PATHETIC

>> Flirting her way to victory>>
Sarah Palin's farcical debate performance lowered the standards>> for both female candidates and US political discourse>>>> Michelle Goldberg >>
Friday October 3 2008>> guardian.co.uk>>>>

At least three times last night, Sarah Palin, the adorable,>> preposterous vice-presidential candidate, winked at the audience. >>
Had a male candidate with a similar reputation for attractive>> vapidity made such a brazen attempt to flirt his way into the>> good graces of the voting public, it would have universally >> noted, discussed and mocked.
Palin, however, has single-handedly >> so lowered the standards both for female candidates and American>> political discourse that, with her newfound ability to speak in >> more-or-less full sentences, she is now deemed to have performed >> acceptably last night.>>>>
By any normal standard, including the ones applied to male>> presidential candidates of either party, she did not.
Early on, >> she made the astonishing announcement that she had no intentions >> of actually answering the queries put to her.
"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 let them >> know my track record also," she said.>>>>
And so she preceded, with an almost surreal disregard for the >> subjects she was supposed to be discussing, to unleash fusillades>> of scripted attack lines, platitudes, lies, gibberish and grating >> references to her own pseudo-folksy authenticity.>> >>
It was an appalling display.
The only reason it was not widely>> described as such is that too many American pundits don't even >> try to judge the truth, wisdom or reasonableness of the political >> rhetoric they are paid to pronounce upon.
Instead, they imagine>> themselves as interpreters of a mythical mass of "average >> Americans" who they both venerate and despise.>> >>
In pronouncing upon a debate, they don't try and determine>> whether a candidate's responses correspond to existing reality, >> or whether he or she is capable of talking about subjects such as >> the deregulation of the financial markets or the devolution of>> the war in Afghanistan.
The criteria are far more vaporous.
In >> this case, it was whether Palin could avoid utterly humiliating >> herself for 90 minutes, and whether urbane commentators would>> believe that she had connected to a public that they see as >> ignorant and sentimental.
For the Alaska governor, mission>> accomplished. >>>>
There is indeed something mesmerising about Palin, with her manic>> beaming and fulsome confidence in her own charm.
The force of her >> personality managed to slightly obscure the insulting emptiness >> of her answers last night.
It's worth reading the transcript of>> the encounter, where it becomes clearer how bizarre much of what >> she said was.
Here, for example, is how she responded to Biden's >> comments about how the middle class has been short-changed during>> the Bush administration, and how McCain will continue Bush's policies:>>>>
"Say it ain't so, Joe, there you go again pointing backwards >> again.
You preferenced [sic] your whole comment with the Bush>> administration.
Now doggone it, let's look ahead and tell >> Americans what we have to plan to do for them in the future.
You >> mentioned education, and I'm glad you did.
I know education you>> are passionate about with your wife being a teacher for 30 years, >> and god bless her.
Her reward is in heaven, right? ...
My >> brother, who I think is the best schoolteacher in the year, and>> here's a shout-out to all those third graders at Gladys Wood >> Elementary School, you get extra credit for watching the debate." >>>>
Evidently, Palin's pre-debate handlers judged her incapable of>> speaking on a fairly wide range of subjects, and so instructed to >> her to simply disregard questions that did not invite memorised >> talking points or cutesy filibustering.
They probably told her to>> play up her spunky average-ness, which she did to the point of >> shtick - and dishonesty.
Asked what her achilles heel is - a >> question she either didn't understand or chose to ignore - she>> started in on how McCain chose her because of her "connection to >> the heartland of America. Being a mom, one very concerned about a >> son in the war, about a special needs child, about kids heading>> off to college, how are we going to pay those tuition bills?" >>>>
None of Palin's children, it should be noted, is heading off to >> college.
Her son is on the way to Iraq, and her pregnant>> 17-year-old daughter is engaged to be married to a high-school >> dropout and self-described "fuckin' redneck".
Palin is a woman >> who can't even tell the truth about the most quotidian and public>> details of her own life, never mind about matters of major public >> import. In her only vice-presidential debate, she was shallow, >> mendacious and phoney. What kind of maverick, after all, keeps>> harping on what a maverick she is?
That her performance was >> considered anything but a farce doesn't show how high Palin has >> risen, but how low we all have sunk.>