Blogging the vice presidential debate

I don't know why they still have vice-presidential debates. It seems the measure of success here is trying to get "people to choose between the lesser of who cares; of setting the bar so low you can barely trip over it."

Having said that, this year's debate did have two twists in it. After the train wreck that was her series of interviews with Katie Couric (you can see them on YouTube - good times), I do not think it was possible for Governor Palin to lose anymore credibility. To make things more interesting, Neesha and I were also listening to the Utah-Oregon State football game. As such, some of the random thoughts I had below during the debate may be a bit confused.

• We're thirty minutes into this thing and I'm coming to realize that neither of the candidates are going to talk about themselves, only their running mates. The result is that this is likely to be a 90 minute "My father/pa could beat up you father/pa."
• Forgive me for being a snob, but why can't these debates have a simple Lincoln-Douglas structure? The format they are using doesn't leave room to say anything except sound bites from their stump speeches. Make that Obama's and McCain's stump speeches.
• I wonder if Governor Palin has read McCain's stump speech? Perhaps she just saw it here (mental note: never speak in front of a blue screen).
  
• Governor Palin is doing much better than I expected after I what I saw in her interviews. However, the first several sentences of each of her responses remind me of a tour guide, announcing the same dates over and over again. She struggles, though, as she moves from prepared facts to vague platitudes, though she skips the analysis well.
• Brian Johnson (Utah's QB) just threw an interception that Oregon State returned 26 yards for a touchdown. You know, if it wasn't for our offense, we'd have a pretty good defense.
  
• Happily, Oregon State muffed the kick-off coverage on that one, allowing two remarkable feats for Utah's return team: first, David Reed caught the ball and held on to it and, second, he returned it 79 yards to the OSU 15-yard line.
• Senator Biden's grin is largely reminscent of a morning talk-show host. I wonder if Al Roker would like to be vice president?
• Utah just had to settle for a field goal after starting a drive on the other guy's 15-yard line. What do Andy Ludwig and the Bush administration have in common? Neither one knows how to finish an offensive series.
  
• Senator Biden just gave a completely unambiguous answer on gay rights. I had to check to make certain I was still watching the debate. Whatever your position, its nice to hear a straight answer. As an aside on the follow-up questions, if you have to announce that you are tolerant of gays, that's a good indication that you aren't.
  
• Did Governor Palin really just do a shout out to her brother's third grade class? I can just see her and her nifty eye wear on the floor at the UN Security Council asking Israel for a holler back.
• I'm pretty sure Senator Biden is playing Sudoku while Governor Palin is speaking.
• Johnson just got sacked again. I think Governor Palin can empathise.
  
• "Well gee whiz golly-darn rootin' tooin' yeehaw doggone bless-your-heart shucks there, Gwen. I ... uh, what was the question?" Some of Governr Palin's responses taste more of hayseed than of substance.
  
• "Dick Cheney is the most dangerous vice president this country has ever had!" Clearly, Senator Biden is overlooking Aaron Burr. He actually killed the guy he shot.
• "We're gonna learn from the mistakes of this administration in our administration." It's a little disheartening to discover that they haven't yet learned those lessons, that it's just something on the honey-do list.
• Why is Oregon State even in this game? Oh, yeah...Johnson spotted them two touchdowns.
  
• I thought it odd that Governor Palin started giving her closing statement with over twenty minutes to go. Turns out she knew what she was doing. This debate is pulling a The Lord of the Rings by dedicating 45% of its time to ending the story with 14 false endings.
  

In the end, this vice presidential debate was the same as every other. I still have not fully made up my mind as to which candidate I want for president, but I definitely know who I do not want for vice president.

mw