Just read the debate transcript and imagine that Sarah Palin was a man.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

That man would have been laughed off the stage for vacuousness and fake folksiness if not outright stupidity. Imagine the man winking at the audience. Imagine the man calling himself a "hockey father". Imagine the man giving a "shout out" to the grade school class. Imagine the man refusing to answer questions and substituting his own.

Sarah Palin has been the beneficiary of the most transparent reverse sexism I have ever seen. I consider her a throwback to the days when the greatest job advantage a woman had was to be attractive as opposed to knowledgeable or proficient. She is the best and most recent example of the dumbing down of America.

I really don't know why all the talking heads did not label her performance as what it deserved - pathetic and a hideous reflection on the judgment of John McCain. We all saw it.

[Maine-ah]

1. k&r

[msongs]

2. america has a double standard for men vs women - in more ways than one nt

[fishwax]

3. well, vacuous and fake folksiness worked for bush

[MarjorieG]

6. KO had a split screen with W's first run as folksy, fake reformer, outsider.

Same speechwriter, and we are supposed to fall for it agsin, with a prettier face?

[fishwax]

10. oh, wish I'd seen that

Hopefully fewer people fall for it this time around--I think maybe seeing what eight years of vacuous fake folksiness has done to the country has thoroughly poisoned that well :)

[Sebastian Doyle]

22. Here ya go!

And the similarities in stupidity are frightening......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7B7FuCUIrs

[lumberjack_jeff]

17. She's just kicked it up a couple of notches.

Instead of cutting brush, she shoots caribou.

[cyndensco]

4. Further, if her transcript was delivered by an african-american

her folksiness would be considered ignorance and the delivery Ebonics.

[KittyWampus]

18. Or a Democrat

[Frank Booth]

5. Come on. You're saying you weren't won over by "Say it ain't so, Joe."

:shrug:

But seriously, she had some of the lamest "zingers" in debate history, and "Say it ain't so, Joe" topped the list. Who the hell fed that line to her? Did they really think that would leave a mark? That was just embarrassing.

[all.of.me]

11. That was incredibly disrespectful.

She probably thought it was playful, maybe flirtatious, but it did not go over well. Good for us, I suppose.

[Morning Dew]

12. that line was probably fed to her by McGramps himself

Shoeless Joe was a current event for him.

[TheDonkey]

24. There you go again, dag nabbit!

[treestar]

7. even imagine an older woman doing that - or one not considered "hot."

Women in general have disadvantages in this society, but there's an exception for good looking women - heck, they can do better than men if they want to. It supersedes male privelege.

She is downright embarassing - the thought of presenting her to the world as our VP is horrifying.

[Gregorian]

8. Great observation!

Absolutely spot on.

That is probably what my subconscious was having such a hard time with. I don't differentiate between men and women that way. I was lucky enough to have been raised in a highly liberal environment. Translation- people were people. And they acted with sophistication.

[all.of.me]

9. I'd like to see the responses of other potential female Republican VP picks.

Then play them side by side with Palin's answers. THAT would really show the world how shallow and uninformed she is. It would shed great light on the Republican party to middle America, which is the group buying the spin.

[kikiek]

13. Now there is an opinion piece or column. Excellent job you nailed it.

[Yavin4]

14. That Would Make for A Great Video Skit

Take the actual transcript and have a man do Palin, using her exact words. That would really drive your point home.

[Tutonic]

15. Just read that Sarah slipped Gwen a micky during pre-debate

cocktails. Seems that Gwen is normally a teetotaler.

[pansypoo53219]

16. how well

did quayle do?

[seabeyond]

19. nu uh.... bushie boy wasnt. we were all suppose to want to have a beer with a mean drunk. n/t

[GoesTo11]

20. Imagine Hillary doing that

It would have sunk her in the first 5 minutes of the first debate. Just abhorrent behavior.

I hope she doesn't set women in politics back 20 years.

[Cha]

21. Totally authentic point, Phoebe..

palin isn't sexy..she's sexist. And, the mccain campaign entered a new low when it plucked her out of Alaska without the vetting.

This has been good for Democracy, though, because they had no idea how much time and money they'd have to spend covering her tracks.

[LuckyLib]

23. Palin is simply an insult to women everywhere. Particularly to hard working

women in political/public life who want to be taken seriously. She's a joke. And completely unaware of it herself.

[Quantess]

25. Well said (written).

We just had the brilliant, accomplished, incisive, Hillary Clinton up on stage, a few months ago. Follow that up with...drumroll...here comes the next act, Sarah Palin. :thumbsdown: