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Looking forward to it, and I'll be live-blogging the event (plus, if anyone's on Facebook I'll be around to chat during the debate).

If the last of 1986 Chateau Montrose will let me, I'll be watching. I have not made any judgements about Governor Palin until now. The media has portrayed her as an ignorant buffoon but the citizens of Alaska love her and think very highly of her. Alaska is one of the most difficult places on earth to survive. I was there 20 years ago last month and was absolutely dumbstruck by it. It cannot be described, photographed (I tried) or recorded, it can only be experienced. Alaskans are a uniquely tough breed and are anything but stupid. Alaska makes the wilderness of Montana look like a kindergarten of survival school. Alaska is a place where it can get to 70 degrees below zero Farenheit (minus 57 C.) It is huge, I think about 1/6 the size of the entire EU. Your next door neighbor might be 25 or 50 miles away. Stupid or impractical people do not survive very long in places like that. Underestimating Governor Palin may turn out to be a very dangerous mistake on the part of Democrats. We'll see. I'd hardly judge a political candidate by one interview.

Sarah Palin went into this debate as the underdog. No doubt Republican strategists briefed the bar low. But her performance will surprise many people: she smiled (perhaps a little too much), looked confident, didn't stumble (mostly), and was in charge of her brief. She made one minor gaffe when she mangled the name of the US lead general in Operation Enduring Freedom (calling him McClellan rather than McKiernan). Joe Biden performed well too, managing to avoid any gaffes and he also avoided aggression. I'd say Biden came out on top (on personal authority in answers; he didn't sound 'rehearsed') -- but only just. This was surprisingly close. Early polling suggests that voters generally gave this debate to Biden.

I thought the debate was won by Biden clearly, if you could even call it a debate. Clearly Sarah Palin exceeded the low expectations leading into the debate. However it all appeared to be too scripted. During the foreign policy segment in the last half hour, Palin was telegraphing the fact that she was reading large chunks off her notes. The amount of folksy filler used by her in that segment gave the impression that she was having severe difficulty in answering the questions. Biden made a few gaffes of his own, as he always does, but it was obvious that he had a better handle on the factual information surrounding the issues. As William said, he didn't seem to be as scripted (apart from the Hilary 'emotional' moment. I personally think it was, like Clinton's, a well rehearsed piece of political theatre). Christ I am feeling cynical here.
Having watched the debate twice now, I feel that the most revealing response was the one Palin gave in relation to the powers of the VP. Try following her line of argument. You will find great difficulty doing so because it was mostly jibberish. It was a sort of rabbit in the headlights moment were she didn't know what to say.

come on Will, let's be honest,

you are rooting for Obama cos he is a liberal and you dont like Palin cos she is a creationist.

;-)

OT

My favourite bit was when Palin said,

"John McCain is ready to leave, ... i mean lead"

Palin is incompetent, imagine if john mccain has a stroke and she is left to run the country! How can the media keep propping this sham up?

Mgnbar- You think the media is on Palin's side?

The media doesn't care who wins they just want something sensational to report.

its all spin, you know that. . .

there is more reasoned debate on the colbert report