Ok, first and foremost: Biden is winning, and won. Not hugely, but hands down. However, this post will focus more on Palin, and a new respect I found for her tonight. My hat's off to that woman.
First, she made me feel like I was watching my neighbor suddenly thrown onstage to debate a seasoned politician. Her nervousness, although well-checked, was still evident. There was this "hockey-mom", as has become so popular a euphemism for her, up there playing with the big boys. Ugh. The courage that must have took...
Furthermore, I don't think my toughest cram session for any test in college or otherwise was close to the splatter she must have been going through the last few weeks. It seemed very obvious to me that most of what came out of her mouth was studied and remembered, and that it was only "known" well enough to most times be put in the right context. But that knowledge wasn't hers, yet; it hadn't sunk in as understanding. If it had, it would have come out much more fluidly. Regardless, my god the amount of information she must have had to assimilate.
An interesting topic came up on one of the networks Joey and I were watching prior to the debate -- that the biggest thing Palin is defending tonight is her career. It seemed (I'd only been half listening at the time, as my eardrum was punctured today [another story]), it seemed the commentators / pundits then were implying that, should she grossly fail, her career will be kaput.
I am convinced McCain and Palin are not what we want the next four years, but I would be incredibly disgusted were her career to truly suffer after tonight, as she pulled a monumental feat for a small town woman, recently turned Governor. Same as I would were Obama not given the credit for going from relative obscurity as a community organizer in Chicago to the possible Presidency. My post from August 20 implies my same sentiment: that whatever memes out there have infected us simple citizens with such animosity based on doublespeak and bullshit that we overlook our own gut instincts.
One more plus I have to hand to Palin: she's absolutely a tasty bitch who deserves a good spanking for being such a bad kitty...
I really can't say, though, if that's a qualification or not for Vice President.
