the train wreck that didn't happen

I previously wrote how I liked Sarah Palin, but for reasons I couldn't explain. Back then, there was a certain mystery about her. I neither knew much about her or her career, but what little I did know was fairly appealing. Now that I have seen and know a bit more, however, the thrill is officially gone.

Having the obsession with words and language that I do, I tend to judge people by their ability to speak and write. By now, most of you have seen bits and pieces of Sarah Palin in interviews, if not the complete interviews. She's not exactly well spoken. She stumbles on her words. She's not direct. After dealing with more than eight years of listening to George Bush, this was not what I was hoping for in any of the presidential or vice-presidential candidates. She's a far better public speaker than George Bush, but she isn't exactly impressive.

Based on her performance in recent interviews, I was expecting last night's vice-presidential debate to be a complete disaster. I may find Joe Biden smug and arrogant, with a bit of sanctimoniousness thrown in for flavor, but he can definitely speak, and it doesn't take long for his intelligence to become apparent to his audience. I was expecting Biden to eat Gov. Palin alive, but that isn't what happened. She actually held her own. In more than one instance, she made Biden look bad. She wasn't always direct, and she definitely avoided questions or changed the subject when she couldn't answer intelligently, but she did alright. Sometimes, she was even charming.

Not surprisingly, my primary issue with her performance wasn't her avoidance of questions; it was how she stumbled over her own words. A large percentage of her answers started out with jumbled words and phrases. She often sounded like she had two or three thoughts coming out at once. I'm sure she was nervous, but still, I find those kinds of mistakes difficult to swallow. They're embarrassing, and I was embarrassed for her.

This won't deter me from voting for the McCain ticket, since I'd still prefer having some sort of serious affliction to an Obama presidency (note heavy sarcasm). Sarah Palin's lack of knowledge and experience, however, is just one more thing that makes me realize that I'm more driven to the McCain-Palin ticket because I'm opposed to Barack Obama than I am actually in favor of a McCain presidency. Yes, I've lost that lovin' feeling.

It would be nice to actually be in favor of a politician for a change. I voted for John Kerry in 2004 because I was so opposed to another four years of George Bush. I voted for the guy who lost (I can't even remember his name now) because I was so against having Amy Klobuchar as a senator. This year will be more of the same--a vote against one politician instead of a vote for another.

A famous architect came and spoke to my team this morning. As he so eloquently put it, "'Less bad' is not the same thing as 'good'."