Well, niether made a big mistake, and you could see that Palin was coached to within an inch of her life.

She hung on to her talking points like the proverbial bulldog, and she kept spouting the same freaking sound bites over and over. It got kind of tiring to hear her go on over and over about John McCain the “maverick” this, and maverick that, and barak the tax and spend this and tax and spend that.

It won’t change anyones mind.

On strict debate points, Biden by a hair or so. He did a better job of stating his sides position, and pointing out their opponents weaknesses.

also

After the 16th “Nookular” I started screaming. And after two minutes into it I realized she wasn’t doing anything except barfing up 8 years worth of GOP talking points, so I stopped watching.

It’s clear to me that she’s little more than a GOP parrot meant solely to boost voter approval among women but who couldn’t find her own ass with both hands, a map and a flashlight if she were ever in a position of power.

Of course, Paul thought she won. Isn’t that what everyone said: expectations were so low that as long as she doesn’t throw up on stage they’ll say she won. Please…

As a measure of just how coached Sarah Palin was and how much she had rehearsed everything she said, last night she repeated the twist on her response to global warming. She again commented about climate change’s effects on man’s activities. To have said this once is excusable, but to have said it again points out a clear lack of attention to what she was actually saying. Virtually everything she said last night was from a prepared and memorized script. Anyone who fails to recognize this wasn’t paying attention. Last night was not a debate. I can’t even say that what Palin said were answers or responses to the questions. Usually she didn’t even stick to the subject matter that the moderator had presented.

You know, you could almost see the If/Then loops spinning around in her head as she started stupidly into the camera, like a deer in the headlights.

“If they say this, then you answer that”.

Like programing a robot using BASIC or some other archaic programming language.

And if I have to listen to that whiny screechy voice for much longer, I will go stark raving, well, wven more stark raving than I am normally.

Major disappointments. Biden was not aggressive enough. He did not emphasize basic points, rather spewing out too many numbers.

Gwen gave the moose-skinner far too much mouth time.

Gwen’s questions were soft-balls that did not touch on “sensitive” (read: BASIC)
matters such as Palin’s witch-doctor, Jesus-freak, Creationist education, anti-choice, (MADE WOMEN PAY FOR RAPE KITS!!!!!) orientation. She’s far more dangerous even than Bush’s “God told me” input — sending our children to war.

She told so many lies that the True Believers apparently swallow, no matter how ineptly Biden refutes, and Gwen unfairly allocates time.

Palin has obviously not only had 3 weeks of “boot camp” but has studied at the Condoleeza Rice school of Congressional testimony — talk fluently, take up a lot of time, but say nothing. There WAS no content.

It was a non-event. Palin was clearly instructed: “Stick to the script so you don’t say anything stupid.” Biden was clearly instructed “Stick to the script; no one is tuning in to watch you; let her make her own mistakes.” Biden could have torn her to shreds, but chose not to because he didn’t want to come across as a bully. (If Palin were a man, or if she were less cute, less girly, or had some serious credibility, we wouldn’t expect anyone to go easy on her. Imagine a debate opponent being so polite with Condoleeza Rice or Hillary Clinton, much less Guliani or Ted Kennedy.) And our standards for Palin were set so low that we’re applauding her for successfully forming full sentences most of the time (was that a nationally-televised debate between white house candidates, or was it a second grade book report?).

The net effect was that both candidates were too careful and no one really said anything. Definitely not a vote-changer.