Nerve Endings Firing Away

I’m sure that even if you aren’t into politics or simply tuning out the Presidential election, you must have seen yesterday’s debate between the Vice-Presidential candidates Joe Biden and Sarah Palin. It was the ultimate mashup of entertainment and politics which eventually fell flat. But Palin’s performances on the Couric interview had bottomed out her expectations and she would be considered a success if she could construct simple sentences. I must admit that she did not come off stumped and at least managed to answer questions that she wasn’t asked. She was there to talk to the American people and Gwen Ifill and Joe Biden were merely unnecessary props in her performance (“I’m not going to answer the questions from the moderator” and “mainstream media as a filter”).

She definitely looked like the perfect ‘ratta maar’ school mate that you hated in high school and her fake folksy mannerisms made me reach for the remote more than once. She never even wavered from her memorized response when Biden choked up while remembering his dead first wife and daughter as her follow-up sentence was calling McCain a maverick for the ten thousandth time as if she never heard her opponent’s response; acknowledging Biden’s moment would’ve in fact won her more than a few voters.

Is it too much of a Vice-Presidential candidate to answer yes instead of ‘you betcha’? And those ‘doggone it’ and ‘say it ain’t so’ moments make you wonder if America still respects intelligence. From Andrew Sullivan’s blog, I found this cool Sarah Palin Debate Flow Chart:

And in spite of all cramming, Biden ended up winning the debate in two instapolls so probably there is still hope for America. In a focus group of undecided women voters organized by Time Magazine, I found the following paragraph illuminating:

Overall, the women warmed up to both candidates throughout the evening — both Biden and Palin’s favorability ratings rose 9 points from pre- to post-debate. They liked Palin’s strength and confidence, and the married women particularly responded to her “folksiness” and “down-to-earth” personality. That personal regard, however, didn’t necessarily mean they wanted to see her in the White House. “I’d like to have lunch with Sarah,” said one married woman, “but have Joe running my country.” Another agreed: “I think Sarah Palin is cute as a button and is good in sound bytes, but she just is not ready.” Before the debate, only 10 of the women believed Palin was not ready to be vice-president or president; by the end of the evening more than half of them (21) shared that concern.

If the McCain campaign banked on Palin’s likability factor among women, Joe Biden didn’t do bad at all and actually shared the ratings. Four years back, plenty of voters decided on the basis if they could drink a beer with Bush regardless of the fact that he is now a teetotaler. But this bunch of women proved much smarter than those men on the ability to distinguish priorities. This is the America I like and not the dumb one that McCain-Palin would like us to see.