[vtsnowedin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('venky', 'I')ts mainly because many of us have spent the better part of the week disregarding her as an airheaded bimbo, that her making coherent arguments and at the least holding her ground in this debate is a victory of sorts.

Sure it was pretty obvious that her answers were memorized and her actual depth of knowledge was pretty thin, nevertheless I am sure that while we might dismiss her as a fake, the right wing base and even some independents are going to love her; she does know how to connect to them.

[AlexdeLarge]

She was as nervous as Obama would be at a Nascar race! LOL

Biden was cool. He showed how a lifetime of pontificating at the taxpayers expense can pay off. For Palin to do as well as she did is quite amazing.

But shes in the big leagues now, and you have to be able to hit the ball.

[smallpoxgirl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dinopello', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('smallpoxgirl', 'I') was impressed that Palin actually answered all the questions. Not even one "I'll have to look into it and get back to you." I think that's definitely score one for her.

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AlexdeLarge', 'I')t's a good thing the debate moderator is not biased. Palin will need all the help she can get!

[mos6507]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vtsnowedin', '
')You think Biden's weren't?? I think they both prepared as hard as they could.

[TheDude]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('smallpoxgirl', 'A')ll in all....I'd say it was clearly a win for Cthulhu.

[smallpoxgirl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TheDude', '"')We're fixing to go down to Galveston and obviously are going to see a devastated part of this fantastic state."—Houston, Sept. 16, 2008

[mercurygirl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')sked which is a greater threat, a nuclear Pakistan or a nuclear Iran, Palin seemed to be stalling, or writing a term paper, when she said: “An armed, nuclear armed especially Iran is so extremely dangerous to consider.”

Biden was crisper, with a dose of realism: “Iran getting a nuclear weapon would be very, very destabilizing. They are more than — they are not close to getting a nuclear weapon that's able to be deployed.”

Biden relentlessly and clearly delivered a specific message he had been assigned to hammer home: McCain-Palin would be four more years of Bush-Cheney. Biden mentioned President Bush more than a dozen times.

"Look, past is prologue, Gwen," he said at one point. "The issue is, how different is John McCain's policy going to be than George Bush's? I haven't heard anything yet."

By contrast, Palin was in much more of a survival mode, barely delivering on her advisers' hopes that she would be aggressive with Biden, throwing gaffes and policies back at him. For the Alaska governor, it was policy as a second language — adequate but not enlightening.

[Pops]

I was relieved that neither one made any embarrassing mistakes, we've had 8 years of that.

Joe won the battle on points I thought but Sarah won her war by not freezing or gaffing and just evading.

Still though I'm a dem and will vote for Barrak (however it's spelled) I wouldn't feel too worried about John being pres, but a vice prez that shakes her bangs, smiles and winks while twisting the rhetorical knife does worry me.

[dinopello]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mos6507', 'I') mean, how many times can she say "maverick" McCain? She was like a broken record.

[Denny]

I think its something all Americans can take pride in, seeing two political opponents being courteous to each other and also to see a women who came from no priveledged position, wealth or education like Sarah Palin, being this close to the highest office in the country. I even like her cutesy "betcha"s and "doggone it"s.

Even if her grasp of foreign relations is not that great, she can have a Secretary of State do that. I don't think most Americans put all that much emphasis on what goes on outside their borders, so it won't hurt her much. But, everybody likes to see a success story, this mother of five, one a handicapped baby, who became a governor has to be it. She is amazing.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Denny', 'S')he is amazing.

[dinopello]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Denny', 'S')he is amazing.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dinopello', 'I')s that what she was saying ?

[eastbay]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Denny', 'I') think its something all Americans can take pride in, seeing two political opponents being courteous to each other and also to see a women who came from no priveledged position, wealth or education like Sarah Palin, being this close to the highest office in the country. I even like her cutesy "betcha"s and "doggone it"s.

Even if her grasp of foreign relations is not that great, she can have a Secretary of State do that. I don't think most Americans put all that much emphasis on what goes on outside their borders, so it won't hurt her much. But, everybody likes to see a success story, this mother of five, one a handicapped baby, who became a governor has to be it. She is amazing.

[mercurygirl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dinopello', 'E')dit: I'd like to see her have a 90 minute debate on just energy since she kept saying that she was an expert. They both would struggle but there is a lot to discuss - like how she figures that we will become energy independent. Obama and Biden have both now repeated the assertion that we (the US) has only 3% of the world's reserves and use 20+% of the world's production. Palin must think our reserves are much larger or else she thinks we can dramatically reduce our consumption.

[dinopello]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mercurygirl', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dinopello', 'E')dit: I'd like to see her have a 90 minute debate on just energy since she kept saying that she was an expert. They both would struggle but there is a lot to discuss - like how she figures that we will become energy independent. Obama and Biden have both now repeated the assertion that we (the US) has only 3% of the world's reserves and use 20+% of the world's production. Palin must think our reserves are much larger or else she thinks we can dramatically reduce our consumption.

[mercurygirl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'B')y the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing[/b]. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America. This is a quality that can't be learned; it's either something you have or you don't, and man, she's got it.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mercurygirl', 'I')'m sure they drilled her to smile A LOT.

[eastbay]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mercurygirl', 'I')'m sure they drilled her to smile A LOT.