I'll put it out there. I think Palin will do better than everyone expects, now that the bar is low.

[Danieljay]

We've seen this before in 2000 2004 with Bush/Bush.

While I don't think its a set-up, now that she's been thoroughly coached to provide the talking points, she might surprise us.

Then again, there is just a little (ok, well big) part of me that wants her to continue making a complete mooses ass of her self.

[tekisui]

1. No matter how good she does, it will not change the game.

[davidinalameda]

2. someone on the Stephanie Miller show said that bar is underground

the expectations are so low

[Liberal In Texas]

8. And as just heard on Stephanie, she's going to be real folksy.

She'll spin stories about being a mom and gov and they will have no relevance to the subject at hand or contain any ideas or facts.

They'll be going after the "She's just like you" and Biden is an elitist meme.

[SammyWinstonJack]

23. Shades of Gore and bu$h. Why should we expect any thing different from the corpoRAT media?

[davidinalameda]

27. I don't want someone like me a heartbeat away from the presidency

I want someone better!

[trotsky]

3. Absolutely.

It's been set up for a long time now - the bar is low, the excuses are in place (Ifill's bias, etc.). At best the media will declare it a "draw" as long as Palin doesn't drool on herself. Just as you say - exactly like they treated Chimpy in his "debates".

[hatrack]

4. Oh, I agree - she'll be perky, personable and oh so pretty, and 100% substance-free.

But for the one in three or one in four Americans who live and die by perky, personable and pretty, as long as she doesn't spew green puke and rotate her head, that's all they'll need to see.

"She's one of US!" they'll goo and coo, and then vote accordingly.

[Toucano]

5. I predict she will completely dodge every single question

and give no coherent answer that isn't a talking point.

Whatever question is asked, she will give a talking point answer - even if it's unrelated.

[colinmom71]

6. Yeah, I shared this worry with the husband last night...

I do fear that all the "leaked" info about her preps for the debate are just an effort to set the bar as low as possible...

And I do have to admit, while I'm not generally a mean spirited person, I do hope that Palin falls completely apart tonight. Eh, I'll do some kind of penance later if it happens...

[dhpgetsit]

21. I think she's perfectly capable

of speaking volumes while saying nothing, while never showing uncertainty or lack of confidence. That is her "shtik" and her base loves it.

[Stinky The Clown]

7. The best she can hope for is to not be totally humiliated

If she does poorly, it will be _ame over ... and everyone will be sayin_ "See? I told you so!"

If she does okay, and people (the media) are kind, she'll be said to have redeemed herself (which means she _oes back to bein_ a part of a losing team, but not the total cause of them bein_ losers.

If she does okay and people (the media) are not kind - and they seem in no mood whatever to be particularly kind - they will say that she has been awful in the past but the intensive coachin_ they've given her paid off. In other words, she's still a dumbfuck, but is now a well coached dumbfuck.

eta:

(In the interest of fairness and basic human decency, all Gs have been removed from this and all my other posts. They are being donated to the Help Sarah Speak Better Fund. This will continue until the debate tonight. Please join me and _ive _enerously to a worthy cause.)

[Danieljay]

12. Well, they set it up to win either way, if the host is hostile or presses for specifics, they'll say

she's pro Obama.

Your post is Hilarious, by the way.

[nosillies]

9. I'm with you

From a post I did yesterday:

Never underestimate the power of a manipulative bitch who has managed to skate through life on a combination of slightly-better-than-average attractiveness, snarky one-liners and intimidation.

If Palin does anything other than have a complete, drooling meltdown, she will come off OK. She will be able to deliver some glib, glossy sound bites that will get played over and over and will be spun to make her seem sharp and semi-clever.

She's the proverbial little fish. As long as she's not in too big of a pond (i.e., in a one-on-one debate), she'll hang on to survival, maybe even thrive. Put that little fishie in D.C.,or heaven forbid on the worldwide stage, and she'll get eaten alive.

[2Design]

10. no matter what - fox news will say she is great and Elizabeth H will

say she is great and they will spin it she was great even when she fails

[torbird]

11. Important to remember: this is NOT 2000 or 2004

We are now post-Bush, almost. Palin won't get the Bush treatment because of that.

[CoffeeCat]

13. When you don't know anything...

...and when you can't leverage yourself because you're a blank slate--what do you do?

You ATTACK and try to tear down your opponent.

She will be full of barbs, insults and degrading one liners.

I hope Biden is prepared to be mocked by a fluffy airhead trash-talking Gidget.

Can you imagine how irritated and disgusted you'd be--when this human bag of hammers comes along--and
scoffs at your decades of foreign-policy experience and expertise?

She can't even name one newspaper or magazine that she reads, nor can she name any Supreme Court
cases--but she is going to stand up on a stage and guffaw at Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

I hope Biden is prepared for all of the contempt he will feel when he has to respond to this
hollow, brazen flibbertigibbet who thinks that waiting for Putin to "rear his head" is
foreign policy experience.

[jakefrep]

14. She'll exceed expectations by merely showing up and fogging a mirror tonight

I too, have been wondering if the R's are playing possum.

[Spritz57]

15. I think much will rest on Gwen Ifill

If she presses for answers, then Biden doesn't have too. I'm sure she has rehearsed her zingers, hoping for a few pithy sound bytes. I only hope Joe has too. I love that story Bill Cosby used to tell about the adult male gorilla in the zoo. A smaller gorilla is climbing on him, biting him, pulling his hair and after several minutes of this, the dominant male simply slaps the youngster which sends him flying across the pen. She'll nip at his heels, I hope with one dramatic moment he just swats her across the stage.

[Tarc]

16. That's what I'm afraid of

As long as Caribou Barbie doesn't vomit all over the lectern or drop the n-bomb in reference to Obama, the talking heads will declare that she "held her own" against Biden. :eyes:

[fascisthunter]

17. It Won't Help Her or McCain that Much Though..

it worked for Bush but that was before he screwed this country soooo bad.

[ramapo]

18. It will be less entertaining then we'd like

I'd be surprised to hear her fumble or sound as inane as she has in the Gibson and Couric interviews. She will likely just spew prepared answers, even if the answer doesn't fit the question which is a typical "debate" trick.

However, there might be some surprises in store for us. Get the popcorn ready.

[TlalocW]

19. She could trip while walking out on stage

Pick her nose, wipe it in her hair, scratch her ass, declare August 5th to be America's Independence Day in a rambling answer to a question, and club a baby seal with a flag pole with the American flag still attached, and the media are going to say she did great or better than expected.

However, it seems like the voters have got their eyes open this year and are not swallowing what the M$M is trying to feed them.

Someone else said the bar for her is so low it's buried underground. I like that. I've been saying the bar for her is a chalk line on the basement floor with her having been carried up by the M$M to the second floor.

TlalocW

[Danieljay]

20. Very good point, "my friend". (sorry, had a McCain moment there)

[screembloodymurder]

22. The bar is on the floor.

The format is non-combative. How can she go wrong?

[Norrin Radd]

24. Any tiny flub will suffice.

The insatiable maw of YouTube is drooling in anticipation of red meat!

[MadrasT]

25. If she doesn't start speaking in tongues, they'll say she won.

[springbay]

26. I think she will do well too...especially if she goes on the attack.

In her recent interviews she has appeared unsteady, and quite frankly, way out of her league. I think she will come on strong and hammer the talking points she has been given no matter what question she is asked.

I am cautiously optimistic that Ifill will not be swayed by this latest tactic by the repugs questioning her bias with her upcoming book and be a fair moderator. And give me a break...her book was announced back in July. You can't tell me they didn't know about it until a few days ago. If that is true, they are more incompetent than I thought.