Debate: Hour One

Here goes . . .

Was going to watch this on CNN, but they said they're going to be scrolling what looks like a heart beat machine along the bottom. Too distracting. So I've got NBC on instead.

And now the game is on . . . .

90 seconds? What can they say in 90 seconds??

Sarah - confident. "Thank you, Gwen, thank you, thank you, thank you . . .

Biden appears senatorial . . . could be a good thing. Or not. But good move to start right out to underscore that the mess we're in is because of the Bushites.

Sarah - better job of looking at the camera and speaking to Americans.

Aha, I knew it. Let's talk about the mothers and their fear. This will be the ploy. "I'm one of you. A mom just like you."

What? The other senators ignored John McCain when he tried to save the economy . . .

She has been trained well . . Confident. Speaks to the camera.

"Americans are craving something new and different . . . . Have to put the maverick in the White House." She's good . . .

There she goes "Joe Six Pack" "Hockey Moms" across America. We're being taken advantage of.

"Never again will we be taken advantage of."

She winning this debate. Biden speaks to the moderator. Palin speaks to the camera. She's got energy. He looks tired. He's talking policy. She's talking about ordinary people.

Loosen up, Joe!!

What' s clear is that all of these questions were anticipated. . . And she's getting in all the zingers. It's like a set up.

"When I was mayor I was a tax cutter . . . " Stretching the truth, but she'll get by with it because she's speaking with confidence.

What's on display here is a former sports broadcaster up against a politician. Sportscaster wins every time. Knows how to speak to a camera.

She winning. Hands down. She's winning.

Health care. Biden is doing better. But he needs to look at the camera more. Speak to us, Joe. Speak to us.

OK, Biden is hitting his stride. Speaking with more confidence and clearly knows his stuff. Good line about the bridge to nowhere.

"Tells one thing to one group of people and another to another group."

"I had to take on those oil companies" - brought it back to what she knows in Alaska. Good move. This is her strong suit . . . .

"There hasn't been a whole lot that I've promised. Only been around for five weeks." Huh? Is'nt that a weakness??

Here's what's clear. She has been coached to speak with authority and with confidence on subjects that are in the ball park of the subject matter.

"We have John McCain to thank for solving our ecnomic crisis." Again, because she speaks with authority people will believe this nonsense.

Biden is also shifting discussion, but he knows what he's talking about .

She's got that snarky look on her face as Biden is speaking . . . . .

And now - let's shift it back to energy. Her strong suit (or so she thinks). Is telling us that the answer to the energy issue is drill, baby, drill. But, Sarah, we weren't talking about energy. Good jujitsu move there.

Climate change is now on deck. What are the causes??

Alaska, Alaska, Alaska . . . . I'm from Alaska. That's clearly what they told her to say. I'm from Alaska and I know energy and climate change. blah, blah, blah.

"We're allowing other countries to pollute." We're allowing them? So now are we going to send out the Marines to stop other countries from polluting? Invade China and India.

She's getting by with a lot here. But she says it so well that I'm afraid that's what people will remember.

"People are so hungry for that oil to be tapped into. . . " "Hungry?"

If they keep hammering away at energy she's going to win.

Oh, now it's same sex couples. Biden - must have constitutional benefits.

And she's got a "gotcha" moment here. Afraid that we will re-define marriage. But, of course, I am tolerant. "But in that tolerance, no one would propose that we shouldn't allow contracts and visits in the hospital." She supports full civil rights for gay couples?? Hmmmmm . . . .

Foreign policy . . this should be interesting.

And now she's on to Obama voted against funding troops and the surge. "We have got to win in Iraq!!" "We cannot afford to lose against the Sunni extremists."

She's got that snarky look on her face again. "Your plan is a white flag of surrender!" "We'll know when we're finished in Iraq when the Iraqis can run their own affairs."

She has been trained well. Confident now even on foreign affairs. "We're going to win!!!"

The questions are, unfortunately, so predictable that clearly Palin came armed with the answers. Gwen, give us a curve ball.

Iran.

"Israel is in jeopardy, of course." Here we go.

And there she goes -- Obama "goes beyond naivete" in wanting to speak to dictators without preconditions.

"These dictators hate what we stand for . . . " cannot be met with on a presidential level as Obama said we would do.

"Diplomacy is hard work by serious people."

She is good.

Unfortunately she has Biden on the defensive. She's taking the upper hand.

She's winning.

Come on, Biden. Go on the offensive.

Israel . . . "what has this administration done right or wrong? Two state solution?

"A two state solution is the solution."

Hmmm . . . she is saying the right thing here.

"We have got to assure them that we will never allow another holocaust.