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1. First, I’m very, very pleased that the Erika is getting a workout. She was too nice a machine to languish on the shelf.

   Second, my 10-year-old was required to watch at least a half hour of the debate and write up some discussion points for class today. Consider this his first real introduction to American politics. Some of his observations were surprisingly wry…

   “Sarah Palin sure is smiling a lot. Joe Biden looks more serious.”

   “What question are they answering? Don’t they have to answer the question?”

   “Didn’t [he/she] just say that last time?”

   I caught snippets as I was washing up after dinner, but it’s TiVo’d and I’ll probably go through the whole thing while I’m trying to get the baby to sleep. In happier news, our absentee ballots arrived on Wednesday, so I can vote this weekend and officially be permitted to be rude to canvassers and campaign callers. Hooray!

   Comment by mpclemens — October 3, 2008 @ 1:24 pm

2. Heh. Maybe we should let kids do the post-debate analysis on TV. Your kids did a better job of analyzing the debate than any of the network talking heads.

   I ought to pay more attention, myself. I just learned that the McCain camp negotiated the VP debate rules to have a shorter answer period, and no follow-through.

   McCain advisers said they were only somewhat concerned about Ms. Palin’s debating skills compared with those of Mr. Biden, who has served six terms in the Senate, or about his chances of tripping her up. Instead, they say, they wanted Ms. Palin to have opportunities to present Mr. McCain’s positions, rather than spending time talking about her experience or playing defense.

   In other words: talking point, talking point, next question. This explains why Palin completely ignored many of the questions presented to her, knowing that the moderator would be unable to ask follow-ups or press her to return to the question. If you go back and re-watch Palin’s infamous interview segments, you’ll notice that where she falls apart is when she’s pressed for details in follow-up questions and forced away from her packaged talking points.

   One might go so far as to say that the McCain strategy was to throw out the whole notion of a debate and approach it as a rally speech instead.

   Comment by olivander — October 3, 2008 @ 2:50 pm

3. Wish we were there to help you eat the popcorn. Abe Lincoln and Stephen Douglas would be appalled to see what passes for debate between political candidates in America these days.

   Hey, I hear that Ambrose Burnside is probably going to be assigned command of the Army of the Helmand any day now. Things are looking up…

   Comment by sottovoce — October 3, 2008 @ 4:56 pm

4. They need to call in Joe Hooker; he’d get the job done! (Albeit probably while drunk and making derogatory public remarks about his superiors, but he’d get it done just the same.)

   Comment by olivander — October 3, 2008 @ 5:23 pm

5. I’d like a count on the number of “also”s as well as the winking.

   They changed the rules for her, dumbed down the process, and as a woman I find that offensive. So should Palin. Didn’t seem to bother her at all, though.

   I couldn’t help thinking what a sell-out extravaganza it would have been to see Hillary debating Sarah. Nothing against Biden at all – I like him – but he had to be careful and Hillary wouldn’t have put up with rule-changing the debate process. She’d have cleaned Sarah’s clock.

   I’m just glad the only Veep “debate” is over. Let’s vote.

   Comment by monda — October 5, 2008 @ 8:32 am

6. “I’d like a count on the number of “also”s as well as the winking.”

   Also = 53

   Winking unnoted in transcript, but it was four, although it felt like many, many more.

   I need to figure out how many times John McCain said, “My friends” last night. Hey, John, I’m not your [bleep]ing friend!

   Update: 21

   Comment by olivander — October 8, 2008 @ 1:35 pm

7. Twenty-one “my friends?” Jeez. Like the winking, it felt like there were an awful lot more than that.

   That beats “look” and all its variants (hey look, but look, well look) by a mile.

   Comment by sottovoce — October 8, 2008 @ 3:04 pm

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