The Cute Factor

With expectations sweeping the floor, Sarah Palin had no where to go but up. She was forceful, bless her heart. She had the “cute factor” working, batting those great big brown eyes, sporting those huge dimples and flashing that perfectly aligned extra white smile. But after about five minutes of “aw shucks, politics delivered in that grating sing-songy voice, I was ready to pull out what little hair I have on my head.

Palin was obviously well rehearsed in GOP attack lines, but was almost totally non responsive to most of the questions. Cliche after cliche was followed by campaign line after campaign line to the point of repetitive tedium.

Joe Biden, I thought gave the best debate performance of his life. I’ve seen him a few times now, and this time he kept me engaged without resorting to an overwhelming amount of Senate-speak. He showed himself to be the foreign relations expert that he is. He stated his positions as well as those of Obama’s, clearly and concisely.

He was a gentleman. There were many times that he could have climbed all over his lesser experienced opponent, but chose to just chuckle rather than to pounce. He didn’t need to, her sometimes nonsensical answers spoke volumes.

Palin will still probably get a bounce out of this. Not because she and McCain deserve it, but because folks probably think she is so damned cute behind that microphone.