Like Kissing Your Sister?

It's been said that a tie is liking kissing your sister, and the pundits are calling last night's Vice Presidential debate a tie. Maybe so, maybe no; I rather think Sarah Palin took the day by a teensy bit, but I am, admittedly, partisan.

Still, she was the one who had something to prove. Say what you want about Joe Biden, he has been in the Senate since 1972 and is a known quality. Governor Palin is not, honestly, and everyone has been waiting for her to commit a major gaffe. She did not, and even showed no fear in going on the offensive a time or two. Indeed I thought that she rather held back, trying to measure her remarks for safety's sake.

Sure, she ignored some questions for the sake of empacizing the party line, but so did Biden, and anyway, no candidate should ever let a moderator overshadow or control the types of comments they would like to make. It's their one chance to address Americans generally, and I'm not going to hold it against anyone if they tacitly set the format aside for the sake of sound bites. It's just good strategy.

She didn't look like an airhead or make a mistake; neither did Biden. Yet he had wiggle room and she did not; on that point alone, Sarah Palin won. But will it be enough for November?