Thursday, October 02, 2008

VP debate tonight!

At first I was looking forward to the Biden/Palin debate with great relish. But now? There's some trepidation.

Palin has set the expectations for her performance so low—below the second subbasement level, encroaching on the magma beneath the earth's crust—that all she has to do is not be 100% ludicrous and incomprehensible, and it'll be touted as a Palin win. If she manages to avoid the "moose in the headlights" look and sometimes makes cogent points, it'll be spun as the rebirth of a compelling and strong candidate.

Biden has to solid across the board without coming across as too "knowledgeable" or "smart," because that's too offputting to portions of the electorate. If he looks like he's got more knowledge and experience than Palin—which he does—the GOP talking heads will spin it as "boring and elitist."

Dang! I forgot to get a debate bingo card. Wait, the internet can help. Here's one. Here's another. Palin bingo is the more family-friendly, recovering-alcoholic-friendly, teetotaler-friendly approach. Drinkers can use the bingo card as a guide to knowing which buzzwords and buzzconcepts they should take a swig upon hearing.

4 comments:

Mo said...

I've been looking forward to this debate all week, but now that it's upon us, I'm afraid it's going to go down as you propose. Oh well, I'll still watch it, and hopefully there will be some more good fodder for Tina Fey, if she's willing.

Anonymous said...

Mike won Palin bingo tonight with Alaska, special needs, airspace, hockey omo and terrorists.

At least we were drinking good beer.

The next SNL skit should be Sarah Palin cramming for this debate....

Sara

Mignon said...

I think we (the viewing public) win regardless, because not one single review I've read, post-debate, failed to include at least one reference to SNL and Tina Fey. So Palin didn't Tina Fey herself as much this time, but the fact that those two skits were so monumentally influential was reinforced by the debate summary. Rocks!

E. said...

Yeah, after the debate, I heard a pundit say "she won by not losing." Does that work for baseball teams that suck, too?

Sarah Palin = 8% mean + 28% uninformed + 32% dimwitted + 20% snide + 10% smug + 2% "folksy"