Ethics

Immediate Debate Reaction

By Ed Brayton

I think Palin did considerably better than she did in the interviews we've seen. She was more commanding, more sure of herself, she spoke as though she was credible and confident. And frankly, that's what really matters. The vast majority of viewers aren't analyzing substantive positions, they're making a subjective judgment based on superficial perceptions. And on those scores, I think she did better than expected in the ways it matters politically.

Having said that, I just grit my teeth listening to her. She had the folksiness turned up to 11, full of golly gees and doggonits. She kept cutting the 'g' off the end of verbs - lots of runnin' and fightin' going on. And she has this incredibly annoying habit of changing to this breathy tone of voice that sounds like a kindergarten teacher reading a story to the kids. It sounds to me like "And then the prince climbed on a BIG WHITE HORSE", as though the response she expects is "ooooooh."

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on October 02, 2008 (boomark / email).