By Shirley Wershba

How can anyone claim she held her own in the
VP debate? She held to her own convoluted "talking points" which make 
no sense to anyone who was listening to her instead of counting the 
winks, blinks and smirks of satisfaction with which  she punctuated 
every phrase.

Did anyone else note how she shuffled her little notes at the podium 
to find the "keywords" to trigger her robotic answers, which weren't 
answers at all, at least, not to any question put to her? It struck me 
that she may have been reading some text messages on her blackberry to 
remind her to bring up  the little buzz words and catch  phrases her 
trainers had arranged for her to hit periodically before someone 
noticed that she was reading from a different script than the Q and A 
of what was billed as a DEBATE. Toward the end she realized she hadn't 
uttered the "say it ain't so Joe"  line so she  stuck it in just 
before the old Reagan  phrase ".There you  go again"...a non sequitor 
if ever there was one , forgetting she had already used up that line. 
Oh well, why not? That's what will stick in people's minds along with 
the "Heckuvas, Joe 6-packs,and gosh darn yas" that's supposed to make 
us commonsense folks think she's one of us, and" don't we all belong 
in the White House telling off those policy wonks who talk fancy but 
don't know how to run a household let alone a country."

Yessir, we've got trouble, trouble in River city all right if the 
people I hear saying they don't pay much attention to politics 
actually go into the voting booths and vote with their guts instead of 
their brains because that "gut" reaction often doesn't recognize that 
it 's coming from a subconscious residue of racism.

By Albert Lasher

Twice during the debate Sarah referred to United States General David McKiernan, Commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, as "General McClellan." Neither Gwen Ifill nor Senator Biden corrected her on the error. It's possible that Ms. Ifill didn't pick up on it. but Senator Biden most certainly did, and consciously chose not to mention the mistake.

Senator Biden remembered the incident when Sarah made the error and chose to remain silent for much the same set of reasons. 

It wasn't a debacle. Nevertheless, I thought Palin was often wooden. She looked as though she was trying to remember her lines--actually "reciting." You could see that clearly if you looked at her eyes. And sometimes she seemed almost frightened. She said nothing new, repeating ad nauseam the McCain positions we all know so well. She refused to answer a lot of questions, steering away from them and discussing the issues she did know about: "I'm not going to argue about the cause of global warming, but I'll tell you what we're doing in Alaska." She placed herself on solid ground by talking about Alaska. Clever. One thing I'll admit is that she has "chutzpah."

"Say it ain't so, Joe" had a familiar ring. "There you go again," of course, was the mantra of Ronald Reagan in his debate with Jimmy Carter. A characteristic of the McCain campaign has been its willingness to co-opt the slogans and expressions of others. "Change You Can Trust" was a "knock-off," so to speak, of the Obama slogan. "Country first" came from one of Hillary Clinton's speeches. "It's not about me; it's about you" came from Obama's campaign speech. It makes me wonder whether even Mr. McCain believes he has a single original idea.  

I thought Biden had much more substance and stated the Obama positions well. He didn't let himself get bowled over--and he was  neither aggressive nor condescending. Pundits say he is long-winded and gaffe prone, but I think he is honest, intelligent, knowledgeable, and patriotic--and probably also long-winded and gaffe prone (not as important as the other qualities).

In spite of my feelings, the pundits seem to think Palin rose to the occasion--which she did, sort of--but some are saying she "won," whatever that means. It was obvious to me that if the debates had been structured so that she would have to to further explain her views and those of Senator McCain, she would have blundered (as she did in her interview with Katie Couric). In essence, she was robotically repeating what she's been taught and what she has been saying on the campaign trail.

I hope that eventually people will see that although she didn't fall on her face, she didn't cover herself with glory, either.

I'll be interested in learning what you all thought.

By Harriet Posnak Lesser

Deep in the mountains of Pakistan, Osama Bin Laden lies in a

state-of-the-art dialysis unit, his eyes fixed on a 62-inch plasma

TV mounted on the cave wall.  He smiles as a trio of CNN pundits

discusses the implosion of America’s financial structure. “Two

attacks on the World Trade Center couldn’t do it,” Bin Laden says

to no one in particular, “then along comes George Bush who brings

down Wall Street in less than eight years --with a little help from me

and the Supremes, of course.” 

Humming a chorus of “My Guy,” Bin Laden reflects on the future

 and the total destruction of the United States.  Despite a few mistakes

along the way, things are looking good.  Like, how could he know that

the guy with the Arab name wasn’t a Muslim?  But after a long and

arduous search, Bin Laden has come up with the perfect substitute for

George Bush.  Her name is Sarah Palin and he can’t wait to introduce

her to Washington.  Did he hear that somewhere before?  Oh well. 

The steady flow of replacement fluids must be addling his brain. 

But only temporarily.  He will appear sharp and healthy in his next

video, planned for pre-Christmas release.  Maybe he’ll even win an

Oscar.  He has told the Mujahadeen to watch out for vacationing

Rockettes.  Doubtful, but hey, stranger things have happened. 

Didn’t the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service renew Dick Cheney’s

hunting license?

Bin Laden focuses on Sarah Palin’s ascendancy to the White House.

 All he has to do is convince Americans to elect a sick old man to

the top office in the land.  Time and nature will take care of the rest. 

And before you can spell “Iditarod,” (if you can spell “Iditarod”)

Sarah Palin will be President.  In an ecumenical gesture, he will

also arrange to have her named goddess of fertility.  She is more

than qualified for the job. 

The U.S. will go downhill quickly with Sarah at the helm.

Like George Bush before her, she will realize Bin Laden’s dreams

for America.  She will pass legislation to make Alaska the nation’s

capitol and replace George Bush’s No Child Left Behind policy

with her own version removing sex education from all curricula

and mandating the teaching of creationism.  Under the tutelage of

Sarah’s favorite pastor, there will be classes in witchcraft for

children of a religious bent.  In the tradition of our last three

Presidential spouses, First Dude Todd Palin will write a best-selling

children’s book.  Titled “The Velvet Raptor,” it will tell the story

of an adorable little Neanderthal boy and his best friend, a plush

dinosaur with scaly ears.  (The book ends on a happy note when

the boy shoots the dinosaur from an airplane.)

Ah yes, the outlook is bright.  America is doomed, finally and

for all time.  Dialysis is over for the day.  Bin Laden, cane in hand,

walks out of the cave and stops suddenly as a frightening thought

invades his mind.  What if Barack Obama wins?  The aberrant idea

fades quickly.  That can’t happen.  Americans will never elect a

Muslim even if he isn’t a Muslim and they know it all too well. 

Obama has committed the ultimate crime.  He is guilty of destroying

a time honored stereotype.  Yes, he is brilliant, well-educated,

cool-headed, and has already demonstrated outstanding leadership

abilities; but can he tap dance?  Americans will answer that

question on November 4th by electing Sarah Palin president

of the United States.

By Judith Warner, NY Times

I spent the past week in New York, helping my mother recover from surgery. It was a new role for me, taking care of my mom. It must, I think, have been somewhat destabilizing.

Perhaps when previously untapped wells of care-for-others are accessed, there’s no stopping the flow. Or perhaps it was just that, after five days locked in stare-downs with my mother’s cat, my eyes were playing tricks on me.

This may explain why, on Tuesday afternoon when I went to The Times Web site and saw the photo of Sarah Palin with Henry Kissinger, a funny thing happened. A wave of self-recognition and sympathy washed over me.

That’s right — self-recognition and sympathy. Rising up from a source deep in my subconscious. I saw a woman fully aware that she was out of her league, scared out of her wits, hanging on for dear life. I saw this in the sag of her back in her serious black suit, in the position of her hands, crossed modestly atop her knees, and in that “Mad Men”-era updo, ever unchanging, like a good luck charm.

[Continued in "Commentary", click "Commentary" in upper left corner]