Palin's Night To Shine: Will McCain's Crap Shoot, And Years Of GOP Frontal Attacks On Public Education, Pay Off?

Imagine you are a junior high school teacher and you ask your students what other Supreme Court decisions-- aside from Roe v Wade-- in the history of America, they disagree with. They could go all the way back to 1789 when the Court was founded and pluck out anything from Marbury v Madison to the Dred Scott Decision to the more recent Bush vs Gore. Then imagine one of your students answered the way Alaska Governor Sarah Palin did last night (and in this 60 second clip):



Would you give her an F? Or do you think she's a good enough bullshit artist to deserve a D? It's looking like Americans' skepticism of Ms. Mooselini has pretty much set now.

With the vice presidential candidates set to square off today in their only scheduled debate, public assessments of Sarah Palin's readiness have plummeted, and she may now be a drag on the Republican ticket among key voter groups, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

The bloom is certainly off the rose of McCain's gimmicky little circus act. Her polling numbers go lower every day she's in front of people and less than half the voters think she understands complex issues. On the question of "experience" she is dragging down the whole ticket and will probably help Democrats capture a dozen extra congressional seats that they might not have taken. Independents, particularly, are appalled by McCain's atrocious judgment and by his willingness to jeopardize the national well-being for his misperceived hopes that she would charm her way into Americans' hearts. It hasn't worked out that way. No chocolates and flowers greeting her in the streets and, in fact, "a third of independent voters now indicate they are less likely to support McCain because of Palin, compared with 20 percent who said so in an ABC poll a month ago. Palin now repels more independents than she attracts to McCain. The share of independent women less apt to support McCain because of the Palin pick has more than doubled to 34 percent, while the percentage more inclined to support him is down eight points." Palin is likely to help McCain win Alaska but she is contributing to his current slide in swingstates like Florida, Iowa, Ohio, Nevada, Virginia and Colorado. Even Missouri and North Carolina have Obama slightly ahead.

I have no faith in Biden whatsoever but even a blowhard like him should be able to debate someone who isn't trained to impress anyone beyond a beauty pageant judge. She sure hasn't impressed Jack Cafferty-- or his viewers: