Do it for this little guy

Biden wants West Virginia

First Read:

Biden was campaigning in Ohio, but had West Virginia on his mind late this afternoon, making a bold promise to win a state that has gone Republican in the past two elections.

“Which way is West-By-God-Virginia?” Biden asked the crowd Ohio University Eastern Campus, about 10 miles west of that state's border with Ohio. “I want to send a message to West Virginia -- we’re going to win in West Virginia! … We’re going to shock the living devil out of y’all!”

Joebi-Wan Kenobi

In Joe Biden's experience, there's no such thing as luck:

“When Barack Obama is president we’re not gonna wait for our luck to change,” he said. “We’re gonna change our luck. We’re gonna change this country. In the neighborhood I come from, you make your own luck.”

Mark Halperin is back to being an idiot

Biden and Palin both get B's? Give me a break. He cleaned her clock.

Joe Biden takes the Kobayashi Maru

Everyone I know is worried. "She's won the expectations game. She's going to win this debate. Ugh!"

Guess what? They're probably right.

Biden is screwed. If he's too mean, he's a jerk. If he's too nice, he's condescending.

If he ignores her attacks, he cedes her 90 minutes to run up his negatives unchecked.

If he knows too much, he's a know-it-all.

He's going to gaffe. Everyone knows that.

He's probably going to try to cop a feel--and that's just how he'll treat Gwen Ifill.

Guess what?

It. Does. Not. Matter.

Sure Sarah can staunch the bleeding. She may even get an hour and a half of folksy charm masking snotty attacks.

But at the end of the day, Sarah Palin is not going to win this election for John McCain. Maybe she will acquit herself and her future political reputation. Maybe McCain will even bounce in the polls.

But if any of you want to give me even money that Palin is going to somehow remain gaffe-free for the next 33 days, I will gladly eat your money.

Any takers?

The Early Political Life of Sarah Palin

In what alternate universe does anyone believe that Sarah Palin knew who Joe Biden even was in the 2nd grade?

How about the 12th?

How about during college(s)?

How about two years ago?

Bonus fun fact: Sarah Palin has two less alma maters than John McCain has houses.

Thoughts about the VP Debate

Moderator Gwen Ifill is the key. I think she will work, generally, to the Democrats and Biden's favor, for the following reasons:

1. She is a damn good journalist.
2. She works for PBS and is, I imagine, far less ratings obsessed than an anchor from a broadcast network. Result: less focus on silly tabloid stories and gossip items. A conversation about pigs, lipstick, Track and babies instead of the Fed Bailout, Iraq, Afghanistan and things like, you know, actual policy.
   

There is a reason why Jim Lehrer was roundly praised by debate watchers: no stupid, silly season questions. His employment at PBS was key reason why.

3. She is a contender for the "Meet The Press" job. With David Gregory (mercifully) fading, and no other option clearly manifesting itself (scratch Olbermann and Matthews), one has to think that Ifill's chances are as good as they have ever been. Consider this to be her ultimate audition. Conduct a debate worthy of NBC's Sunday and she makes the strongest case she can. Conduct a debate worthy of Access Hollywood--not so much.

It should be noted that #3 does contradict #2 slightly--obviously the higher ups are going to be looking at how big of a draw Ifil's is. My guess is not that big--but Sarah Palin sure will be.

4. With the sexism card in the air, Sarah Palin in a defensive post-Couric crouch and an expectation that Biden will somehow make an ass of himself towards Palin, the fact that Ifill is not a white man will undercut the "old-boy network Biden and the debate moderator ganged up on poor Sarah" narrative that could easily have emerged from the debate. Biden can still get himself in trouble--but no one likes watching two against one, so he may have dodged a bullet here.

UPDATE:

Ha. The McCain camp is already trying to pressure Ifill: