Georgie in a skirt

Yes, she really did say it:

Yet another classic to add to "putting food on your family": "There's a toxic mess on Main Street affecting Wall Street".

84% of those polled thought Palin "exceeded expectations". But when the expectation is a meltdown and a train wreck, that's not exactly a ringing endorsement. Only 36% thought she won the debate, and 87% said Biden was more qualified for the job. Ya think!!???

It's on

Biden - Palin, I mean (I watched ours last night, but of course I already know how I'm voting so it was kind of a non-issue for me).

Watch for a new Palin tonight, an aggressive Palin, a more dangerous Palin than before. She's been getting talking points up the wazoo all week, so she'll be spitting them out like Chatty Cathy. Expectations are so low for her that if she doesn't fart loudly and drool on her cue cards she'll be doing well.

She's already said "I may not answer questions the way you want me to, but I'm gonna talk straight to the American people". So that's the game plan, she's not answering questions. Ha! I wonder why!

And Joe looks just smokin', of course... what a deadly smile...

To be continued...

UPDATE: Biden hit one out of the park. He started off slow -- I think he was thrown off his game a bit by the way Palin immediately started barreling past the questions with an explosion of talking points. But he regained his footing when the debate turned to foreign policy, and after that it was all his. He came across as authoritative, knowledgeable about the issues, and reassuring. He did a great job continually linking McCain to Bush, which Palin was unable to dispute because basically, they are the same. I LOVED his answer about how he discovered that the ideology of SC judges is so important, to protect rulings like Roe. I love him for that. So will a lot of women.

Palin didn't drool on her cue cards so she did okay, but her "I won't answer the questions, just spew talking points" style was disconcerting. She was trying to just survive, which she accomplished, but wow. What a bizarre performance.

The debate won't change anyone's mind to vote GOP, but it may make some undecideds feel more comfortable about voting Democrat.

JOE WINS! W00t!

Setting the stage?

Since reading that rousing and snarly little speech to a friendly partisan audience at the RNC, it's been all downhill for Sarah Palin, and rightly so. One by one, even conservative columists are backpeddling on their initial enthusiasm for Palin -- some quietly grumbling that it might be time for her to bow out. With the pivotal VP debate coming up tomorrow night, Palin is locked down and incommunicado, feverishly cramming at Debate Camp as the McCain campaign tries to figure out how to keep this thing from going sideways:

"The McCain campaign moved its top officials inside Gov. Sarah Palin's operation Sunday to prepare for what is certain to be the most important event of her vice-presidential campaign: her debate on Thursday with Democrat Joe Biden.

Additionally, at the urging of the Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, Gov. Palin will leave late Monday for his Arizona ranch to prepare for the high-stakes debate.

The moves follow several shaky performances by Gov. Palin last week and come amid concern and grumbling from Republicans, and even a few queries from her husband, Todd Palin, according to campaign operatives and Republican officials."

Wait-wait-wait a minute. That's interesting:

"For his part, Mr. Palin has worried about the frequent separation of his wife from her family, friends and Alaska staff, an adviser said. Accordingly, her family will be with her in Sedona during this week. Also, a key Alaska staffer joined the Palin operation Sunday." (emphasis mine)

One foot out the door and the other on a banana peel!

T-minus 40 Hours

(Seattle PI)

Ooof!

The Gallup Poll for the 3-day period from Thursday to Saturday September 25-27 is good news for Obama:



Obama is at 50% to McCain's 42%. Wow. This is particularly significant because it was a period of great drama for McCain -- the debate was on Friday night, and McCain's "suspension" of his campaign (to save the economy) was just a day or so earlier. In spite of all that, two things are clear: (1) who won the debate, and (2) how the American public is responding, or rather, not responding, to McCain's melodrama.

Next up: the VP debate. IF it happens... and that's still a pretty big IF. SaWah is at Debate Boot Camp this week, but please -- it's Debate Camp, not Miracle Camp. When the candidate has a brain like a chicken on crack, anything less than a miracle probably won't be that helpful.

Unbelievable

We just knew this was coming:

"McCain supporter Sen. Lindsey Graham tells CNN the McCain campaign is proposing to the Presidential Debate Commission and the Obama camp that if there's no bailout deal by Friday, the first presidential debate should take the place of the VP debate, currently scheduled for next Thursday, October 2 in St. Louis.

In this scenario, the vice presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin would be rescheduled for a date yet to be determined, and take place in Oxford, Mississippi, currently slated to be the site of the first presidential faceoff this Friday." (emphasis mine)

Oh riiiiiiiiiight. I guess the world just isn't ready for Palin's stunning rebuttals about fungible molecules flowing into hungry, hungry markets.

The VP debate between Joe Biden and Caribou Barbie is not happening, and this is just the first step toward making it not happen.

Because it would be sexist not to make special debate rules for Palin

Oh, here we go -- the Vice-Presidential debates. The Democrats and Republicans have agreed on the format for the VP debate on October 2. Not surprisingly, the Rethugs want to protect their dainty candidate from having to do too much actual talking:

"Under the plan agreed to yesterday, Palin and Biden will have less time than McCain and Obama to reply to moderators' questions and discuss each other's answers." [...]

"In the negotiations, Republicans wanted to limit the amount of time available for their neophyte candidate, Palin, to be questioned on a single topic. Democrats, meanwhile, wanted to be sure Biden and Palin spoke from lecterns rather than sitting at a table the way Vice President Cheney and his rivals in 2000 (Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut) and 2004 (Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina) did. Both sides got what they wanted. Palin and Biden will each have 90 seconds to respond to questions, followed by a two-minute period for discussion between the candidates." (emphasis mine)

Well, you had to know that was coming. And who can blame them? When she gets on a roll, the results are... curious. Here's SaWah on something to do with energy policy (I think -- though I can't be sure):

“Oil and coal? Of course, it’s a fungible commodity and they don’t flag, you know, the molecules, where it’s going and where it’s not. But in the sense of the Congress today, they know that there are very, very hungry domestic markets that need that oil first,” Palin said. “So, I believe that what Congress is going to do, also, is not to allow the export bans to such a degree that it’s Americans that get stuck to holding the bag without the energy source that is produced here, pumped here. It’s got to flow into our domestic markets first.”

SHRIEEEEEEK!!!

I'll be watching to see if she wears her hair up or down, to hide the earpiece.

UPDATE: Andrew doesn't like it. Wow, in 6-odd years of reading him, this is the first time I can recall ever seeing him use the F-word. But he's right -- all Americans should be using the F-word about this, it's ridiculous.

UPDATE II: Heh.