First off, Gwen Ifill was just horrible, asking one broad stupid question after another. "If your running mate croaks, how would your administration be different?" God, what a horrible question in every possible way.

Those horrible overbroad questions gave Palin every possible opportunity to give canned speeches, use her five talking points, and avoid subjects that would require breadth or depth of knowledge about the world or even about the operation of the U.S. government. No questions about the Supreme Court, about the agencies who are headed up by White House appointees (State Dept., Justice Dept., Treasury, FDA, FBI, FEMA etc.) and which do a lot of the work of the federal government. No questions about habeas corpus (there was an important recent Supreme Court decision on Bush's prisoner detention policy), social security, abortion, medicare, little about health care, nothing about the U.N. etc. (Biden would have fared much better than Palin on those types of specific questions). No challenges to their own records. Several weird questions that gave the candidates an opportunity to give whatever speech they wanted. Best possible playing field for Palin.

Biden kicked her ass anyway. He was knowledgeable, specific, even-tempered, gracious. He showed an understanding of history, which is a legitimate issue when you are talking about a position of this stature. He showed an understanding of our constitutional system when she got in over her head and agreed with Dick Cheney that the VP is a member of both the executive and legislative branches of government (Cheney's warped view is his unprecedented interpretation insulates his office from congressional subpoenas). He's a genuine yet serious person while she is a shallow fake. She's a small time, small town bully who hides behind overbearing chirpiness and a fake smile. This is a serious job, in serious times, for a serious person. Palin's smirking and winking is just inappropriate for vice-president. Well, maybe junior class vice-president, but not Vice President of the United States.