"Overture, curtain, lights!"

Tonight’s VP debate made me get up from the couch several times to putter in the kitchen and be out of earshot. It was vanilla-bland, full of over-weening "agree to disagree" and "correct me if I'm wrong" by-your-leave-yness that made me sleepy. It was supposed to be a bloodbath. It was supposed to, once again, announce the Democratic ticket like a clarion. Instead, I heard too much pointless rhetoric, mostly from Palin, which made Biden lay back instead of seizing the offensive and owning it. It was more an afternoon tennis match than the rain-drenched rugby rout I was hoping for. It simply was not combative enough for me, which is crazy because I value civility in my public servants and their exchanges. But I value smarts even more, and I’m ready for the takedown. I’m ready for Obama to get started, and I don’t want anything to interfere with that destiny – it’s too important.


Biden should have taken Palin out at the knees. He had her, and he’s had her all along – why be so deferential? That fake gentility (so that no one should be turned off by her getting righteously brutalized for being dangerously under-qualified for public office at this level) indirectly legitimizes her, and she's practically an imbecile. She shouldn’t be running for high office. Period. And if she’s not actually an imbecile, she’s ambitious more than smart, and that’s a potentially fatal imbalance, male or female. -- KT