vailian

Watched the debate from the safety of my brother's lovely home in Minneapolis.
To fortify ourselves, we went to the Walgreens a block away to get some munchies.
Ahead of us in the checkout line was Garrison Kiellor.
I had had low expectations for Sarah Palin, but she did do better than I thought she would. She was cool and collected and didn't stumble, showed she has a lovely voice and poise.
Governor Palin did roughly what I had anticipated: had fluent and pat answers to the questions she was prepared for, and simply refused to respond to the ones for which she didn't have a prepared text block. You never got the feeling that she listened to a question and thought about an answer.
But more than that, she worried me on a number of counts:
She said at least 7 times that she was "working for American energy self-suffciency" --and was obviously talking about expanding oil production in Alaska--and repeatedly claimed to be an expert on energy. But she neglected to face up to the point that America has 3% of the world's oil reserves and yet accounts for over 20% of world consumption.
She holds fast to the notion that the Afghanistan war is somehow going to be "won" with a "surge", which shows me how ignorant she is of the history and current situation of that country (one only needs to read the sorry story of the long Russian occupation to get a sense of the real story).
Her multiple accusations about tax-raising by the Democratic ticket was not balanced by some explanation as to how she and McCaine would finance their lingering wars and economic bailout.

I would also like to mention that her inappropriate smiles and the odd flirty winks contributed to my unease about her ability to seriouly and independantly grapple with the complex issues that would face her as Vice-President or (God Forbid!) President.

But you know what made me scream at the TV most? Her gratuitious and repeated mispronounciation of "nuclear". (she says "nukyuler") This coming from someone who feels that energy policy is her strongest suit.