sarah Palin

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