What a Night!

Amanda mentioned that we "went on the record" tonight. A reporter from Channel 6 news wanted a local response to the debate and was given Amanda's name from a local Republican because of our Palin's Pitbulls group. So Amanda came over and we had a little interview session with the reporter during the debate. It really gave us some perspective of how tough it is to be on the hot seat. Of course, they only ended up pulling one soundbyte for the clip, and thankfully it was from Amanda! I thought it was a good clip of her though. I thought it was funny is how they introduced us as a GROUP who got together, when it was just me and Amanda and Raleigh and Jaden (and Ty). Ha! I guess we should have had a party, but we only had about 30 minutes notice that the news wanted to interview Amanda before the debate started. Amanda and I weren't even planning to watch it together. But back to the actual DEBATE...

For the record, I think Palin was herself tonight, and when she is herself, she is GREAT. Overall she did a great job of communicating her conservative values and responding to the questions and Biden's comments. I will be interested to see the ratings of the debate, as well as the commentary on her performance. From what I've seen so far from the media, she is getting significant praise, which indicates to me that she did a lot more than just hold her own.

One thing that came through very strongly was just how genuine Sarah Palin is. I believe she truly cares about this country and she has a servant's heart. Regardless of how you feel about her political views, I don't think anyone can make the case that Sarah Palin is a person that shouldn't be trusted. I have confidence that she will be true to her values and do her best to do the right things for our country. I think she's got great instincts and a great foundation of life experiences to draw upon. The lady has street smarts, plain and simple.

Palin had a lot of funny lines, but my favorite part of the debate was when she talked about her stance on drilling in ANWR and that she would continue to work to try to get McCain to come around on that one, because he oppposes drilling there. Having lived in Alaska, I am very much in favor of drilling in ANWR and I'm glad Palin talked about it on the national stage.

I felt that Gwen Ifill did an excellent job of moderating the debate.

As for Biden, although I disagree with him on most issues, I think he communicated clearly and probably won on points, but he did not win the popularity contest tonight. When you look at how big of an underdog Palin was, and how much more experience Biden has in debate settings, she gave a tremendous performance, and I think Biden knew it.

I did REALLY like one comment from Biden about working with those of opposing views in the Senate over the years. He said something to the effect of, "I don't question their motives--I question their judgment." That's truly how I feel about many of my liberal friends and family members. They are just trying to find solutions to the problems we face in this country. I just don't feel that individuals in the country ought to be looking to government to solve all their problems. FAIRNESS, as Biden defines it, involves a significant redistribution of wealth. I think that his views on taxes and healthcare aren't just on the slippery slope towards socialism, they are fundamentally socialist.

Obviously a lot of people in this country think socialism ain't too bad.

Just a sidenote, I got a kick out of Dennis Miller on Jay Leno tonight. He was talking about reading Nancy Pelosi's book and said something to the effect of, "I had the 'Shrill to English' version." Zing!