What a huge missed opportunity for McCain-Palin. They SHOULD have put her up there, all she needed to do was rattle off a bunch of talking points and make fun of Obama the way she did at her RNC convention speech. It would have distracted the media more than the debate itself-- they would have been like "what debate? we have access to Sarah Palin!!!"

McCain-Palin campaign really doesn't think more than 24-hours ahead do they? It's like Obama is playing a very long game of chess and McCain is playing Pick-Up-Sticks.

Blitzer said. "We would have loved to interview

Yesterday on the Situation Room, Cafferty ripped into Palin about her Couric interview (specifically her answer about Alaska's proximity to Russia), and Blitzer tried to defend her by saying she hasn't had much time to prepare. I just think Blitzer is as clueless and defensive as Palin.

I understand that for the far right, an uncomfortable question is proof positive of media bias. Because just about any serious question of Palin is going to be difficult or uncomfortable, it not only justifies hiding her from the media - It actually rallies them around her.

It's beyond ridiculous that rabid right considers her ready to be VP, when she's obviously not prepared to sit down with Katie Freaking Couric.

The right wants us to be ready to fight any scary monster that might appear on the horizon, but it's OK for Caribou Barbie to hide out in the basement from Wolf Blitzer.

The McCain campaign is busy trying to figure out how to dump Palin without looking like cads. I expect there is a full-court press on to pressure her into withdrawing for "family reasons" before the veep debate next week. She would probably do better debating Joe Biden than she did being interviewed by Katie Couric, though. Katie was unexpectedly tough (applause!) and couldn't be accused of sexism. No matter what Biden said or did, the McCainiacs would scream sexist.

On NBC, immediately after talking to Biden, Brian Williams made a point of saying that they had asked to talk with Palin but the Republicans refused. Instead, he introduced Giuliani.

For those who stuck around after the debate, Biden did more to influence public opinion than any pundit on any channel. His explanations of how wrong McCain was were devastating. In this year's election the VP matters and Biden shows very well.

It was not mentioned in the posting, but after Wolf said that he would welcome an interview with Palin, Anderson Cooper kinda chuckled and said something to the effect of don't hold your breath on that one. It was really interesting. I think that exasperation is really setting in for Palin.

They made the same point on NBC after the debate. They'd invited Palin, but she declined to be interviewed.

I really don't get it. I think she could have handled it. It wouldn't have been as strong as Biden, but she doesn't need to be. This simply reinforces the idea that they don't have ANY confidence in her.

Moreover, Team McCain risks that becoming one of the stories of the night - that Palin was nowhere to be seen. They can't afford that.

Let's make a comparison here---shall we?

1.) Al Quaeda and the Taliban are keeping Osama bin Laden in an undisclosed location.

2.) R.B. "Dick" Cheney has an affinity for spending large amounts of his time keeping himself in an undisclosed location.

3.) On the campaign scene, the McCainistas are keeping Sarah Palin in undisclosed locations when any other campaign would be doing the exact opposite.

Undisclosed locations. Undisclosed locations. Undisclosed locations.

Mere coincidence---or many terrible things inflicting harm on the Republic?

Hmmm..............

Steve, you left out the best part. After Blitzer said they'd like to have Palin on, Anderson Cooper said, "Yeah, don't hold your breath". Priceless.

The McCain campaign was wise to keep Palin away from the cameras. The base will believe that she was shut out - no matter what the media says. To have her appear post-debate would have precipitated another series of self-inflicted wounds as she spouted talking points and non-sequitars in that annoying voice of hers. And am I the only one who thinks that her habit of dropping her g's makes her sound stupid rather than folksy?

In this morning's Devil's Advocacy section, we are joined by one of the commenters over on Little Green Footballs. The passage below more or less captures reactions on the extreme right, with reduced name-calling hijinks content.

First McCain did come off the best in this debate. Both candidates scored important points and talked to their base, however throughout the debate McCain talked to the middle as well and managed to score with all of America again and again.

He scored great points with his tough talk on economics and cutting spending while Obama lost points by talking about all new programs and his unwillingness to cut any.

McCain definitely won on energy. While Obama was interested in gotchas and history, McCain put forth a solid plan that will work.

McCain was a tour d’force on foreign policy, and outshone Obama by miles there.

At a couple of points you could see Barack put up his hands like he wanted to call a time out when McCain was using Barack’s own statements to illustrate his points. Yes, america gets it that you said that Barack, and then you changed your stance after a lot of coaching. It was crystal clear in the debate.

Now we all know there were bigger zingers, harder slams, and tougher things that John could have said, but there are reasons he did not. He is carefully courting the Reagan Democrats and we need them to win. If he goes to polar in the initial debate he loses them from the get go.

He couldn’t go to town with Acorn, Dodd, Raines, Frank, Countrywide, and Johnson the way he could have, and he can’t until we get through the crisis d’jour. He didn’t bring up that they burnt Barack in effigy in the streets of Pakistan after his comments on Pakistan, although he could have.

He didn’t drive home the fact that Al Qaeda is “reconstituted� in Pakistan because we kicked their ass in Iraq and they had to flee there.

He didn’t bring up that we really are at the crux of winning three wars in Iraq: the first against Sadaam, the second against Al Qaeda, and the third against the Badr brigades assisted by the Revolutionary Guard of Iran. Few have said that, but it’s the truth.

He didnt’ bring up that the average american farm is Rich in Barack’s book, he didn’t bring up that the average Home run business is rich in Barack’s books. That’s a must do next debate.

Again the real slings and arrows have not yet flown against Barack Obama, they are held in reserve. That’s a good thing.

So maybe we can look forward to McCain going "polar" in the last debate. I'd like to see that. It would partner well with my budding collection of Sarah Palin videos.

Can we just accept that Rudy, Joe, and Lindsay are McCain's defacto VPs? The people have vetted and the GOP has conceded the fact that McCain really screwed up their chances of splitting the branches in DC. McCain and Palin represent not mavericks but just how badly the GOP needs to reform itself from the ground up.

It's not "funny" that people are stupid enough to think that the "librul media" is keeping Sarah Palin off their TeeVee.

It's scary that people can be so willfully delusional.

Devastating no confidence vote by the McCain campaign.

Palin herself may have refused to appear, whatever her handlers recommended. I think the pressure of a national campaign has really rattled her.

The right-wing nutcases will never admit the obvious. They're toast.

But ANYONE with the slightest bit of objectivity will see the massive hole in the GOP ticket that is Sarah Palin. The VP debate will make this point irrefutable.

I guess this is as good a place to pass this rumor along as anywhere else. The McCain campaign has finished "vetting" Rudy Giuliani as a replacement vice presidential candidate. (Yes I know vetting is not that big a deal for McCain). The Harding blog has slowed things down as they had hoped to announce a Mac-Rudy ticket in MS last night. But everything I've heard is that Monday PM or Tuesday AM we get the official announcement. What happens in the DC bailout negotiations could change the timing. They definitely want Rudy on the ticket by Thursday.

They definitely want Rudy on the ticket by Thursday.

Works for me. Those who like Palin will never know she's gone, and the rest of the "base" will be energized by a pro-corruption candidate.

They want Rudy on the ticket? Bring it!!!

I'de love to see Biden crush "Mr. 9-11." No sexism problem either, unless he shows up in drag.

Put yourself into John McCain's shoes right now. He has been in Washington for almost three decades. He has set his sights on becoming president for at least one decade. And then, when he finally had the best chance of success, he gambled it all away by selecting an unknown candidate with by a minimal vetting process. Instead of staying above the flack zone, McCain steered his craft to the heart of it. I get some sense from my own teenage missteps that there has to be some deep seated, fatalistic, self loathing involved here.

Do you think that there's any truth to the rumors that McCain campers are very nervous about Palin after the mock debates and press conferences and have no idea what to do? Somewhere I read that "sources on the Hill" were talking about it.

I repeat:
Biden: A++++++++++++++++
Palin: Unexcused Absence

Has anybody ever seen Sarah Palin and Brittany Spears together?

Rudy?!?! I have a hard time believing anyone could be that stupid. But then again, we are talking about the McCain campaign. It would be POW-9/11 24/7.

Maybe Palin was observing the Sabbath?

Jassalasca,

Don't post anything like that anymore. I think I actually lost IQ points just reading it.

J Jape makes a good point about the level of delusion in the right blogosphere, and the comment he quotes is priceless. And that kind of delusion is not rare in the right wing blogosphere.

That's why the most interesting reaction to the Oct 2 debate for me is not the pundits or the polls. It's the true believers. How many will peel off? How many will cling to their fantasies? I'm buying a crate of popcorn.

Interesting comments from the guy from LGF. I wonder if the sky is blue in his universe.

Seriously I do wonder sometimes if our view of the world is as seriously affected by our predispositions as it is for the dittoheads.

OhNoNotAgain: It's best not to inhale.

Let us say for a moment (just for a moment) that John McCain did well in the debate last night.

OK.

Everything he said about the serious issues facing the United States is completely, totally, and utterly destroyed by his choice of Sarah Palin.

How could he even think of leaving the "country" he supposedly puts "first" in her hands?

Ron Byers,
Seriously I do wonder sometimes if our view of the world is as seriously affected by our predispositions as it is for the dittoheads.

It says a lot that you wonder in the first place. Everyone enjoys a little tribalism. But the financial crisis has pretty well scared the bejeebers out of everyone, and fear is less debilitating to communities that do, you know, the peer to peer communication thing.

Sarah Palin is like a whole flock of albatrosses hanging around the neck of Johnny McShamless and the GOP.

what happens to the christian right vote if Palin got dumped and Rudi put on the ticket?

Do they vote for McCain because he made a good faith effort with them and they'll then blame Palin's downfall on the media?

Or do they say thanks but no thanks to McCain?

Damned if you do damned if you don't.

Moderates hate Rudi. He'd be great at call Obaba a muslim n***** though.

It's a definite possibility and goes along welll with the control the news cycle campaign. People would tune into to see Rudi debate and Biden will have been preparing for Palin. Biden seems to schooled to get surprised though.

I still say that VP debate will never happen. Biden was devastating in his followup interviews. In fact, if Biden had debated McCain they'd still be scraping McCain up off the stage. I really hope Biden gets a much higher profile during these final weeks. Its a disservice to the country for the media to obssess on every rediculous Sarah Palin moment and all but ignore Biden.

She doesn't know exactly what a VEEPEE does so why should she be available for a post-debate interview?

The McCain camp is probably getting tired of Palinese like the rest of us.

Her interview with Katie was so inane that I can't, for the life of me, even remember what she said. (I have to reread the transcript over and over to even get her random driveling babble into my head).

It does seem increasingly likely that Palin will come down with some mystery illness right before the debate.

To play along with the rumor mill of McCain losing Palin for the ticket, I did think it was strange that McCain went out of his way to mention her and say how happy he was to have another maverick on the ticket. This would allow her to step down on her own terms, while giving the appearance that McCain was still happy with his reckless VP pick.

Overanalzying, I know.

And when Joe is good, he is very, very good. Excellent job making virtually every point and reemphasis that Obama missed. Hard-hitting with his trademarked genial delivery. Perfection.

"It does seem increasingly likely that Palin will come down with some mystery illness right before the debate."

I'd put money on Trig developing a mystery illness-- possibly a flight out of state for medical "care". Then she gets sympathy too... Although it would raise the question of "can she be the VP and take care of 5 kids" but asking that is sexist, isn't it.

Sarah Palin: Not surrogate, but stupid-gate!

Intrade is taking bets on Palin not making it to the election. Contracts have increased 1.8% recently to 7.9%.

See http://www.intrade.com/jsp/intrade/contractSearch/index.jsp?query=Palin

BTW, isn't ghoul-inanity the most horrible, sneering and bullying lout imaginable? Note how he ragged on Obama for saying "You're right" 8 times to McCain, as if being candid and agreeing sometimes was a bad thing (a rational person will almost certainly find common ground with anyone who isn't a massively contrarian freak.) But that's how Republican types think, it is "weak" to do anything but fight and disagree. It's all about loyalty to your side and denigrate the other side, over and above any objective criteria of truth. (Note recent research, conservatives value loyalty while liberals value fairness.)

I don't know if anyone noted this, but Fox News also interviewed Biden after the debate, and he gave essentially the same denunciation of McCain as I saw on CNN and NBC. Chris Wallace asked him, like the other channels, how this debate would help him with his upcoming debate and Biden said something about how he hoped Palin would say the same things McCain said. Wallace then said, "Are you going to have trouble not being condescending to her [Ms. Palin]?" To which Biden responded, "No , no, no. I'm not going to do what John did." Wallace seemed stunned. It was phenomenal. God I hate Fox, but Biden put that question in its place.

It seems the Moose Killa From Wasilla spent the evening watching the debates in a pub. Imagine how inane and senseless she would sound after quaffing a few pints.

I don't know if he can even care, but I fed the following into Drudge's little tips window:

GOP concerns about Palin grow
By ALEXANDER BURNS & DAVID PAUL KUHN | 9/27/08 11:15 AM EDT

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13991.html

Matt, for the sake of the country ...

A comment above says, "I just think Blitzer is as clueless and defensive as Palin."

The problem is that Blitzer is a conservative Republican who tries hard to be a journalist and avoid sounding like he is from Fox but sometimes his views do influence his reporting.

Of course it might also be argued that being a conservative Republican proves the point of the previous comment that he is clueless.

I found it odd that Guliani and his wife flew to Mississippi with John and Cindy and Palin was no where in sight. Were Palin and her husband even at the debates? I think the McCain campaign realizes their star quarterback has a bum knee and can't throw.

::The VP debate will make this point irrefutable.::

I'm not so sure about that. Her two disastrous interviews have set the bar so low for her that all she will have to do in the debate is stand up straight and not drool and she'll exceed expectations.

"It does seem increasingly likely that Palin will come down with some mystery illness right before the debate."

Close but no cigar.

I hate to say it, to be so cynical, but I think it's more likely that Trig will suddenly afflicted with some sort of mystery ailment connect to his Down syndrome.

I see Lou beat me to it.

I would not be one bit surprised to see some kind of "emergency" railroad the Veep debate.

I think that was what Wet Start was trying to do with his "let's postpone the debate" stratagem. If Obama and Ole Miss and the networks and the Commission on Presidential Debates had agreed, they would have canceled the Veep debate to put the Pres debate on Thursday.

Since that didn't work, next idea -- Sarah the Mom has to run. I also agree that that would undercut her ability to be a Mom and Veep, so that's what leads to Rudy coming on board BEFORE Thursday.

Which would be FINE with me.

Biden would be unleashed against Rudy. After all, it was Joe who came up with "A noun, a verb and 9/11."

Bring him on!

"We've been getting some emails from views out there wondering why we spent some time interviewing Joe Biden, the Democratic vice presidential nominee and not Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee," Blitzer said. "We would have loved to interview -- we'd still love to interview Sarah Palin. Unfortunately we asked, we didn't get that interview"

What cowards the Republicans are.

And am I the only one who thinks that her habit of dropping her g's makes her sound stupid rather than folksy? Posted by: Dennis - SGMM

No Dennis, you are not the only one. =)

Every time John McCain opens his mouth, he finds Sarah Palin's foot sticking in it.

"She would probably do better debating Joe Biden than she did being interviewed by Katie Couric ..."
Posted by: Helena Montana on September 27, 2008
----------

I think Joe Biden would do well to imagine himself debating someone with more experience and skill, more like Hillary Clinton. I think Palin will be much more professional and sharp in the debate. It might throw him a bit, but that's why he needs to be ready for a tougher opponent.

But, Biden should just be his usual calm smiling intelligent self and don't go for any barbs or knockdowns or anything.

He should bide(n) his time. Heh.

On Sara Palin: to paraphrase Shakespeare, "...an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

As a Mccain supporter, I will admit that Palin is new to the national scene and it shows. However, I find it very telling that in the same week, the palin answer on russia was used to read that she is dumb and unprepared yet.....Biden's comment stating eisenhower going on tv during the great depression which is a complete fabrication or wrong...was never even mentioned! btw, eisenhower was not president at the time and there were no TV! yet, biden got a pass and the media wrote it off as a mistake..where as a woman who's not bad looking is called dumb when she gives an odd answer. hmmmm