Palintology And The Well Above Average Joe

Amy Poehler, at the end of the SNL skit on the Palin-Couric interview, asked "Forgive me, Mrs. Palin, but it appears that when cornered, you become increasingly adorable. Is that fair to say?'

Oh doggone it, you betcha.

Tonight's VP debate proved just that, and Sarah didn't even need to be really cornered. Right down from talking about soccer moms and even winking in a "hey you" kind of way at the camera, Barbie all but asked Gwen Ifill and Joe Biden to join her at the Hometown Buffet for some moose steaks.

For all the heavy prepping at John McCain's pristine estate, it's odd that her handlers could only come up with such a small set of canned responses, no matter what the question. Every answer could be flagged with words that seemed like markers - "maverick," "energy," "mayor" and "darn it" being the chief among them.

Listening to her prattle incoherently about Iran and Pakistan, or whine about Biden looking backward and not forwards, I was struck by an odd thought - having been on the west coast for all the time I have been in this country, I always assumed that the Pacific coast tended to be filled with somewhat liberal, relatively more informed folk than those in say, Kentucky. And if Russia or Japan were a stone's throw away from California, I'd expect the people (and most certainly the leadership) of the state to know a thing or two about foreign policy, and how to handle a national guard beyond knowing how to fire a shotgun at them. But for a state so far up north and with two international borders, as Barbie states, they seem more steeped in southern values than McCain's Arizonian junta.

This works very well for the GOP ticket of course, and as CNN's John King mentioned today, McCain's choice has helped swing Alaska decidedly in his favor, while earlier it was locked in a dead heat between him and Obama.

Tonight's debate was a clincher for Biden, as anyone could see. He seemed restrained, almost quiet at the beginning of the debate; and then slowly, without touching a hair on Palin's attractive head, he peeled off the layers to expose her as the desperate crutch on whom McCain is leaning, just to win the election. He hammered away at his old colleague, showed vast knowledge about the economy, foreign policy and even Palin's favorite - energy; and showed that he was more of a family person than she could hope to be, almost breaking down at the memory of his dead wife and daughter. It made Palin's reference to her youngest child (who suffers from Down's syndrome) in vague "special needs" terms look like a tactic.

To be fair, it took guts for Palin to stand at that podium for an hour and a half and try to act as naturally as she possibly could. Her face could have revealed the strain, she could have gabbled incoherently as she has done in past interviews; instead, she managed to look straight into the camera and defender her running mate with more dignity and aplomb than even he could have managed on his own. All of which would have worked very well if she were running for the office of McCain's youth spokesperson-cum-energy-consultant.

But for someone who has to advise the president on major issues affecting a nation and the entire world, or take his place if something terrible happens, she still falls woefully short. She is simply not qualified. Still, her performance in this debate may have been the best thing to happen to a faltering campaign impeded further by McCain's annoying political dances around the $700 billion bailout.

Biden, on the other hand, did so well, he overshadowed Obama's performance during last week's debate. The sincerity he reflected only served to put a check mark against the question of whether Obama made the right choice in his running mate. If he stretched the truth a little bit here, or tweaked facts somewhere, it did not tarnish his image as one, above all, who can help lead the nation.

With 5 weeks to go, and two more presidential debates in the offing, things could go any which way for either candidate; but they have both found in their second-in-commands, very loyal individuals who have done tremendously well in helping them.