She was folksy, and the conservatives will be thrilled, she didn't go Couric on us.

Biden, after he clamed down, won the last hour.

No harm no foul, not a game changer.

I think the "war on the media" meme is going to really start to bite the McCain camp in the ass.

Pat Buchanan is predictably blowing smoke.

The thing that surprised me was her willingness to jettison the mainstream Republican party and it's long-held positions in her effort to establish she and McCain as 'mavericks.'  The only problem is she and McCain aren't running as independents.  For most of the debate she sounded like she was running with Ross Perot.

Biden had a better debate than Obama did last week.  A disciplined and focussed Biden is a pleasure to listen to.  

Gwen Ifill is a total pro.

LOL...Pitchfork Pat is spinning like a top!

Pat thinks she would have beaten Lincoln at the Lincoln Douglas debate...

Palin definitely won "cute." Just what I always wanted in a Vice-President.

My expectations were that Palin would win this debate quite easily.  Instead, Biden completely destroyed her.  I was very pleasantly surprised.

CNN focus group: Biden overwhelmingly won.

hit me. I "felt his pain". I am serious. I choked up and teared up with him.

Progressive Blue

LOL. Pat Buchanon said Palin "wiped the floor with Joe Biden."

Scarborough should be on their debate coverage. He's willing to be reasonably objective. Buchanon will give credit to Obama and other Democrats during the typical cable programs, but in the heat of an us-or-them question he defaults to the right and it's often embarrassing, like tonight.

Not exactly new here(been visiting this site or years), but this is the first time I'm posting a comment.

Some thoughts on the debate:

A.)Palin was going out of her way to be cute.  She wasn't...  At all.  She overplayed it, and I think that cost her.

2.)Biden- thankfully- did not go overboard at any point nor become condescending.  Big plus.

VI.)Hopefully, no one was planning on taking a shot anytime the word "Maverick" came up, otherwise welcome to AlcoholPoisoningville.

#.)In my opinion, Biden won by a margin of let's say...  63-37.

-DS

When Biden had that moment where he choked up, that was very emotional. It was real. It was sincere. It wasn't scripted like all of Palin's responses. Biden won many hearts, I'm sure, with his response and I think it will play very well with independent and undecided women voters. Biden was very impressive tonight!

": "This debate will make a difference in this race. Watch the polling in the next 48 hours."

I think Luntz is spinning...

But, I never underestimate the potential for the American public to pull stupid out of their backside.

I was about to yak if she said it again...

Interesting comment by Paul Begala to the effect that she did well for herself but didn't help McCain, she's running for 2012.  Ha!  I can see what he means.

First off, HD is not Sarah Palin's friend!  LOL!

OK, that said, I can't believe that she tied herself to Cheney, I can't believe she brought her props to the debate, and I can't believe people are going to let her get away with the fact that she didn't answer questions, but kept going back to her talking points!

Game Changer?  I think not!  She was snarky, and Joe was a gentleman!

luntz is a putz.   The CNN group had about 8 or 9 change their vote and only a few to McCain.

I'm surprised no one caught Palin's flub: "It's a toxic mess on Mainstreet that's affecting Wallstreet."

I'm also surprised people are complimenting Palin for not answering the questions asked and giving prerehearsed scripts instead. This was a smart strategy, but also obvious: you can't hope to make up for a lifetime of incuriosity, so no matter what the moderator asks, she gives a few sentences she can recite from memory.

Four people out of how many in the room switched their vote?

She would be foolish to run against an incumbent in 2012. Obama, if he wins, would be in the most favorable situation imaginable in 2012, an incumbent with his party in power only one term. Carter in 1980 is the only loser in 100 years in that scenario. Normally it's a landslide for the incumbent.

Palin probably helps McCain only because the polling margin right now is outside where it figures to be. An open race shouldn't be a 5-7 point margin against a known quantity like McCain. I prefer a power rating-type measurement and this cycle should be 2-4 point Democratic edge, not 5-7. A natural downshift may be attributed to Palin when in reality it's simply a return to where the race logically fits.

Howard Fineman just called her a wolverine, who grabbed on to a strangers pants leg...

There seems to be a lot of talk about what people are looking for when watching a debate. One being personality, another a command of the issues, and three do they look like they can play the part.

I think it was a draw on the first one. I know Palin and McCain folks really wanted to win the personality portion. But it also felt that way watching it and it shouldn't. You shouldn't have to appear to be trying to be folksy. It seemed forced I think most objective viewers. But to the viewers that would eat her shit I am sure they loved it and so will a choice set of independents. Biden seemed very much himself and unpretentious which he sometimes can be and at some points very real like in the video above.

On the second I think Biden clearly sounded more knowledgeable. Mostly because his answers were well answers. Palin kept going back to a canned answer approach which again wore thin after the first half hour and became increasingly obvious after that. But she never got caught off guard other than on surprisingly enough the social issue of gay rights.

On the third I again think Biden took it. He seems to have the demeanor and authority that Palin lacks. She talks about being a governor but I don't see it. Like I know you don't have to fit the prototypical mode of old white male but it was deeper than that. You hear it when Hillary speaks. You hear it when Janet Naplitano speaks or Kathleen Sebelius. You just don't get the confidence of a leader from Palin.

I think at the end of the day Biden took it to objective viewers. But Palin didn't tell us she'd find and and get back to ya on that one and to the pundits that is all that will matter for them to call it a draw.

Is he really going to push the notion that the polls will now move in McCain's favor?  I thought she did well, was adorable, but to conclude that she won, I don't know how anyone could make that conclusion.

It's Fox v. CNN polls again.

CNN Poll of watchers of the debate:
Biden 51, Palin 36
Biden: 64% though he did better than expected, 14% worse.
Palin: 84% better, 7% worse (not a tough thing there...)
Palin Qualified: 46% say yes, 4% up from before the debate

They didn't mention the demographics of the poll; last week, more democrats than republicans were polled.

First off -- I don't think she was going for "cute". I think she was going for "folksy", a la say Ronald Reagan. I think it worked -- for about 5 minutes. Then it was ok -- for about 5 minutes. Then it got old and grating for the rest of the debate. And I think that's the key in scoring it.

So:

1. If you're a conservative base Republican, she won huge. Bigger than McCain. We knew that going in.
   
2. If you're a conservative intellectual Republican, she won a squeaker. Her answers were, for the most part, vapid, but she delivered them well and proved she could learn or at least be coached.
   
3. If you're a moderate Republican, probably slightly reassuring, but not massively.
   
4. If you're a Democrat of any stripe, she lost, not as badly as she might have, but still badly.
   
5. If you're an independent (the key here) I think she lost moderately broadly but not badly. The "folksy" got entirely too old and grating, and anyone who's independent at this point is going to notice she failed to answer much of anything.

Secondarily:

1. If you're a base Republican, Biden lost. We knew that.
   
2. If you're most anyone else, Biden won, even if you also think Palin won. The problem here is that most of Biden's best remarks were never responded to, particularly his absolute demolition of maverickyness. Biden consistently advanced Obama and demolished McCain with substance, and fended off every Palin talking point; if you hadn't already bought into the talking points, he won. Palin was ineffective at either hitting Obama or defending McCain on much of anything -- again, unless you're already predisposed to like McCain and dislike Obama.

So my scorecard is in the 60-40 range, maybe 65-35. It's impossible for it to pass 70-30.

I think we may see apparently paradoxical results in polling. Flat to slight uptick for Obama, with possibly a slight uptick for McCain as well (i.e. each's numbers may go up, with undecideds deciding; I don't think McCain's gains will come from Obama losses). Gains for Palin on positive/negative, she helped herself, but even better gains for Biden. Flat to slight gain for Obama; loss for McCain, who loses because of how poorly she defended his maverickyness.

Of course I've been terribly wrong on these things before, but that's my take on it.

Palin did what she needed to do - earn a passing grade to stem the embarassment she's caused McCain lately.

Biden did what only he can do - he was supurb, and assured the momentum towards Obama will continue.

Biden won the debate 51-39 percent. Both candidates did better than expected.

Paraphrasing somewhat--
``I am not going to let anyone say that just because I am a man, I do not know how to raise children..''

That is going to resonate with a bunch of people.  

Carl Berstein just said, She is ready to be Secretary of the Interior, not President.

Even Ed Rollins said, this doesn't change it, it's about McCain.

Palin stopped the bleeding.  However, the Republicans are 5-7% behind and I doubt it will change.  I agree that Palin represented herself well, but couldn't really defend the indefensible.  It is a game to say "don't look in the past" or "don't play the blame game" when your party is to blame.  

in CNN poll improved to 69% (from 58%); Palin's improved to 56% (from 48%)

I did not think I'd come away from this liking Sarah Palin. But I do. She was extremely gracious to Joe Biden in a way that we just haven't seen. Of course, that could have just been Biden breaking through the partisanship. First thing he did was walk right up to her dad to shake his hand.

The format of this event allowed Palin to avoid humilation because there was no follow up questions. Katie Couric always got her on the follow up. Specifically, what newspapers do you read. Specifically, what Supreme court decision do you disagree with. Specifically, how does Alaska being close to Russia prepare you for being the President.

In this format, Palin could spout anything she wanted. She did not have to answer the questions. Many times while she talked, I found myself having no idea what she was talking about and what the question was.

Joe Biden, on the other hand, talked in complete sentences and had your complete attention with his ideas. He was very easy to follow and you learned things when he talked. I was very impressed by him.  I would go so far to say Joe is a better debater than McCain or Obama.

This was the most sexist and contrived debate I have ever seen.  Evereything was set up to favor Sarah Palin.  The format, the moderator, and even the questions, all softballed so as not to demonstrate her ineptitude.  If Sarah Palin was a man, she would never have gotten a pass on it, and the Mainstream Media (MSM) would have been all over it.  We are still not past the point where a pretty smiling woman gets a pass by nature of her sex.  What nonsense this is!!!  First, to attend the debate, then stand there and announce that you aren't going to answer any of the questions...astonishing!!  It's like showing up at a sporting event, and announcing that you aren't going to play by the rules.  Haven't we seen this before, where an elected official refuses to play by the rules (ala Dick Cheney, Troopergate etc)?   Anyone hearing this should be really afraid of Sarah Palin.  Joe Biden clearly defined his responsibilities under the Constitution.  I doubt Sarah Palin has ever read it, and basically wants awesome and unchecked powers, just like Cheney.  Or maybe she has read it, since she seems to have read any and everything.  Be afraid, be very afraid!!!  Secondly, she never answered any of the questions, but just repeated talking points.  For Christ sakes, why have the debate at all?  Post debate, we have MSM males drooling about how well she did.  I am seeing lines like "Palin meets expectations".  Whose expectations?  Certainly not the American peoples.  We as a people thought that and expect that the VP candidate would be at least coherent and conversant; not an android repeating rehearsed words and talking points.  What debate were THEY (The MSM) watching?  If you're not going to answer any questions, Ms Palin coulda saved us the folksy lingo and repetitious talking points.  If fact, Ms Palin coulda just phoned it in!!!