UM, DEBATE? IN WHAT ASPECT?

"Can I call you Joe?"

Why was her microphone turned on? I've seen dozens of debates where the candidates come out and greet each other onstage, and never heard one greeting so loudly and clearly broadcast. Did she turn her microphone up to 11? Do candidates usually just mouth the word "hello"? Why didn't we hear what Joe said? Maybe he ignored her, which is why she did not call him Joe in the entire debate, and went on to ignore everything he said.

Amazing. She declared she wasn't going to answer any questions asked by moderator Gwen Ifill or Joe if she didn't feel like it. She could not respond to Joe's assertions that McCain, as a proponent of deregulation, helped us get into this economic mess. Instead, "I just got to get back to this tax thing." Same old stupid fear-mongering, that the Democrats are going to raise your taxes, and some stupid "voodoo economics" to explain the untrue assertion Obama will raise taxes on those making $42,000 a year instead of the $250,000. Just ignore the questions, ignore the facts, push through what you want to stress, and the voters will hear that. Usually works, but will it this time?

Palin's strategy-- or tactic? --came back to bite her in the end, though. Whether it was a tactic-- or a strategy-- that Joe brought up the death of his wife and child when he first entered the Senate, he spoke about it in a way that seemed real and relevant. He reversed the claim that Sarah's "real-life" experience is a qualification for the office she seeks. He's been a single father caring for children after the death of his wife and child, thinking the second child might not make it, all while starting his new job as Senator.

That he went on and thrived casts Sarah's experience-- as the mother of a special needs child cared for by her stay-at-home husband and the Governor's mansion staff--into a different light. That Sarah, in her response to Joe's story, could not even bring a single word of sympathy, so determined was she to not listen, to get across the points she wants to make-- gives you an idea of the meaning of a "compassionate Conservative."