Way to Go Joe!

Sarah Palin did a great job last night (reading her cue cards word for word).

For the first half hour of last night's debate, she was CRUSHING Joe Biden, who was flat and boring and produced more misstatements than did Palin. It was apparent that she "studied" for the debate and knew where the appropriate cue card was in her packet.

But then something changed....maybe she ran out of cue cards?

At about 9:31 p.m., Sarah Palin had a moment that she looked like she was a Fembot who's head was about to explode. Gwen Ifil, who did a horrible job last night (more on this later), asked Palin and Biden about climate change and it was obvious that Palin had either lost that cue card or simply hadn't prepared for the question because she produced a Katie Couric interview type answer that left me - and probably the rest of America - puzzled.

And then Sarah Palin started bringing out the old Reagan cliches, turning on the drawl, winking at the camera, giving out shoutouts to her family and brother's 3rd grade class. I thought to myself: "Am I really watching a VP debate or a H.S. debate?

And that's why I thought Joe Biden, despite a slow start, won this debate handily.

The pundits are also saying this morning that Biden won the debate and I agree. He did bad in the first hour and for the next hour after that he went on the attack of John McCain and performed wonderfully. It is truly sad that some people are saying this morning that it was a tie because Palin put together a coherant sentence and didn't make any huge gaffes. That's just plain wrong.

My favorite moments of the debate were:

1) When Biden got choked up talking about his son who almost died. Palin didn't even acknowledge this after his comments and went on to spurt nonsense about John McCain and her being a maverick.

2) After the 60th time that Palin mentioned that John McCain was a maverick, Biden shot back. "Let me talk to you about how John McCain isn't a maverick." That was a great moment and I literally jumped out of my seat when he said it.

3) Biden talking about how Palin hadn't mentioned how the McCain-Palin ticket would do things differently than Bush did. His repeating of the phase: "I haven't heard how they are going to do things different than President Bush" was a powerful moment.

Other questions about the debate:

1) How could Gwen Ifil not ask about the candidates views of Roe v. Wade?

2) Why was Ifil so timid last night? Did the Republican smear campaign on her book actually affect her?

3) How could Palin dare say that Obama-Biden talk about change all of the time, yet they are living in the past by mentioning the mistakes of the past 8 years. How, may I ask, does this logically make sense? In order to effectively "change" something, don't you have to acknowledge the things that went on in the past in order to promote actual "change."

4) One thing you might not have noticed: I don't believe Sarah Palin called Barrack Obama...Senator Obama once last night. That's a sign of disrespect and I guarantee it was intentional. And I don't believe that Joe Biden called Palin....Sarah once last night. Everytime he addressed her and her views specificially he called her Governor Palin. That's a sign of respect.

After watching the Couric interviews, I laughed (a lot) because it was apparent that Sarah Palin didn't know anything. Last night, despite her good acting job, confirmed it for me. I'll be terrified if her and John McCain are elected in November and will be longing for the days of George W. Bush. And that is something I thought I would never say.