Gail Collins' Analysis of the Biden Palin Debate:

The people boosting Palin’s triumph were not celebrating because she demonstrated that she is qualified to be president if something ever happened to John McCain. They were cheering her success in covering up her lack of knowledge about the things she would have to deal with if she wound up running the country.

(Gail Collins Times Op-Ed, 10-4-08)

Today's Times also features an op-ed by Steven Pinker, a Harvard professor of psychology, who comments on Palin's linguistic skills. His analysis comes down to this: "the overall theme that Ms. Palin and Senator John McCain have been trying to advance: that expertise is overrated, homespun sincerity is better than sophistication, conviction is more important than analysis."

In other words, McCain and Palin are playing the same game that Bush and Cheney did in the last two elections, with the roles reversed. This time it's the presidential candidate who is the tough guy ready to reside in the bunker, with the guy you'd like to have a beer with running for vice president. Is that real change?

The Dude's strategy to counter terrorism: "We need to counter the shockwave of the evildoer by having individual rate cuts accelerated and by thinking about tax rebates." — George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., October 4, 2001. (The Dude has never lost an opportunity for furthering his plans to bankrupt the nation while advancing the enrichment of his friends.)