That's a joke, right? Are we talking about the same person here? Listening to these guys, you'd never know this was the same person who every time she speaks either lies out of both sides of her mouth or can't string together a coherent sentence.

Sigh.

That said, I'm really worried about the "low expectations" thing going into this debate. There are just too many ways that Biden can mess this up, and all Palin has to do is not make a fool of herself -- not at all a sure thing -- and get off a couple of zingers, and poof, half the country will forget all about Couric and Tina Fey.

And given that that same half of the country seems to think it's her, not McCain, who's running for president, it may have a real effect.

The expectations bar for Palin has been set so low an ant would trip over it. So, in that sense, she beats expectations. Doesn't matter. It would take an epic meltdown on Biden's part for her to look remotely good. She simply cannot think on her feet in any kind of real world (the big complicated world) setting. And her word salad answers grate on all but the koolaid drinkers at one level or another.

She's toxic but she's toast.

That in the end the problem begins and ends with John McCain. Had he not waited until the last minute to decide, and not made a hail mary with the pick he would have alot a choices. They could have started coaching her in the spring; we would not be having this conversation.

Also McCain's age makes Palin's experience much more important - his running mate could become the next president.

I could list ways she could improve her "performance" but as a concerned citizen, I'd rather not help her.

Ya think?

The thing that everyone's missing in the coverage of her ridiculous answer where she can't name any other Supreme Court decision besides Roe v. Wade is her response to a question about a constitutional right to privacy:

Couric: Do you think there's an inherent right to privacy in the Constitution?

Palin: I do. Yeah, I do.

Umm, OK... I think there is an inherent right to privacy in the Constitution and I'm happy to see Sarah Palin has come into the fold of us progressives. Conservatives might not be so understanding --- or maybe they don't care that Palin supports the cornerstone principle behind every liberal court decision since Griswold v. Connecticut.

Palin may very well be "likeable." She may, in fact, have a personal story that resonates with many Americans. She may even, given the somewhat provincal standards of Alaskan state government, be an adroit politician.

But none of these attributes can make up for the fact that she is appallingly ill-informed about a large number of critical issues facing the United States. This is apparent to virtually everyone watching or listening to her.

Americans, perhaps wisely, do not demand intellectual greatness from their leaders. Franklin Roosevelt may have maintained his "Gentleman's C" average, and Ronald Reagan never boasted of his classroom accomplishments. But when they spoke what came out of their mouths meant something to the people that heard them. Palin's off-teleprompter pronouncements resemble nothing so much as a mental grab bag of faux-populist catch-words, joined unevenly with nervous blinking. To all but the most self-delusional of her supporters, it becomes quite clear that the woman, if she actually has a thought on an issue, struggles to enunciate it in any form recognizable to sentient humans.

Compounding Palin's challenge is the fact that, arguably, the stakes in this Vice-Presidential race are higher than ever. With a 72 year old running mate, an economy in crisis, shooting wars in two countries, a resurgent Russia, nuclear-ambitious Iran and North Korea, strained relations with our European allies, and affordable health care slipping away from an increasing share of Americans - our nation simply cannot afford to risk someone so demonstrably incurious and ill-informed anywhere near the Vice Presidency.

Abraham Lincoln famously said: You can fool some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time. Governor Palin's time is up.

The disrespect / contempt from the far left directed at Republicans and their values this election cycle has slashed a deep ,deep a open wound on America that will never heal, ever.

But that's what they wanted wasn't it ?

...Under what rock did you find these people hiding???

Let her be more herself?? I think she IS being herself. If the "handlers" gave us what we are seeing from her, then the McCain campaign is really poorly run.

There is no way she is being coached to act clueless and ill-informed unless McCain's goal is to throw the election.

And as for hiding her under the desk!?!? This woman could be president in short order given McLame's health... If she can't even handle a damn press conference - how is she going to handle high office?

I'm sorry if this is insulting, but Alaska is a backwater - less populated than many US cities - she is just not ready for the national stage and McCain is a moron for allowing her to get this far before pulling the plug.

When did Salon readers start caring about how to relaunch the F-in Palin brand? Was there a useful purpose to that article at the outset? One that maybe got sidetracked by the half dozen snake oil salesmen you interviewed? That's the only explanation I can think of.

...aren't you...yeahhh...a *"progressive"* blogger who...umm...yeahh...might be...just a tad alienating the vast majority of his...yeahh...readership....by, yeahhh...earnestly holding a forum giving McCain *TALKING POINTS ON HOW TO SAVE PALIN FROM CONTINUING TO BE PERHAPS THE GREATEST GIFT OBAMA/BIDEN COULD ASK FOR!!!*

Save this shite for Slate. Hitchens would have been happy to offer it himself.

I have tried and tried to give this woman the benefit of the doubt. First was her vp coming out announcement where she blathered on about sports and all that hockey mom nonsense. I thought: "Oh my God, this woman does not sound intelligent, what has McCain done?" Strike One. Then came her condescending speech at the convention, where she not only sounded even more unintelligent, she lied repeatedly, and then she had the un-American audacity to attack Barack Obama's community organizing in the most denigrating of terms not befitting a serious candidate for public office. Strike Two. Then came her interviews where almost nothing she said made sense, and those that did make nominal sense were about as vapid as lip gloss. Strike Three. She's OUT. If America feels comfortable entrusting the lives of its children to this phoney-baloney moron, then yeah, vote for her. It will seal our fate and doom America to the trash heap of history. Our founding fathers would PUKE at this choice. John McCain will have single-handedly turned America over to its enemies if he dies in office and this bonehead becomes our leader.