Good morning, dahlings. By my count, all but one of you hated her. Just like Bette and me - most loved me, but there were those one or two loved Bette. Then, she won that damned Oscar…

“You betcha it, gol darn it” - I was waiting for he break out with “on the Good Ship Lollipop”. Biden showed he can be VP and step in to the presidency if needed. Not true about Palin. Her folksy manner was too scripted and got in the way. The interviews say more about the candidates. Mc Cain could have and should have done better. Too bad he ignored Kay Bailey Hutchinson. I will be voting for Obama/Biden ticket.

Full disclosure, I love Joe Biden, always have. He did not disappoint. As for Sarah, down home doesn’t impress me. I don’t want someone a heartbeat away from the pres. doing shout outs to 3rd graders and winking at the camera. I didn’t hear one answer from her that wasn’t a sound bite and the when all else fails talk about energy would have been funny if the stakes weren’t so high.

I thought Biden started off stronger, but grew weaker as he devolved into his old ways. Palin started off shaky, but grew stronger as her comfort level increased with the format. Biden interrupted himself so many times towards the end that you had no idea of what he was talking about. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks and clearly his handlers have been trying to mold the verbose old coot into delivering tasty sound bites, which he tried valiantly to do — but to no avail. That’s when Palin surged ahead and drew a little blood. I wasn’t a big fan of her constant grin however and think she missed many opportunities to strongly counter Biden’s charges. Weird debate. Why don’t we just give them 5 minutes each for scripted statements next time and call it a day. Everything is so freakin’ prepped these days that nothing is real or sincere anymore. Ack.

During the debate, I received a text from my fourteen year-old nephew, who asked why Palin kept changing the subject & not answering the questions put to her. I replied that because she’s been so well protected from the press, few expected much of her. IMO, expectations about her performance were so low, all she had to look good was not to pee on the stage. I told him that she had to look not only smart, but tough, as if she could be in command, even if it meant trying to direct the the way the debate played out. I was surprised by how well she did; she seemed comfortable & never got flustered, even when it was obvious she had to steer the debate away from subjects she either wouldn’t~ or couldn’t~ talk about. I think she did what she was programmed to do; parrot the party line, push the (false, IMO) picture that McCain is actually a ‘maverick’, &…well, not pee on the stage. She didn’t say anything that made me think, ‘Hey, she can think for herself!’ She showed no deftness in the way she dragged any subject back to exactly what she wanted to talk about. Before the debate was over, i was thoroughly weary of being beat over the head with the GOP party line that she & McCain are mavericks. I think, (& again, this is my opinion), that if any world leaders listened to last night’s debate, they must be in hysterics over Palin’s over-the-top “Joanie Six-Pack” approach. She did not sound like someone who could negotiate anything with world leaders. Perhaps that’s why the GOP tried to limit her recent appearance at the U.N. to photo ops.