Generally, European governments have a lot of money to spend.  As such, it is probably a tip-off that you might be getting pranked when the aid to Prime Minister Sarkozy hands the phone to the Prime Minister.  They have switchboards for that sort of thing, you know:

And for you non-Vice Presidential nominees, don’t forget to keep updated with Sarah Palin as President:

http://www.palinaspresident.us/

Updated daily!  Don’t forget to keep clicking on the door to the left of the screen.

I mean, you don’t need a degree to call yourself an intellectual.  There’s no Devry Institute program you need to complete and there’s no Sally Strothers-approved at-home learning program like there is for really important things, like gunsmithing.

Still, I have to say I find it surprising that Alaska Governor, Miss Alaska Runner-up and Republican Clothing Mogul Sarah Palin also considers herself to be an intellectual.  I gotta say: did NOT see that one coming.

Oh, hell yeah.  Terry Tate is back in action, layin’ the smack down on fools who don’t know the rules of this political humpty bumpty.  Get ready, McCain!  Meet the Pain Train.  Woo, woo!!!!

Helpfully, someone on YouTube took the time to split the entire debate up by question, posting each question as it’s own video.  This makes it much easier for the rest of us to hone in on the points of the debate we thought were important.  Go check it out, after you read this post, of course.

One thing that struck me quite clearly in the debate which did not get picked up yet in the mainstream media is Sarah Palin’s response to the question about what would change in a Palin Administration, should the elected president ever kick it:

The first half minute of her ninty second answer is largely prologue.  She agrees what a tragedy it would be if either party’s president died, she banters on, making stall talk while she steers the ship where she wants it to go.  She throws in the cheesy grin she’s known for and shrugs off the inevitable “mavrickiness” of her party’s ticket.  She throws in a few bullet points about how John McCain really wants her opinion (sure he does, honey) and some crap about ANWAR.

Like I said: prologue.  It’s pretty clear from the tone of her voice that this is all perfunctory stuff before she gets to what she really wants to talk about: herself.  From here through the next fifty nine seconds, she talks about how Washington needs a little “Main Street Wasilla” in order to get it’s shit straight.  Where everything else is halting and weird, once she starts talking about herself, she’s in the groove and you almost forget that she’s second banana.

You can almost see her leaving Grandpa McCain at her brother’s house while she goes off on her little National Lampoon’s Vacation:

Late Update: Sarah Palin, discussing the decision by the McCain Campaign to pull out of Michigan, says that if the McCain camp can’t do it all by themselves, why by golly, Todd and Sarah want to give it a try.  ‘Cuz ya know, them McCain folks is messin up the works, doncha know. . .

This is a much more difficult debate to score than the first presidential one.  The reason is simple: there really weren’t many punches landed in the presidential, but there were tons on both sides in this one.

But I have to say, whomever ends best often wins, in the opinion race.  I got very worried for a minute because towards the end, Sarah Palin really started scoring some serious points.  But Joe’s response about his child stole the thunder of Palin, not that he was using it, but it did.  And his ending was supreme in its reach into Middle America.  I think it was probably very effective.

Very few people expected Sarah Palin to be specific about anything, and she didn’t disappoint.  But worse, she couldn’t answer questions and decided to just say whatever she wanted to whenever she wanted to.  I don’t think it came off well.  That’s especially true for the answer to the question of “what is your biggest flaw.”  No one expects an honest self-critique, but you have to couch it in some sort of humility, like Joe did.  It was out of control.

We’ll have to see what the big replays are to know who won.  But as I watch Tweety on MSNBC, it seems like the pundit class is not pleased at all with her performance.

I should probably mention the expectations game.  On this level, I’d say Sarah Palin mostly won. She didn’t come off as a drooling idiot, which is definitely an improvement.  But was it enough?  I’m not sure.  If you’re looking for competence, you have to say that she didn’t even bother most of the time to even play by the rules of the debate because she couldn’t answer the questions.

But she definitely got some serious shots in towards the end and she definitely proved herself quite a skilled debate competitor.  No one can take that away from her.

The trouble for the campaign is that the recent downturn in the polls had nothing much to do with Palin, even though her numbers have dropped along side the ticket.  The problem has been the economy and John McCain’s erratic, irrational responses.  On this level, Biden did tremendously.  Much better than I’ve ever seen him, in fact.  His ability to speak to the problems of Middle America in a real way – as opposed to Palin’s patronizing and placating way – was a force to be reckoned with.

If the American people are looking for answers – and I’m pretty sure they are – then the Biden responses, which dripped with fact and figure, must have come off well.  If they’re looking for style over substance, Palin wins.

Again, we shall see.