AN INCH DEEP….I imagine this point has already been made — in fact, I made it myself after last week’s debate — but this is the blogosphere, so I’ll make it again anyway. It’s this: I’m not surprised that the insta-polls suggest that Joe Biden won his debate against Sarah Palin. (I’m also not sure it matters, but that’s a different issue.) Basically, I think the debate-watching public really does appreciate a command of facts and issues. This doesn’t mean they want to hear dry recitations and pedantic inside baseball, but as long as it’s expressed in an approachable way, they really do want to hear about actual policy. Biden provided that.
At the same time, I’m a little surprised (I know, I know….) that Palin is getting such generous marks for her performance. No, she didn’t propose invading Denmark or eliminating the Supreme Court, but she was still painfully out of her depth. She had all the usual Reaganesque phrases and prepackaged zingers at the ready, but she didn’t seem to understand that these are meant to be hauled out occasionally as applause lines, not simply strung together over and over and over. By the time she was finished, she had repeated these stock phrases so often that even a dullard could tell that she was just reading off notes.
At least, that’s my take. Yes, she’s got a thousand-watt smile and a folksy charm, but even people who are attracted to that kind of thing want to sense some depth as well. Palin didn’t provide it, and I think the press underestimates Joe and Jane Sixpack when they act as if that doesn’t matter.
