Very Quick Take on Biden-Palin Vice Presidential Debate

Biden serious, focused on McCain. Seemed to me that he kept up a steady, even slogging, attack on McCain.

Palin striking me as getting stranger. Yes, this blog is a Democratic blog and proud of it, but I am wondering if the Republicans really listened to what to their VP candidate was saying. If she meant was she was saying then either she or the Republicans have become truly incoherent.

Palin talked about increasing oil production but also of cleaning up carbons to fight global warming. Helllllllllllllo, I got an ex girlfriend who would call that wanting your cake and eating it too.

More troubling was the repeated attacks on Wall Streeters with what sounded like increased regulation while rehashing Reagan's old trope about government being the problem. Palin came across as mixing government as the problem with taxes, but that was not what Reagan meant back in 1980. He was talking about government regulations. Government deregulation got us our problem of a financial meltdown. Possible explanations for supporting federal government regulation while criticizing government:

1. Palin just tossed this out because it sounded good echoing Reagan.
2. Palin tossed this out because the McCain campaign thought it sounded good echoing Regan.
3. Palin has no idea of the contradiction she created.
4. The McCain campaign do not see any contradiction.
5. McCain and Palin will say anything to win.

Oddly, no one really picked up on these points. Pat Buchanan (MSNBC) sounded like he had fallen in love, mentioned none of what I would Palin's transgressions against Republican orthodoxy. Which leaves me wondering if the Repubs are so desperate to win that they will notice these transgressions. I expect not.

Seems that a look of commentators think she did well. Not that anyone had great expectations. I did not think she would crumble. Frankly, I am even more convinced that she is a very ambitious politician with all the instincts of a shark.

Her admiration for Dick Cheney would have me voting for her even if Obama-Biden were bumblers. Waiting to see what the Republicans think of her idea to expand the vice-president's powers.

Meanwhile, I am still convinced that this woman has no business as Vice-President.

Some reports:

• MSNBC's First Look
• E.J. Dionne's Hockey Mom on Thin Ice
• In Debate, Republican Ticket Survives One Test
• Copy of debate video and transcript form the New York Times' website.
• And for what is most important view for many, the television critics of The New York Time and Washington Post weigh in this entertainment: A Candidate Recaptures Her Image and Palin Takes On A New Foe: Her Image.