I suppose the greater liveliness was mostly owing to Sarah Palin's "Gidget goes to Washington" personality (as one of the PBS pundits so aptly put it.)
Honestly, I'll admit that it's hard not to find her perkiness somewhat endearing, even at the same time that she's grating mercilessly on one's nerves, and even with a litany of her despicable policy positions at the back of one's mind and the image of Tina Fey on the couch with her laptop, undoing a few bobby pins. And I'm sure, if I can grudgingly admit that, her fans must have been in hog heaven, so to speak (so much for that elevated tone I've been promising, but I'm working on it ;)
To be fair, her thoughts on the civil union/gay marriage issue were as progressive as Biden's.
The obvious fact that she didn't directly answer a large proportion of the questions, and that the studiously subdued Biden kicked ass (in an entirely gentlemanly way) on most of the ones she did answer, seemed irrelevant to Republicans who were just drawing a breath of relief that this wasn't a repeat of the Couric disaster, and also to Democrats who, in Mark Shields' words, were "disappointed that she didn't implode."
Yeah, I guess we were, although it would have been painful viewing if she had, kind of like watching Gidget wipe out.
Palin's strategy was evident in the following, which verged on an insult, and certainly must have irked Gwen Ifill, although Ms. Ifill stayed cordial (despite the McCain camp's accusations of her partiality) and did a great job, I thought, and even seemed to be enjoying herself by the end:
PALIN: ... And I may not answer the questions that either the moderator or you want to hear, but I'm going to talk straight to the American people..."
And talk straight to the American people, she did, straight in the camera, straight to the base, and any undecided Gidget fans that may happen to be watching...
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