Of course Biden wins, because he actually merits the place at the podium, because he knows what he's talking about and his debate prep was surely limited to not appearing condescending to the right's delicate flower/pit bull. He did a fine job, was commanding and sure, and human.
Palin, for her part, didn't deliver any huge embarrassments. When she used the phrase "rears its head", she mercifully was not referring to Putin, at the very least. She did the hokey accent and vernacular, blah blah blah. I'm not the person to sell with "I will be a great VP because I have children", but I suppose there are people who think that's a qualification, so she used it, repeatedly. I know when and where she stretched the truth or made outright misstatements, but I understand that a large portion of the country doesn't follow various details.
McCain needed a game changer, though, and she is not the one to deliver it. The campaign is working as though its base of wingnuts can really deliver this thing, but they can't. Not at this stage of the game.
The word all over the intertubes is pretty much the same, some saying it better than others, all in agreement that the race is still Obama's. So rather than delving deeper, I'll leave you with two bits that are off the main story.
Atrios was out last night, but preloaded discussion threads for users to discuss the debates live. Here are the titles for the threads, which cracked me up this morning:
20:15 Time to choose your debate drinking word.
20:55 If you chose "also" as your debate game drinking word, consider calling the ambulance right now.
21:15 "You know" was probably a bad choice, too.
Second item: Yesterday on Thom Hartman, guest Stephen Spoonamore gave a compelling interview on our voting systems, and how very insecure they are. Spoonamore's a life long republican, and a major architect of security systems for Mastercard and various other things you use every day. Last month, he testified under oath that the Ohio vote was probably hacked and flipped for W. In fact, he believes with certainty that Kerry won Ohio. Coverage of the case can be found at Bradblog.
This item is just here to remind you to remind every single person you know of voting age that their vote counts. If it isn't close, they can't steal it and get away with it. For every single point win, there's an opportunity for a stolen state. If you know any voters in Ohio, Florida, Michigan, or any of the light blue to trending red states, remind them of this.
