Hijacked slogans and Mavericks, you betcha!

I haven't even watched the entire Vice Presidential debate yet (about 7 minutes to go...whew) and I can already say that Sarah Palin gets under my skin more than anyone else in this world. The fact that this woman, with her two years of experience as a Governor, is up on the stage as a Vice Presidential candidate makes me absolutely sick. What has our country come to when someone like this can make it to the #2 spot? Sure, it's the "land of opportunity" but what happened to working hard to reach that opportunity? All I can do is shake my head and sigh.

Now, my thoughts on the debate:

1) Since when did the Republicans hijack Obama's slogan of "change"? If I have to hear Sarah Palin say that word one more time (not to mention the words "John McCain", "Maverick", "my family is very diverse", or "gonna"...all grossly overused tonight) I might just choke on my chicken salad. The Republicans do not represent "change" and I find it very humorous that all of a sudden they've taken this term on as their own. The republicans are the opposite of change.

2) MAVERICK. Enough already...we got it when you spoke to Charlie Gibson and we got it when you spoke to Katie Couric. John McCain is a Maverick! We get it!!! There was no need to use that word probably 10+ times tonight! The whole "Maverick" term is dead. Quit using it.

3) Her language still needs to be cleaned up. The use of "gonna", "you betcha", "darn right" and other sloppy words and phrases, as well as words that were not pronounced correctly ("nuclear" is pronounced NUKE-LEE-ER, NOT NUKE-YOU-LER!!!! I think I learned that in second grade...and when people mispronounce it it's a big pet peeve of mine) wore on me in a big way. I can't look up to a "leader" (quotes because I don't believe she is really a leader) who can't speak like a leader.

4) Joe Biden was clearly the most knowledgeable of the two candidates, and he gave straight answers to the questions. He was impressive. Palin, at times, danced around the questions and filled in her answers with phrases such as "John McCain" and "American people". She also tried to use humor, but I'm sorry, this is not a comedy contest. The analysts in the media call her "folksy". I could throw out a few terms that might be more accurate, but I'd run the risk of being offensive so I won't. Bottom line: Biden's answers were substantive and Palin didn't give any specific information, instead relying on her personal buzz terms as filler.

5) I have to admit that for the first time in the history of this campaign, Palin did not come across as a bumbling idiot (and if you don't think she came across that way in the Gibson and Couric interviews, you're living in a dream world). She was clearly prepped for this big night by all of McCain's people, and it showed. Even though Biden was much more knowledgeable, she didn't have any major gaffes like she has in all of her interviews up to this point. Does she actually know all of this information or is she really qualified to be Vice President? No way. But she put on a much better performance tonight than what we've seen from her thus far.

6) Biden played it nice... He could have called out Palin on her use of the name "General McClellan" to describe a General whose last name was actually "McKiernan" but he left it to the media to point out instead. He was definitely restrained and well-behaved tonight. If I were Biden, I would've had to point out her mistake and bring her sickening over-confidence down a notch. It is obvious this woman has a very high opinion of herself....and I don't think she should.

6) A few things that I disagreed with:

--Palin doesn't think that global warming can be attributed to man-made causes. I'm in complete disagreement with this. There is way too much evidence out there that proves her wrong.

--Neither candidate supports gay marriage. I do. End of story.

7) Best Biden quote of the night (talking about John McCain): "Well, you know, until two weeks ago -- it was two Mondays ago -- John McCain said at 9:00 in the morning that the fundamentals of the economy were strong. Two weeks before that, he said we've made great economic progress under George Bush's policies. Nine o'clock, the economy was strong; 11:00 that same day, two Mondays ago, John McCain said that we have an economic crisis. That doesn't make John McCain a bad guy, but it does point out he's out of touch."

That's all from me. The election is coming up soon and due to California's failure to process my voter registration, I get to vote absentee ballot in Indiana! I'm very happy about this mistake because Indiana is much more of a swing state than California, so I'm glad that I'll have the opportunity to help Obama in Indiana.

Have a great night!