[Ruth]

Regarding her debate - her pre-debate interviews set the bar ridiculously low (due to her complete ineptidue in both of them). Most McCain-Palin are just happy she didn't freeze up or make a dangerously erroneous comment; however it was obvious that she Palin just ignored or sidestepped questions she was not comfortable (read: knowledgeable) about (there were many of these) before delivering an obviously pre-prepared statement that she memorized during her recent cram session in Arizona.

These rehearsed 'messages to the people' were filled with the good southern girl image dialogue (golly, darn, gosh, etc). Probably the Republican strategy was to bust this out a couple times and play up that image. She did well in that respect although she failed to answer simple questions that 95% of politicians could legitimately answer.

She also mentioned something about wanting to speak to the American people rather than a debate. Fair enough - but she has turned down so many interviews where she could have made her point to the people. As I said before - Biden has done around 100 interviews since being named VP nominee. Palin has done 3 (not including the debates). Seems to me that there is only one thing she craves - and that is power.

Btw - she refers to the Republican ticket as "a team of mavericks." Could someone please advise her that this is a contradiction in terms?