The Vice Presidential debate was predictably boring tonight, but I thought Biden did well and kept our advantage alive. There were a few good moments though. While I still get a little prickly when politicians use the “traditional marriage” football, Sarah Palin was surprisingly honest about her feelings on the rights of gay couples. I hate the governor’s politics, but it’s heartening to know she’s at least, you know, not a totally bad person. From Talking Points Memo:
Biden got Palin to agree that she believes in full civil rights for gay couples. I think she’ll want another bite at that apple.
Newsweek editor Fareed Zakaria—whose appearances on the Daily Show consistently make for my favorite episodes—takes on McCain for the “fundamentally irresponsible” choice of Sarah Palin as Vice Presidential candidate:
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.
“Sarah Palin’s views and values in NO WAY represent us as American women. We ask that our song ‘Barracuda’ no longer be used to promote her image. The song ‘Barracuda’ was written in the late 70s as a scathing rant against the soulless, corporate nature of the music business, particularly for women. (The ‘barracuda’ represented the business.) While Heart did not and would not authorize the use of their song at the RNC, there’s irony in Republican strategists’ choice to make use of it there.”
This is just entirely too rich—Republicans Mike Murphy and Peggy Noonan were on MSNBC discussing the Palin VP pick with Chuck Todd, and inadvertantly got caught telling the truth about the nominee. This gem from Noonan:
The most qualified? No! I think they went for this—excuse me—political bullshit about narratives … Every time the Republicans do that, because that’s not where they live and it’s not what they’re good at, they blow it.
Talking Points Memo provides the full transcript. I want to make Peggy Noonan saying “It’s over” my ringtone.
This is simply beyond hilarious. Watch as Cindy McCain bends herself into a pretzel suggesting to George Stephanopoulos that Sarah Palin has foreign policy experience because “Alaska is the closest part of our continent to Russia.” Ahh, leave it to Mrs. McCain to make Laura Bush look like a Rhodes scholar by comparison. The McCain campaign might consider keeping their prospective First Lady at motorcycle rallies and NASCAR races where she can best connect with their base—commenting on foreign policy doesn’t seem to suit her so well.
