Palin Digs Herself Out

Roger Simon: "She not only kept Joe Biden on the defensive for much of the debate, she not only repeatedly attacked Barack Obama, but she looked like she was enjoying herself while doing it."

Atlantic's Marc Ambinder: "It was a wash . . . when it comes to worrying about Palin, the McCain campaign can now exhale . . . Though, on paper, Palin said some weird things in weird ways ( expanding the power of the vice presidency??), she did nothing negatively indelibly memorable, and, at times, was positively impressive."

National Review's Kathryn Jean Lopez: "Sarah Palin won this debate and puts the campaign in a great position to rail against the media. Whatever she did before this debate -- prayed? -- is what she should always fall back on. . . . Sarah Palin is the breath of fresh air on the political scene so many hoped she is."

New Republic's Michael Crowley: "Expectations were very low for Palin and she exceeded them. She had a fair number of wobbly moments, but no real viral YouTube moment that struck me. . . . Biden was about right -- neither too hot nor too cold. His points sometimes digressed more than Palin's, but what he lacked in crispness he made up for in stature and confidence."

Andrew Sullivan: "Palin's inability to answer real questions, her capacity to avoid follow-ups, her slightly manic quality, and her inability to relate to working class voters came across. Biden did not talk too much; he made no sexist gaffes; he didn't appear to be overweening; he seemed like a nice guy. I think she managed to avoid a tailspin; he reassured. It will stem the GOP collapse a little. But it won't change the race."

Slate's Christopher Beam: "Palin demonstrated a knack for answering the question she wanted to answer -- not the one that was asked. . . . The strategy worked. Palin kept the conversation on her turf, avoided follow-ups, and came across both forceful and charming."

Time's Jim Poniewozik: "Biden didn't call Palin an offensive name; Palin didn't do Tina Fey doing Tina Palin."

Now for some pre-debate posts. In Slate, Emily Bazelon admits to mixed feelings about Palin's stumbles and bumbles:

"When Palin tanks, it's good for the country if you want Obama and Biden to win, but it's bad for the future of women in national politics. I'm in this boat, too. Should we feel sorry for Sarah Palin? No. But if she fails miserably, we might be excused for feeling a bit sorry for ourselves.

"Palin is the most prominent woman on the political stage at the moment. By taking unprepared hesitancy and lack of preparation to a sentence-stopping level, she's yanking us back to the old assumption that women can't hack it at these heights. We know that's not true -- we've just watched Hillary Clinton power through a campaign with a masterful grasp of policy and detail. Clinton lost in part because she was the girl grind. Complex sentences, the names of Supreme Court cases, and bizarre warnings about foreign heads of state invading our airspace weren't her problem. The fear now is that Palin is the anti-Hillary and that her lack of competence threatens to undo what the Democratic primary did for women. Palin won't bust through the ceiling that has Hillary's 18 million cracks in it. She'll give men an excuse to replace it with a new one . . .

"As Rebecca Traister points out in Salon, there's an obvious feminist comeback here. Shut down the 'Palin pity party,' Traister urges. 'Shaking our heads and wringing our hands in sympathy with Sarah Palin is a disservice to every woman who has ever been unfairly dismissed based on her gender, because this is an utterly fair dismissal, based on an utter lack of ability and readiness.' Good point. . . . Traister's argument refutes the McCain campaign's effort to spin the justified attacks on Palin as sexism. The campaign can't dismiss Palin's critics as sexist for jumping on her thin, stock-phrase-laden answers to reasonable questions. It would be sexist -- and destructive for the country -- to demand less . . .

"When I watch Palin, I can't help but cringe. . . . Call it women's solidarity, however misplaced. I keep coming back to this prim phrase: Please, don't make a spectacle of yourself."