Trojan Moose

In brief:

Sarah Palin is a cynical, paranoid impostor. She has proven no capacity for analytical thought, on any level. It is hilarious and also incredibly sad to watch anyone attempt to defend her inanity. All the compliments from the Right celebrate her performance. Even Peggy Noonan today lavished odd praise on Palin (a VP pick Noonan once called, off microphone, "cynical") but that praise was all about superficial traits and fuzzy narrative. Noonan unintentionally nailed it when she noted, "Palin [she] is not a person of thought but of action."

Well, exactly. Sarah Palin is an actress. She is a tourist.

Joe Biden is smart, tough and a gentleman. He demonstrated restraint and good judgment. He doesn't need an ounce of defending. He was pitch perfect. Barack Obama chose a great partner and counselor.

About Gwen Ifill: What do you call a moderator who does not insist the actual questions that have been asked be answered? Why even ask questions if they are ignored? Why not just let Palin stand there and host a PowerPoint presentation?

Finally: Why ask about civil unions in these debates, at all? They are being determined at the state level. Can we drop the farce of bringing up Gays in every debate, just to allow the Republicans to sputter mildly PC answers about "tolerance" and "contracts" between adults. What sublime arrogance. The posture of those who believe they are superior. Sarah Palin raises an unmarried, pregnant teenager and thinks she has the moral high ground on me. What a disgusting display. Keep your tolerance, sister. We all pay the same taxes; we should all have the same rights. Darn right.

Oh and after the classless way Palin completely ignored Biden's poignant discussion of his family tragedy, in conjunction with the entirety that is John McCain, might a suggest a new slogan for the false Mavericks: McCain-Palin: Shrill, Baby, Shrill

Update (10/6): Frank Rich noticed this non-class moment in this Sunday's NYT and wrote (well):

But the debate’s most telling passage arrived when Biden welled up in recounting his days as a single father after his first wife and one of his children were killed in a car crash. Palin’s perky response — she immediately started selling McCain as a “consummate maverick” again — was as emotionally disconnected as Michael Dukakis’s notoriously cerebral answer to the hypothetical 1988 debate question about his wife being “raped and murdered.” If, as some feel, Obama is cool, Palin is ice cold. She didn’t even acknowledge Biden’s devastating personal history.