Shouldn't Palin just resign at this point?

Exactly! What’s she going to do when Putin rears his head over the negotiating table if she can’t even bullshit Katie?

She’ll just have to become more adorable!

Wolves & helicopters.

I’m interested in the debate because I can easily see it going in completely opposite directions. Palin can put out a shoddy performance but, with low enough expectations, anything better than soiling herself and bursting into tears will be a “victory”. Or else she may put out a credibile performance but, with everyone waiting for her to fall, any minor stumble will be the next “I’ll find ya some and I’ll bring 'em to ya”. If the McCain camp plays the low expectations card too hard, I wonder if it won’t be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

At the risk of being whooshed here, zuma:

I’m unclear on how Sam Stone addressed one of your reservation about McCain. What reservation was that? How was it addressed?

I’m also unclear on how you are now comfortable with Palin? Have you seen the Couric interview? What has recently happened to make you “comfortable” with Palin in the V.P. slot?

I don’t understand the allusion to Roe v Wade. How has your fear (?) that it will be overturned been placated by McCain and Palin? Neither is pro-choice; the Supreme Court is bound to have at least one opening within this next term, and is now leaning strongly conservative. There is a good chance Roe v Wade could be overturned–and McCain/Palin are just the ticket to do so.

I’m confused. Could you please elaborate a bit?

If she can’t face Katie “Perky” Couric, what shall she do when faced with foreign heads of state?
IMO, the McCain campaign botched her debut badly. Instead of sequestering her, they should have tightly controlled her frequent media appearances. A few sound bites and then a short interview: Larry King or Baba Walters.
Too much has hung on her scant amount of face time, due solely to the GOP not wanting her to have “bad” press. She had a honeymoon period, just after the convention. That they did not exploit that speaks volumes about her lack of poise and ability. Now what we have is the media, thwarted by their lack of access, returning again and again to what little they have-to Palin’s and the party’s detriment.

I don’t look to Katie Couric for anything (she bugs me, always has), but there is no way she played “gotcha” or set Palin up for anything. If anything Katie was trying to help her. I don’t know who picked whom, but having her “do” Palin rather than Chris Matthews or [insert name of obnoxious person here] played into the press’s hands (if you care to look at it like this) brilliantly. She messed up, big time, with the journalistic equivalent of a Beanie Baby. I’d feel sorrier for her, except for her brash and rather juvenile attacks at the GOP convention. She deserves all the scorn she gets, IMO.

Right. One botched interview doesn’t doom the candidate. So she flubs one interview, so what, as long as she knocks the next one out of the park. Except she hasn’t had a chance to knock the next interview out of the park because she’s not allowed to go on the Sunday shows or hold a press conference or have an interview with a really substantive journalist.

Why do you think that is?

Nobody expects the Couric Inquisition.

BTW, that’s two botched interviews, not one. One loss doesn’t define the season for a team, but as more games are played without a victory, you start to wonder about the quality of the team, don’t you. Do you have any evidence at all that she is familiar with issues outside Alaska. Really, she’d be doing better if she read anything outside the state news section of the newspaper for the past 6 years.

Not sure I understand why Katie Couric even matters to this. The questions are going to pretty much be the same. The bailout question, certainly the most rambling of her answers, was likely to come from any reporter. Why does Katie Couric factor in to this at all?

More laughs with Couric. A one-two punch from John and Sarah. It made me laugh and cry!

Jesus.

Sartorial question: Does that jacket not fit Palin or was she sitting weird? The neck stuck out in the back a number of inches, making her look like she was wearing a turtle’s shell.

He can not save her. He should follow her around like an imprinted duck and interfere every time she opens her bill.

The problem with that being that the crowds that do show up aren’t coming to see him. They’re coming to see her. Usually, once she’s spoken her piece, and he comes up to the mike, people start to trickle out of the venue.

I can’t remember whether I saw this commentary on MSNBC or ABC, but it was one of the two. For the first time I heard the comment that “Some are calling for Palin to step down.” Those aren’t the exact words, but that was definitely the message that was delivered.

Did anyone else catch this comment? More likely than not, it was on MSNBC. I wonder who the “some” are. Probably insiders at McCain Headquarters.

I don’t know whether to wish that she steps down so that McCain will replace her with someone with reasonable qualifications or to hope that she is left to drag McCain under. It is frightening to think that a state or two might have “wide-spread voting irregularities” and questionable vote counts again

I was relieved to see that McCain was more coherent than I had expected him to be in the first debate. He had some of his facts wrong, but his mistakes weren’t the off the wall variety we’ve seen him make in recent months.

I truly don’t understand why there is anyone left defending Sarah Palin’s nomination. Remember, she doesn’t need to just be qualified to do the things that a Vice President does. Sarah Palin needs to be qualified to be the President of the United States – Commander-in-Chief of our Armed Services – sometimes referred to as “Leader of the Free World.”

She should be worthy of the chair of Abe Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Franklin Roosevelt, George Washington. Not many can measure up, but Presidents will be judged on how close they come to the mark. Shouldn’t we at least start out with four women and men who have some chance of being comparable?

I won’t comment on the other three involved in the campaign and their chances for finding greatness. But I don’t think that Sarah Palin is much more than an ambitious pageant contestant who doesn’t really understand what public service is supposed to be about.

She makes me think that she wants to grow up to be George Bush.

I feel sorry for McCain in that mutual interview with Katie Couric. The difference in intellect and statesmanship between the two of them is painfully apparent. Was that him grimacing when she started talking? I don’t even think he likes her very much.

Gotcha journalism. Right.

They should have just let him run with Lieberman.

Talk about the Peter Principle!

I don’t think there’s any chance at all that she’ll be replaced, but if she was it would be just as deadly for the McCain campaign as any gaffe Palin can make, with the added bonus that if he’s elected I will not be terrified on a daily basis of Sarah Palin becoming POTUS.

David Frum, daily columnist for the National Review Online and a former speechwriter for George W. Bush:

Yikes. Now, I suspect Palin will do reasonably well in the debate, and the conservatives who have been criticizing her will come back around to support her. But, if she looks as bad in the debate as she did in the Couric interview, it’s going to be a long four weeks for Palin.

A somewhat tangentially related, but interesting, Op-Ed piece from today’s WSJ:

By Taylor Stockdale

IdahoMauleMan, please do not quote entire articles from other sources.
Enter relevant passages to support your point, then link to the original (or provide the appropriate attribution if the article is not on line.

Note Point #4 in this rule from the [FAQ - Rules for Posting at the Straight Dope Message Boards](FAQ - Rules for Posting at the Straight Dope Message Boards) thread in the About This Message Board Forum.

Thank you

[ /Moderating ]

That debate was awful. I felt sick after watching it.

I doubt I’ll feel sick on Thursday, especially after Palin’s snotty words about Biden. If she looks bad, good. If she looks good, it’s too late.