The Debate to Nowhere

With all the worry and frenzy about how Sarah Palin will perform at the VP debate, I got to thinking: are we underestimating her? Is she a worthy opponent to Joe Biden? Can she show grit the way she did at the RNC? Perhaps. I am convinced she can perform and perform well. Partly, because she has a decent rating as governor in her state and Republicans have rallied around her.

There are some skeptics out there who think she cannot handle herself, but she has debated before. I think she will do well because the media has gathered around to say how bad she will do because she has not performed well during the interviews she has had with Sean Hannity, Katie Couric and Charlie Gibson. She recited talking points during the latter two and with Hannity, she was given softball questions and took several shots at Obama; instead of laying out McCain's vision for the country.

National Review contributor and prominent conservative writer, Kathleen Parker, suggested that Palin should get off the ticket. And go where? Back to eat moose in Alaska. John McCain, who is a rather brash and uninhibited guy picked a maverick like him - whether the conservatives like it or not - Palin ain't getting off that ticket. She is here to stay. 

Now whether voters buy her readiness as President is quite another case indeed. She has repeated said she was not for the Bridge to Nowhere when she was and has cited Alaska's proximity to Russia as valid foreign policy experience. 

I don't buy her readiness as President. But I am a moderate, not a hard right conservative. I see things through a certain prism. Palin has proven to be an effective speaker by reading lines from a teleprompter. Let's see if she can pull off a successful debate with Biden without one. I think she can, not because of her qualifications but because of the low expectations and media hype.