The fact that some pundits, and many Americans, think Sarah Palin did well in the debate last night is a sign of how low the level of political discourse in this country has fallen.

Of course we all knew the bar was going to be pretty low. After all the scary-insipid ramnblings from her "through the filter of the mainstream media" recently, all she had to do was not say anything outrageously heinous, and she'd have pulled herself back up.

She smiled. She winked. She offered a lot of third-grade-teacher happy talk, said "America" (she pronounces it "Am-YIER-ica") and "job creation" and "energy" a bunch, and generally-- and this was what her supporters said afterward-- came off like a regular person. As if a regular person should be running the country.

She didn't answer a single question. In fact, early on she even SAID she wasn't going to answer the questions, choosing instead to "talk directly to America." (wink.) Sadly, the moderator let her slide all night.

Biden, of course, demonstrated utter command of every issue that came up, which makes sense because he's spent 36 years in the senate and has dealt with 'em all. He had opinions and positions; she had a shrug and "heck, search me, I've only been doing this for 5 weeks." It was like watching the statesman and the kindergarten teacher; he demonstrated total command of every issue, and of the intricacies of government and the lessons of history. She demonstrated that she knew some of the key phrases and bullet points associated with the issues. In fact, her attitude toward history was, "There you go again, looking back." I assume you know what they say about people who know nothing of history.

But here in the US, when you demonstrate total command of the issues, you're an elitist; when you offer up folksy happy talk and mindless platitudes, you're-- well, you're George W. Bush, aren't you? If this twit ends up a heartbeat away from the presidency, then all I can say is, we deserve it. Imagine this scenario: McCain wins, then has a stroke in December. Russia invades, say, Kazakhstan. Palin is acting president of the United States, the leader of the free world. What does she say to Vladimir Putin? Doggone it, Vlad, we hockey moms don't cotton to that kind of behavior? Hey, remember me, I used to wave to you from Alaska? Or does she just shrug, smile and wink, and say, hey, I've only been president a week, don't look at me?

If we didn't have such low expectations of Palin, if she had been any other VP candidate, her performance in this debate would have been shockingly scary for her utter lack of substance and command of the issues. That our perception now is anything else is somewhere between scary and sad.

Labels: Joe Biden, The politics, The politics; Sarah Palin