Gotta hand it to her...

...Palin did pretty well. But I don't feel she gave us any more than she did at the RNC. I have no doubt if I ask any parent anywhere about the economy I would hear fear in the answer. Naturally I would. I wouldn't bet against that. I know it. We all know. Palin saying it only lets us know that she's up with what's going on, but it sounds like she's only just now figured it out. She did well in talking directly to the country. But I disliked her folksiness. It was smug and condescending, especially when she addressed Biden ("Say it ain't so, Joe. There you go again."), and it speaks again to an insular, parochial outlook. "We need a little bit of Main Street Wasilla in Washington." What is it exactly that Wasilla has that can fix the housing market, Wall Street, and two costly, protracted wars?

The debate succeeded in being positive because the anticipation was both candidates would fall all over themselves. The upshot might come solely from neither candidate doing what many were worried about: Biden in looking like a bully and talking too frankly off-the-cuff; and Palin in tripping over her words and not being able to think on her feet. They redeemed themselves, both of them. There was so much worry heaped on this debate, it could be nothing but toothless. The first comment from the post-debate analysis last night was that it wasn't a game-changer. And that's been echoed this morning.

http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2008/10/03/palin-rebounds-in-debate-–-but-is-it-too-late/

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/factchecking_biden-palin_debate.html

http://www.factcheck.org/just-the-facts/the_2008_vp_debate.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122300786229301597.html?mod=special_page_campaign2008_mostpop

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/zontv/2008/10/palin_all_attitude_and_image_t.html

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=5942414&page=1

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14236.html

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14235.html

http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/debates/transcripts/vice-presidential-debate.html

How many times can Palin say the word "maverick"? I used to do this as a kid, say a word so many times in a row it lost all meaning. It wouldn't even sound like a word after awhile. Has John McCain said "maverick" as many times as Sarah Palin?

I have to admit, I do find something of myself in Palin. She reminds me of my younger self, having just learned something in school and, feeling collegiate, running it into the ground - linking it to everything and saying it again and again and again.

She still talks in general terms, and assumes that's how we're all thinking. "John McCain's healthcare plan is detailed." I hope it is. I don't need the preamble to reassure me that a man with decades in the senate has a detailed plan for anything. I assume it. I assume that John McCain has thought things through. I assume general terms have been starting points. What I want is to hear about the middle and the end, the particulars and the results McCain and Palin hope to gain from them. A $5000 dollar tax credit for healthcare? That's a little open-ended.