VP Debate Results: Kick The Can

Now, I think I know why Sarah Palin practiced for her debate outdoors.

They were busy with the massive canning operation indoors.

Jesus, Del Monte doesn't do as much canning in 90-minutes.

Was it a fund-raising move, to have Mommy Moose sponsored by the American Canning Association?

I don't have the transcript yet, but I know, at one point, Palin, who up to that point, cheerfully, and full of perk, had been answering the questions with her own answers, not, necessarily generated by the question, came right out and said she wasn't going to answer the questions the way Moderator Gwen Ifill, or her debate challenger, Senator Joe Biden, liked.

The clearest view of Sarah Palin that came out this evening is that either the coaching worked, or she has the extraordinary capability to memorize the notes.

At times, you could see Mommy Moose drifting into that Tina Fey/Katie Couric mode, almost seeing her words heaved onto the conveyor belt, going to the "Out Tube".

She hit, and early, all the homey, folksy targets, I suppose, to try to keep them in their seats.

She did "Shout Outs" to Soccer Moms and Dads, Joe Six Pack and, of course, the Hockey Moms.

And she attacked Joe Biden, frequently and often.

Biden, for his part, did exactly what he should have done, and needed to do - He protected and defended Barack Obama, and he hammered home McCain = Bush.

Biden could have done a bit more, in that, he left a bevy of softballs hanging, as Palin sprouted the distortions and lies (like, a few times, bragging how Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain "suspended" his campaign, to work on the Wall Street Heist - wink, wink).

(Yet, he also towered over Palin, with a good story from his early days in the Senate, and, near the very end, choking up some, when talking about his days and a single day, and his children, following the terrible car accident that killed his first wife, and daughter.)

Remarkably, Palin didn't push back.

She let Biden, for nearly the entire 90-minutes, whack McCain like a piñata, without much of a counter attack.

Including, near the end, when Biden slapped down, spit on, and ground with his heel, McCain's self-styled "Maverick" legend.

Head slap!

Of course, it was that way ... It wasn't one of the canned notes that she set to memory!

The Jaw Dropper

Any previous references that Palin was similar to Darth Vader/Dick Cheney, those people were vindicated.

In a question about the Vice President's office, how they would work it, Palin, astoundingly, made some bizarre reference to the Constitution, and stated that she would like to see the powers of the office INCREASED, as to how it relates to the Senate and what that power would give legislatively

HOLY SHIT!

She wants more power than Cheney!

That's pretty ballsy, and I only hope the Obama Campaign has already produced an ad, a commercial, a two-hour-movie on that.

After the past 7.5-years, all that has come out how Cheney, almost single-handly (well, with The Scooter, David Addington and John Yoo riding shotgun), has dragged this country down, and Palin comes out with an idea, that, if elected, she wants more power than he ever had.

Out-of-touch?

The Take

Well, on the upside for the Stumblin' Bumblin' McCain Camp, her head didn't explode, and she didn't get ushered off the stage, babbling incoherently.

The Rove Rats can burn those lists, of the midnight calls they were going to have to make, to see who they could get to take over on the ticket.

She did well enough to live another day (and she did make a comment of not speaking "through a filter" again, talking directly to "the people", which translates that she will continue to be shielded from the media), the base, along with the Right Wing Freak Show are popping champagne bottles, and will be crowing that she won (on MSNBC, early polling suggests Biden won, with both Palin and Biden doing well with the numbers, suggesting, perhaps, it was more of a draw).

And, Palin introduced, for this year, anyway, the debate tactic of ignoring the question posed by the moderator, raise your own question and then, energetically answer your own question.

Suffice it to say, both accomplished what they needed to this evening.

However, it still looks, from tonight, back to when she was first announced, that Palin is some kind of "Make A Wish" kid, who's desire was to go through a political campaign.

Or, perhaps, the geeky junior high school civics student, who gets to go to the State House and "run the government" for the day.

Palin has a detached, cartoonish way about her, though, that she can spout her lines and speeches, there's an emptiness to it, that all she is doing is reciting lines, sans any commitment or belief.

Question is, does the Stumblin' Bumblin' McCain Campaign have the stamina to keep producing all those cans for her?