Isn’t she lovely!

Sarah Palin Debate Flowchart

Yes, I saw the debate. My feeling is that you had one person who belonged on the stage, and another who seemed like she had won her chance in the lottery.

I’ll let you figure out which was which.

Sarah Palin did what I expected – completed some sentences, fed some red meat to her base, but was barely coherent beyond two sentences.

If that:

I’m not one to attribute every man — activity of man to the changes in the climate. There is something to be said also for man’s activities, but also for the cyclical temperature changes on our planet.

But there are real changes going on in our climate. And I don’t want to argue about the causes. What I want to argue about is, how are we going to get there to positively affect the impacts?

Nonetheless, it was enough to set certain hearts aflutter. So without further adieu, here are the nominees for best sycophancy by a right-wing blogger or journalist (Vice-Presidential Debate edition):

Erick Ericksen:

Sarah Palin just field dressed Joe Biden like a moose. She was awesome. She connected with the people. She had fun. She was relaxed. She was awesome.

Michelle Malkin:

First, I would like to see all the Sarah doubters and detractors in the Beltway/Manhattan corridor eat their words.

Eat them.

Sarah Palin is the real deal. Five weeks on the campaign trail, thrust onto the national stage, she rocked tonight’s debate.

Jay Reding:

Palin is walking all over Biden. Give that woman some time to develop experience, and she’ll be the first female President of the United States, and she’ll do an amazing job.

Peggy Noonan:

She killed. She had him at “Nice to meet you. Hey, can I call you Joe?” She was the star. He was the second male lead, the good-natured best friend of the leading man. She was not petrified but peppy.

The whole debate was about Sarah Palin. She is not a person of thought but of action. Interviews are about thinking, about reflecting, marshaling data and integrating it into an answer. Debates are more active, more propelled—they are thrust and parry. They are for campaigners. She is a campaigner. Her syntax did not hold, but her magnetism did. At one point she literally winked at the nation.

Ah yes – the wink. Rich Lowry – talk about that wink, will you?

I’m sure I’m not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, “Hey, I think she just winked at me.” And her smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America. This is a quality that can’t be learned; it’s either something you have or you don’t, and man, she’s got it.

All so impressive, but I’ve got to give first prize to Lowry, whose eloquent adoration is all the more remarkable considering he typed it with just one hand free.