The pundits are going gaga over Sarah Palin’s performance, as if she charmed the socks off of voters with her folksiness. I find this terribly condescending. The coastal pundits think we heartlanders are a bunch of shallow hicks who swoon over someone who drops betcha, doggone, and darn into speech. We fell for a down-home-talkin’ fellow in 2000. Give us credit for looking a tad deeper this time.

Here is the debate I saw:

• Sarah Palin held her own. She acquitted herself well, and redeemed her interviews with Couric and Gibson.
• She’s feisty and likable.
• Biden and Palin kept the debate civil and respectful. None of McCain’s demeanor from the first debate.
• I felt Palin was downright (there, a folksy term) rude. The way she ignored Gwen Ifill’s questions and talked about whatever she wanted to talk about.
• I found Biden much easier to understand. His answers were more nuanced, more complex–yet more comprehensible. Palin just rambled with talking points, and often, when she finished, I had no real idea what she said. And I’m not a dumb guy. But heck, she was just so doggone charmin’, weren’t she?
• I was impressed with Biden. Of course, I was before.
• Interesting how Biden didn’t correct her for naming the general “McLellan,” when his real name is McKiernan. He went out of his way not to attack her. He was walking a tightrope of sorts, and I’m sure it wasn’t comfortable for him.
• I appreciated Biden’s strong attack on the way Cheney has abused his VP powers, and Palin’s desire to increase VP powers sent chills up my spine.
• I didn’t care for the way Biden kept repeating the same lines. Hey, I got it the first time.
• Liked his comeback about McCain being a maverick on some things, but not on issues that really mattered. Though he has, indeed, gone against the administration on issues I consider important (like Iraq, torture, and climate change).
• I’m comforted that both candidates believe global warming is for real, and want to do something about it.
• Palin sounded like Mark McGwire, saying he wasn’t there to talk about the past. That worked well for McGwire.
• At one point, they seemed in a contest to see who could say “middle class” the most.
• Palin kept talking about “victory” and “winning” in Iraq. This isn’t the type of war you “win.” I found her use of such words very naive.
• Can’t she learn to say “nuclear” right (instead of adopting Bush’s pronunciation of nucular)?
• I thought she did great on the questions surrounding gay rights and the traditional family. She and Biden held the same view. Yes, it’s possible for a conservative Christian to believe that homosexuality is sin, while at the same time, as a citizen of a pluralistic secular country, favoring full civil rights for gay couples. But I don’t suppose James Dobson was too happy about it.
• If, at the beginning, Biden had told her “No, you can’t call me Joe. It’s Senator Biden,” then she couldn’t have used her “Say it ain’t so, Joe” lines. Clever that she got permission ahead of time.
• Biden, to my memory, never attempted any gimmicky lines.
• Both came across as plain-folks types, the kind you would enjoy having over for dinner.
• It’s pretty clear: Biden knows the issues inside and out.
• Regarding that question about what campaign promises they would need to forgo in light of the budget crisis (the same question Jim Lehrer asked in vain): Biden answered it well, while Palin seemed to insist that there wasn’t anything they would cut. Hmmmm.

While the pundits seem to be giving Palin a win, polls of average Joes show a preference for Biden. People are looking much deeper than the Elite Joes think they are. From the post-debate polls, looks like more undecideds broke for Obama than for McCain.

But yet, Palin definitely helped herself and the campaign with her debate performance. Expectations were so low that, as long as she didn’t collapse in tears, she would be declared the winner.