spanglegluppet dot com

Just a few quick notes on this week's vice presidential debate in St. Louis.

Just like McCain performed a lot better than was expected at the first presidential debate, so did Palin with this debate. Although I think it's a bit sad that she performed above expectations, when her expectations were obviously so incredibly low to begin with. Her poor performance in the few interviews that she gave, coupled with that Couric thing the other day when she couldn't name a news source that she read made her coherent sentences in the debate seem amazing. I can only see this as good news for the Republicans, as moderates that may have been considering voting McCain/Palin now might tend to have a more favourable opinion of Palin. Although it doesn't seem nearly enough to sway any committed Democrat or left-wing independent.

Having said all that, I think that Biden killed her. He seemed to have the upper hand by far with his experience and smooth talking. True, he stumbled a little more than Palin did, but anyone actually listening to what he was saying could see that there was far more depth and logic to his words. The part where he mentioned his dead wife was touching, and made Palin's comment beforehand ("she'll have her rewards in heaven", or something like that) seem either tactless or heartless. Although I'm now slighty less convinced that Palin is totally ignorant, she still seems very oblivious to a lot of things and...well, a nutcase, frankly.

Although anyone voting in November should remember (hey, that rhymes!) that you're not voting for Biden or Palin. Try and focus more on either Obama or McCain (or whatever third party your affiliatons lie with), as they will be the president, after all. It's still nice to hear from the other half of the ticket though, and these running mates show where the main candidates' affiliations and ideals lie.

Still looking forward to the remaining two debates, and the rest of this slowly dwindling election season.

Tim

P.S. Palin, for crying out loud, it's pronounced new-clear. Not nuke-ular.