Palin-Biden: Live Moose-Blogging

5:30 pm PST: I must be a lonely and desperate man to be doing this, my friends. If this doesn't earn me fame and Internet millions, I may give up this gig altogether.

5:40 pm: Still pondering a possible Sarah Palin Drinking Game. Maybe have a chug every time she mentions Russia? Or drilling? Or experience?

5:45 pm: Over at Eschaton, the drinking-game words of choice appear to be "You betcha." Duly noted.

5:50 pm: The expert spin on Palin going into the debate tonight . . . well, you can figure that out for yourself, but the latest meme that was leaked this afternoon inferred that she will go after Joe Biden tonight, perhaps to impress upon the audience the notion that He's Just as Lame as I Am. While that's certainly worthy fodder for a debate, it's hard to see how it helps to boost the fortunes of her running mate, who's got maybe two weeks max to turn his campaign around ere he ventures into the firmament of the Good Ship Goldwater. But I guess we will find out soon enough.

6:00 pm: Biden goes after Bush right away. Palin goes for the family . . . you betcha!!! (Glug, glug, glug.)

6:10 pm: . . . the family angle. Man oh man, she's spouting McCain talking points right away. These worked so well last week.

6:12 pm: Paling trying to turn on the charm with smiles, winks, etc., while churning through more McCain boilerplate.

6:15 pm: Why do I feel like I am watching a veteran TV sportscaster trying to bullshit her way through a political discussion? Maybe because I am.

6:20 pm: Biden busts McCain on health care.

6:21: "Darn right"! (Glug, glug, glug.)

6:21 pm: Okay, Joe, time to call out the Obama Tax Lie . . . and he does.

6:23 pm: She's wasting time on tax cuts again?

6:25 pm: "Government, you're the problem." The car wreck on the 405 Freeway is unfolding in slow motion before our eyes . . .

6:26: pm: Oh Joe, who wants to hear these reality-based debating points?

6:28 pm: The Ultimate Bridge to Nowhere!!!!!!

6:30 pm: "Those CEOs, bless their hearts, they're doin' what they need to do . . ."

6:35 pm: Good turn by Biden, calling out Palin for McCain's opposition to a windfall profits tax that she supported in Alaska.

6:40 pm: Uh oh, climate change . . .

6:45 pm: Climate change is real. We've got to clean up the planet. So let's drill for more oil.

6:50 pm: For what it's worth, the energy/oil subject works to Palin's advantage. It's the first time she has sounded vaguely authoritative tonight.

6:55 pm: Biden makes the Constitutional case for gay rights. Palin reminds us that she's tolerant. Taking the GOPAC route here, trying to yak her way out of a corner.

7:00 pm: Biden tries a hoary old decoy trick . . . Palin doesn't bite.

7:00 pm: She pronounces it Eye-Rack. Do people want to put up with this illiteracy for four more years?

7:05 pm: She just said Eye-Rack five times in a row. Glug, glug, glug . . . .

7:05 pm: Foreign policy: Biden starts out strong here. Palin: "Nucular" Iran is dangerous. Israel is in jeopardy, of course. A stinking corpse. Wipe it off the earth. Therefore, no nucular weapons for Hugo Chavez. She is making every mistake McCain made last week, amazing.

7:05 pm: Diplomacy is "hard work by serious people." By her own definition, Sarah Palin just disqualified herself and her running mate from the White House.

7:07 pm: He didn't forget Spain!!!

7:07 pm: Palin calls out the Israel-Egypt peace accord: Is Biden going to jump on this opening?

7:08 pm: Nope, he doesn't, but he's scoring some points on Bush administration foreign-policy fuck-ups. Which admittedly is not hard to do.

7:09 pm: The GOPAC "change the subject" strategy again, going from Israel to change and Maverickyness and winks.

7:10 pm: Biden: The past is prologue. Bingo.

7:12 pm: Uh oh, she's volunteering to chat up Afghanistan . . .

7:13 pm: Biden: Facts matter. He is taking command of the debate.

7:14 pm: Palin tries to snowball Biden with a barrage of bullshit. Biden flinches for a moment.

7:15 pm: Am I the only person watching this who's losing interest?

7:17 pm: Sarah Palin: Obama is naiive. I am naiive, too, being outside of Washington, which is why you should vote for me. We have lots of oil in Alaska and we should stop the atrocities in Darfur. Jesus, is anyone following this?

7:17 pm: Palin now wavering . . .

7:18 pm: McCain "knows how to win a war." Because he did such a bang-up job in Vietnam.

7:19 pm: "A team of mavericks and I'm gonna keep pushing him on ANWR . . . "

7:20 pm: Palin plays the Main Street Wasilla/government is evil/Alaska secession card. Biden is hammering her on real shit here.

7:21 pm: "There you go again!"

7:21 pm: Mrs. Biden's reward is in heaven, and hello to all the Third Graders at Wasilla Elementary . . . this is veering into the realm of the surreal.

7:22 pm: We are in the closing minutes. Has this debate made any substantive difference?

7:23 pm: Uh oh, she's talking Constitutional history . . . and just as quickly bailing out.

7:24 pm: Joe, you mean the Vice Presidency is an executive office? A good strong answer to a mealy-mouthed Palin argument.

7:25 pm: What, Obama and Biden don't have any kids they're putting through college one day? That was one reeeeeeally unctuous answer.

7:26 pm: Ouch!!!!!!!!! Biden just reminded Sarah that he, uhhh . . . knows . . . what it's like . . . to be . . . a single parent.

7:27 pm: Lieberman, Giuliani and Romney all support us, a broad bipartisan consensus for perpetual war.

7:28 pm: Okay, we're wrapping this up . . .

7:29 pm: Sarah Palin has a very diverse family. There are a couple of Democrats amid the sea of white people.

7:30 pm: Okay, we're wrapping up. Sarah Palin wants to speak directly to the American people? Hold a fucking press conference, then!!!

7:33 pm: Okay, is this debate going to move the polls much? I honestly can't see how Sarah Palin, by her (only half-execrable) performance tonight, does much more than to keep the Far West gun-toting secessionist religious nuts on board. Joe Biden's performance struck me as workmanlike and yeoman, not spectacular but also solid. She, predictably, was all over the map, but probably suffered as much from . . . Oh dear God, here come the offspring, spilling onto the stage. Time for another drink.

7:40 pm: Okay, to finish the train thought, she sure tried a little too hard to connect with all the hockey moms and snowmobiler dudes out there . . . Chris Matthews is absolutely eviscerating her right now on MSNBC. Not a good sign.

7:45 pm: Too much alcohol . . . I must leave now . . . My planet needs me.

---Vitelius

Comments

oh my god! she winked!!

God she's perky.

There's your drinking game. Every time she winks.

He's debating,... She's cheerleading.

She made over a mill and a half last year.
How is that middle income?

It's the bloodbath I was hoping for.

Wasn't Mc a member of the Keating 5.

[Vitelius]

Yep. Keating was his patron in AZ politics.

But we're about to loose her again.

OHHHHHH!!!!!! JOE!!!!!!!

She can't even say Iraq right!

What a diplomat.

Israel is our best alai, even if they worship a false God.

It would be ALL of our planet.
Does she think a nuclear war is winnable?

Has she ever heard of Bosnia?

[Vitelius]

It's not in the Bible, so probably not.

Is this the best woman the GOP could find?

Who is she Regan?
There ya go again.

Yes, it has...I'm not as sober as I was when it began

And Cheney taksa hit.

Perky is getting tired.

Joe: real person. Perky: not so much.

Diversity in the GOP?

[Vitelius]

Joe Biden had to bury his first wife!!! Who the f--- has Sarah Palin every buried?!?

Set and match to Joe.