PBS pundit reactions (aside from Brooks and Shields).

[NRaleighLiberal]

Beschloss - Palin threw Bush under the bus. Made it hard to hit her on the war, etc - since she cut herself off from Bush so completely. She went over the line to say that Obama would raise white flag of surrender on Iraq - not presidential. As to Biden, rules helped him - made him make his answers more concise. They were not equal - Palin didn't hurt herself, but Biden came through as more human, warts and all, and was appealing.

Norton Smith - exceeded expectations if you think of Fey. Biggest change - voices on the right (calling for her to get off ticket) will go away - Palin will stay until the election. Joe Biden had a tough task to do this tonight (all of the risks). Biden turned in a solid performance - on balance, this is not a game changer.

Ellen Fitzpatrick - maybe a game changer, maybe not. In 1984, Ferraro asked how she could be commander in chief with no military experience, would soviets take advantage of her as a woman. She never made reference to her gender. Tonight - Palin repeatedly referred to her gender (soccer, hockey, school, her kids) - between 84 and today, enormous sea change in the politics of gender. Ferraro would have been killed if she did this in 84. Palin raised them as a special qualifier. Found it a bit folksy for her taste, but the voters will decide. Was a kind of populism - implication is that complex problems are not complex and common sense is all you need, and she has it.

John Harris of Politico - thought that if you just look at it as a debate, Biden was far superior - answers more substantive.

All this adds up to the fact that the bar was so, so low for Palin that her "victory" in some circles was false (graded on a curve!)