Exactly what did Sarah Palin do last night that any high school drama club member couldn't have done?!?!?!?!
I knew Palin wasn't going to stumble, drool or look dumbfounded last night. And I knew that after the debate the pundits would say that she stemmed concerns about her. But instead of giving Palin credit for not looking stupid, let's step back and think about how someone turns in a performance like Palin did last night.
Why did Palin not answer many of the questions that were posed to her (and she even announced that's what she was going to do) and instead talk about what she wanted to talk about?
Why did every soliloquy that came out of her mouth sound like someone wrote it down on paper earlier that week and not like something that she just said that came from her brain?
Why did Palin either trip up, sound stupid or fail to put the right words together to form sentences whenever there was dialogue that was off-script (which she generally nipped in the bud and got back on script) but otherwise sound like she could address issues?
Why did Palin keep repeating the same material over again?
Why did she play the role of a cutsie home-town girl complete with winking, crinkled nose, smiling, blinking, bangs in her eyes and colloquial vernacular (to the point that it made me sick and it reminded me of every high school girlfriend I ever had that tried that cutsie act to talk me into buying her a promise ring)?
Isn't it clear to anyone who thinks about it for even a minute that Sarah Palin went off to John McCain's ranch and memorized a series of 5 minute soliloquies and was instructed to deliver those lines, and nothing more, no matter what happens? Anyone with the capacity to memorize that much soliloquy in one week's time could have debated Joe Biden in EXACTLY the same way. She memorized several 5 minute soliloquies, like an actress memorizing the script to a play. Then she stood there last night and she performed those lines. She didn't do anything a high school drama club member couldn't do. She was more Angelina Jolie than she was a competent politician or leader. Asked a question about something not on the sript as a response line... just talk about energy or being a maverick. Sure, she had many subjects on her script, and she got most of her memorized lines out without much incident. But wasn't it obvious that she did exactly what anyone with a week of study time could have done? Palin proved nothing last night other than the fact that she has the capacity to memorize 30 minutes of soliloquy in one week!
But is this entirely lost on the media? I haven't heard anyone talking about this! Why can't the media analyzewhat Palin actually did last night. She basically tried to bluff her way through the debate. Get away with pulling the wool over everyone's eyes. And that seems to have worked to the extent that anyone gives her any credibility for that performance.
I WAS surprised at something during the debate last night. The big surprise of the night was that Biden turned in a masterful, stone-cold, home-run, best debate performance I have ever seen in my life performance! I never saw a Biden performance that good coming. He was a maestro. Masterful.
To my eyes, last night's debate wasn't even close. It was a bloodbath.