Vice-President of the United States

My newest shero is Margaret Philpot for having the courage to write, Sarah Palin is a Bitch… there I said it.:

No wonder I was confused about Sarah Palin's body language. She didn't just sound like she was heavily scripted. She sounded like she was reading cue cards or even a tele-prompter.

Because the cable and network television stations did not show a split screen of the debate, most viewers could not see that, during Joe Biden’s answers, Palin spent almost all her time looking down and studiously reading her notes. But viewers did see that when Palin delivered her answers, she would repeatedly glance down to check her talking points.

ThinkProgress has compiled a video documenting some of the instances where it was clear to the audience that Palin was propped up by written responses.

What's outrageous is that I actually questioned my judgment and bias when I mentioned last night that it looked like she was reading off cards. I couldn't fathom her reading off cue cards she'd have hidden in her jacket.

Wow.

Even though pollsters are saying that VP debates have little impact on outcome of elections, I have to say that last night it was Joe Biden's playground and he drank everybody's milkshake.

Mark (the father of my children) and I were watching the debate last night and were actually blown away by Joe Biden's performance. It wasn't that we didn't think he'd be good coming into the debate. It's just that compared to his performance during the primaries this may have been Biden's best debate performance yet.

Make no mistake though, it wasn't because he was against someone who was because he was against someone with less experience or intellect. Sarah Palin proved she could hold her own against Biden.

Biden had only one major opponent last night and that was himself. He needed to beat the image people had of him as being a bit of a bumbling idiot and it's for that matter that he totally knocked it out of the park.

It really was a great night for the boy from Scranton.

Biden was focused :

Now, with regard to the -- to the health care plan, you know, it's with one hand you giveth, the other you take it. You know how Barack Obama -- excuse me, do you know how John McCain pays for his $5,000 tax credit you're going to get, a family will get?

He taxes as income every one of you out there, every one of you listening who has a health care plan through your employer. That's how he raises $3.6 trillion, on your -- taxing your health care benefit to give you a $5,000 plan, which his Web site points out will go straight to the insurance company.

And then you're going to have to replace a $12,000 -- that's the average cost of the plan you get through your employer -- it costs $12,000. You're going to have to pay -- replace a $12,000 plan, because 20 million of you are going to be dropped. Twenty million of you will be dropped.

So you're going to have to place -- replace a $12,000 plan with a $5,000 check you just give to the insurance company. I call that the "Ultimate Bridge to Nowhere."

yet at times folksy:

John McCain said there would be enough oil to pay for this. John McCain has been dead wrong. I love him. As my mother would say, god love him, but he's been dead wrong on the fundamental issues relating to the conduct of the war.

Yet the two most spectacular moments for Joe Biden came first when he tore into the "Maverick" meme :

Sarah Palin was no light-weight. She did what she needed to do which was to hold her own against Joe Biden and that's exactly what she did. Unfortunately she did so with what I call "playing political footsie".

Whenever she didn't have any substantive to say she'd go all cutesy, wink to the camera, bob her head or tear into a cheerleader cheer for her "boss". Cute for TV but not for actual government. Especially from a woman who allegedly said yesterday that her favorite vice-president was George H. Bush because he eventually went on to becoming President of the United States.

Honey, I don't want this woman near the White House, ESPECIALLY after this infamous moment :

CBS did a poll of uncommitted voters and asked the following :

Who won the debate? 46% say Biden, 21% Palin

Both candidates had their image improve with the debate but the two most important questions of the night were uncategorically in favor of Biden. 

"Who is prepared to be Vice-President?" Before the debate Biden had 81% but his numbers went up to 97% after the debate. Palin gates a passing grade of 55% (that would be a D- or F+) after the debate, up from 39%.

Yet it is the "Who has the ability to be an effective President?" question that is the killer : Biden was at 66% before the debate. He jumped up to 91%. Palin doesn't pass the test at all having gone up to 44% from a low of 35%.

Skepticism about Palin has been growing and for a good reason.

I've watched the segment where Sarah Palin talks about Roe vs. Wade and I have to tell you, I think it is one of the most insightful commentaries to come out of her mouth. I think she did a really good job at sounding level headed.

Yet listen to it very closely and what you can hear is an extremist taking her political views for a little mainstream spin and, fortunately for us, coming short.

So let me back track here a bit and go back to and issue that popped up a few weeks ago : Under then Mayor Palin, Wassilla was one of a handful of cities in Alaska that charged victims for rape kits. And what has been most astounding about this policy is Palin's response to the allegations : She claims to have not know about the practice. This from a woman that was voted into office in Wassilla by less than 7,000 votes.

I just received this on an email from People for the American Way  on the matter of Sarah Palin and her comments about the Supreme Court :

Sarah Palin may not have been able to think of a single Supreme Court case beyond Roe v. Wade that she disagrees with, but that's not true for John McCain and his panel of right-wing judicial advisors. Here are just a few of the cases on their hit list:

· Rush Prudential HMO, Inc. v. Moran—reversal would invalidate important state laws protecting HMO patients’ rights in more than 40 states
· Grutter v. Bollinger— reversal would forbid affirmative action aimed at promoting educational diversity in higher education
· Nevada v. Hibbs—reversal would prevent state employees from obtaining effective relief for violations of their rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act
· Davis v. Bandemer—reversal would allow even blatant partisan gerrymandering in redistricting
· Lawrence v. Texas—reversal would authorize criminal prosecution of private, consensual sex by adult same-sex couples
· Tennessee v. Lane—reversal would allow states to deny physical access to the courts to the disabled
· Massachusetts v. EPA—reversal would permit the EPA to refuse to regulate the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from new cars

John McCain's plan for the Supreme Court is as simple as it is dangerous. He has promised to nominate “clones of Roberts and Alito”.

The Supreme Court is on the ballot this election. McCain would hand the court over to the Right for the next 40 years.

The shorter Sarah Palin : She was for "right to privacy" before she was against it.

Wow, I almost missed this. H/T to Talking Points Memo.

Jack Cafferty is really mad at John McCain for his VP pick. I don't know which way Cafferty swings politically but I know he's been a Capitol Hill journalist for a hell of a long time; making me believe he may even know McCain personally.

It must be such a betrayal for guys of his generation to see this "Maverick" who they admired and propped up, throw everything away for what's looking like a desperate attempt at a power grab. A rather pathetic power grab, that is. 

With this "bail out crisis" we can see that not even members of his own party want him.

There was a hysterical moment during The Situation Room. Blitzer asked Gergen what did he think of McCain's appearance and defense during this second "interview" between McCain and Palin. He was dumbfounded. It was awesome!

Gergen didn't have a response and said just that. Afterwards, Roland Martin and the othersagreed that the interview was an embarrassment. It wasn't because of Katie Couric's behaviour. The woman has struck gold with these Palin interviews. It was the patriarchal and condescending nature of McCain's appearance.

Which takes me to disagree with Maegan's comment about this interview : Couric couldn't smack Palin about her feminism because Palin has none. 

Did I tell you I have a "Fareed thing". Every time I see him on The Daily Show my loins swell with delight. Growl!

Anyhow, I almost forgot to post this and link to Fareed's  Palin rants, first at Palin is ready? Please : 

Will someone please put Sarah Palin out of her agony? Is it too much to ask that she come to realize that she wants, in that wonderful phrase in American politics, "to spend more time with her family"? [...]

Can we now admit the obvious? Sarah Palin is utterly unqualified to be vice president. She is a feisty, charismatic politician who has done some good things in Alaska. But she has never spent a day thinking about any important national or international issue, and this is a hell of a time to start.

ABC News and Washington Post published a poll today saying that most Democrats want Hillary Clinton to stay in the race if she wins any of today's state primaries, even by a small margin.

More mind-boggling is their alleged support for a Hillary Clinton Vice-Presidency. After the campaign she has run, I am absolutely speechless about that prospect.

In this sampling of US Americans, 50% of Democrats want Barack Obama to win the nomination over Clinton's 43%.

And who are these Americans? They're only white or Black ---and "teh blakz" are adjusted to represent the minority they're supposed to be, but of course.

"Other" squeaks in at just 1%.

The PDF of the poll is here.

In light of all the IMPEACHMENT events happening all around the country, I will be here tomorrow from 11am to 1pm to chat about IMPEACHMENT.

This from Democrats.com email :

Forget Hillary Clinton.

Forget Obamamania.

Al Gore talking about the weather is where it's at.

While voogling for clips of "An Inconvenient Truth", I came across this clip of Al Gore at last year's TED Conference.

TED is the "Technology, Entertainment and Design" clusterf0ck of CEOs, VPs and anybody who is anybody in the higher echelons of the ever shrinking (or growing, depending on how much of an optimist you are) creative class.

Al Gore was there last year to talk global warming and, well, hilarity ensues. I haven't laughed this hard in a while. If you have not been impressed by the man's renaissance, I promise you, you will have a completely different perception of Al Gore after you see this clip.

Now I understand why Mary Beth of Wampum couldn't wait to start her campaign to Draft Al Gore.