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[prfsr]

From one of my favorite stand up comedians (better known as the star of Mad About You)

Palin's Great Achievement: She Didn't Stink Up the Joint

Well that was fun.

It's sad that "Hey, she didn't stink up the joint" is considered a great achievement.

Gov. Palin was certainly well-prepped and spookily confident on her feet. And when she needed them, she had more than enough down-home, "aw shucks" hockey-mom-isms to get off the ropes.

"I guess I'm really not a Washington insider... I just don't know how y'all work.. y'say one thing and then do another."

Really, Sarah? Cuz' it kind of looks like you got it down pretty good.

I thought Biden was fantastic. He's obviously more than qualified to be vice president. And president. And more than several hundred times more qualified than his opponent.

I thought he was clear, passionate, accessible, real... I can't think of anything I wish he had done better.

I thought the moment where Senator Biden talked about the death of his wife and child, and raising his sons himself was tremendously moving and genuine. It was a bold -- and very relevant -- point to make; that just because she's a mom and drives a van to soccer games doesn't mean she's cornered the market on real life. I thought he was superb.

So everyone who was inclined to like Palin will like her more. Everyone who was prepared to like Biden likes him more.

Aren't we blessed to have so many likeable people running for office? Now let's get serious, get Obama/Biden in the White House and get to work.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-reiser/palins-great-achievement_b_131474.html

[Cover Point]

This debate follows the path adopted by republicans and impotently accepted by Democrats - the dumbing down of America. As we speak school and college curricula are being dumbed down and professors inflate students' grades because the students are the customers in the marketplace called the University and customers are always right.

Yesterday we are treated to a matchup less exciting than Kolkata Knight Riders vs CP's Chicago weekend XI. Then we are told that CP's team is not going to listen to the umpire -- she would not provide the answers  "the moderator wants," or what Joe Biden might want to hear, but she'd "talk straight" to the American people. We would never accept (post WG Grace) the fact that a betsman would bat on for the crowd irrespective of how many times he was out. We would never accept the batsman ignoring the bowler and asking his non-striker to lob balls that he can hit but we argue that Palin did creditably.

Our children, sitting alongside, get the picture that it is okay not to play by the rules or even be aware of them. It is okay to let folksiness be a substitute for qualification, that it is dangerous to be well-studied and -- this is the one I like the most -- "professorial" is a bad word! And a very negative quality to boot.

I take exception to this! My team is a lot more accomplished than Palin. We made it to the Effing Playoffs! Yes we lost badly there but that is because I was injured.

[RicePlateReddy]

This debate follows the path adopted by republicans and impotently accepted by Democrats - the dumbing down of America. As we speak school and college curricula are being dumbed down and professors inflate students' grades because the students are the customers in the marketplace called the University and customers are always right.

Is this really true, sir? I hope you just got out from the wrong side of the bed today because if there is real validity to this statement, we will be losing what still remains a great institution.

The one things I was hoping for as a result of this economic slowdown and the threat of bleak job prospects was higher quality recruitment among faculty at universities.

[Cover Point]

Looks like Palin kicked some butt today. Thoughts?

Do you always get it wrong?

Are you always unable to comprehend

[prfsr]

This debate follows the path adopted by republicans and impotently accepted by Democrats - the dumbing down of America. As we speak school and college curricula are being dumbed down and professors inflate students' grades because the students are the customers in the marketplace called the University and customers are always right.

Is this really true, sir? I hope you just got out from the wrong side of the bed today because if there is real validity to this statement, we will be losing what still remains a great institution.

Nope. It is true. You have to be careful not to mix grad school with un dergrad programs. The former survive on foreign students. The latter went down the drain when Univs were asked to be financially viable. That was many years back.

I was talking to a pioneer in his field and a very senior professor. He told me point blank -"We only hire people from IIT, Sharif (Iran), Shanghai and Tsinghua. That's it". This is from an old American white male professor, talking of phD and postdoc recruits. (It is another matter that the cream of US grads would not necessarily go to him because he was from a good, but not top-20 school).

The one things I was hoping for as a result of this economic slowdown and the threat of bleak job prospects was higher quality recruitment among faculty at universities.

Oh that may well be true. But that was not only not a problem, there is an embarrassing amount of overqualification in departments -- there are MIT PhD's teaching at unknown four-year colleges, e.g.

The fact is that PhD supply far far exceeds University demands for faculty and so the job market grows worse and worse. Also when these highly qualified people go to these small schools, they are shocked at the quality of students and the attitude of administrators. E.g. if they give a hard exam, they may well have to explain to the higher admin why the scores were below par. You think he is going to make that mistake again?   

[prfsr]

I must say if Palin kicked any butt, it was McCain's.

She was polite, civil, pleasant and gracious. One wishes the same could be said of McCain.

[dextrous]

[prfsr]

This debate follows the path adopted by republicans and impotently accepted by Democrats - the dumbing down of America. As we speak school and college curricula are being dumbed down and professors inflate students' grades because the students are the customers in the marketplace called the University and customers are always right.

Is this really true, sir? I hope you just got out from the wrong side of the bed today because if there is real validity to this statement, we will be losing what still remains a great institution.

The one things I was hoping for as a result of this economic slowdown and the threat of bleak job prospects was higher quality recruitment among faculty at universities.

SSL:
Somewhat relevant to your point

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php

[Cover Point]

I must say if Palin kicked any butt, it was McCain's.

She was polite, civil, pleasant and gracious. One wishes the same could be said of McCain.

you forgot Hot and sexy. Same cant be said of McCain.

[CLR James]

My two cents:

1. The republican objective, as many experts speculated, was to stop loss rather than to get anything positive out of this venture. That is, despite the fact that the ticket is collapsing in the polls. They knew what their barbie was capable of.

2. Hence, the strategy was to give her a few memory cards with the instructions to stick to those talking points no matter what be the nature of the question or the drift of the conversation. We saw that happening several times. For instance, when Biden took apart the McCain health plan, saying that the 5000 dollar check in the mail would have to pay for a 12000 dollar annual health insurance bill, she switched to energy.

3. The rest we saw. To my elite, professorial eyes, it was an utterly pathetic performance. Now the pundits say that her coached performance averted an outright disaster. To me, especially at a moment of crisis like this, that does not constitute victory. Not by a long, long shot. The sunny, vacuous, and folksy optimism of Reagan (It's morning in America) is utterly misplaced when people are having nightmares about 1929, and then sobering and grim visions of 1930 when they open newspapers the first thing in the morning without brushing their teeth, and frankly, without even bothering to check whether the morning is sunny or not.

4. Here is the thing nobody in the mainstream media is talking about. With this performance, let us aver that she has stopped loss from her evangelical, trailer trash, white, redneck base. Maybe. But I am willing to bet money that she has lost a swathe of fiscal republicans. The latter are not stupid people; they are, well, elitists. They will think hard about a potential presidential phenomenon down the line and the state of today's economy. After having thought, if they still support the M/P ticket, they will do so without energy. That is, the critical threshold of energy required to haul an American backside to the voting booth.

5. Joe Biden, on the other hand, was spectacular. This Joe was not average, not by a long shot, but he did display a six pack.

[WicketView]

My two cents:

1. The republican objective, as many experts speculated, was to stop loss rather than to get anything positive out of this venture. That is, despite the fact that the ticket is collapsing in the polls. They knew what their barbie was capable of.

2. Hence, the strategy was to give her a few memory cards with the instructions to stick to those talking points no matter what be the nature of the question or the drift of the conversation. We saw that happening several times. For instance, when Biden took apart the McCain health plan, saying that the 5000 dollar check in the mail would have to pay for a 12000 dollar annual health insurance bill, she switched to energy.

3. The rest we saw. To my elite, professorial eyes, it was an utterly pathetic performance. Now the pundits say that her coached performance averted an outright disaster. To me, especially at a moment of crisis like this, that does not constitute victory. Not by a long, long shot. The sunny, vacuous, and folksy optimism of Reagan (It's morning in America) is utterly misplaced when people are having nightmares about 1929, and then sobering and grim visions of 1930 when they open newspapers the first thing in the morning without brushing their teeth, and frankly, without even bothering to check whether the morning is sunny or not.

4. Here is the thing nobody in the mainstream media is talking about. With this performance, let us aver that she has stopped loss from her evangelical, trailer trash, white, redneck base. Maybe. But I am willing to bet money that she has lost a swathe of fiscal republicans. The latter are not stupid people; they are, well, elitists. They will think hard about a potential presidential phenomenon down the line and the state of today's economy. After having thought, if they still support the M/P ticket, they will do so without energy. That is, the critical threshold of energy required to haul an American backside to the voting booth.

5. Joe Biden, on the other hand, was spectacular. This Joe was not average, not by a long shot, but he did display a six pack.

Well, but in your professorial eyes, did you expect her to actually talk about issues in a satisfactory way? Even after seeing the clips of KC interviews? Which part of her incapability came as news to you?

At this point it is not about people who will try to see if she has spent considerable time thinking about important issues or not ... for the McCain ticket. Such people who will not vote for a ticket because the VP does not know much are already a lost cause. The people who matter are the people who want to vote for McCain (either because they believe in the Republican principles religious/social/fiscal, don't believe in the democratic principles or the candidates ... but still need to convince themselves that they don't dislike Palin so much that they can't vote for this ticket. For them, Palin did well by finding something to say even if it was not remotely connected to the question asked of her.

Funnily enough on a different note ... Palin answered the questions she could not in the KC interview on a new interview with Fox. For all you professors out there, beware: your students will return blank answer sheets to your exams, and then after a week or so want to come and retake the exam with the same questions.    

[achutank]

saw the debate between Miss Botox Brains and Obiden. i fear for the people of alaska. have a feeling the elections in that state are held in the middle of winter when no one can get to the booth. on the other hand Obiden looks more like been the preseident himself. well at least he sounded like he knew what he was talking about. he has long years of experiece and single parent guts. maybe he shoud be running for president instead of Mr. Sermon from the Church of Hope.

i on the other hand am still waiting for the Palin Sex Tape to surface :S

[CLR James]

My two cents:

1. The republican objective, as many experts speculated, was to stop loss rather than to get anything positive out of this venture. That is, despite the fact that the ticket is collapsing in the polls. They knew what their barbie was capable of.

2. Hence, the strategy was to give her a few memory cards with the instructions to stick to those talking points no matter what be the nature of the question or the drift of the conversation. We saw that happening several times. For instance, when Biden took apart the McCain health plan, saying that the 5000 dollar check in the mail would have to pay for a 12000 dollar annual health insurance bill, she switched to energy.

3. The rest we saw. To my elite, professorial eyes, it was an utterly pathetic performance. Now the pundits say that her coached performance averted an outright disaster. To me, especially at a moment of crisis like this, that does not constitute victory. Not by a long, long shot. The sunny, vacuous, and folksy optimism of Reagan (It's morning in America) is utterly misplaced when people are having nightmares about 1929, and then sobering and grim visions of 1930 when they open newspapers the first thing in the morning without brushing their teeth, and frankly, without even bothering to check whether the morning is sunny or not.

4. Here is the thing nobody in the mainstream media is talking about. With this performance, let us aver that she has stopped loss from her evangelical, trailer trash, white, redneck base. Maybe. But I am willing to bet money that she has lost a swathe of fiscal republicans. The latter are not stupid people; they are, well, elitists. They will think hard about a potential presidential phenomenon down the line and the state of today's economy. After having thought, if they still support the M/P ticket, they will do so without energy. That is, the critical threshold of energy required to haul an American backside to the voting booth.

5. Joe Biden, on the other hand, was spectacular. This Joe was not average, not by a long shot, but he did display a six pack.

Well, but in your professorial eyes, did you expect her to actually talk about issues in a satisfactory way? Even after seeing the clips of KC interviews? Which part of her incapability came as news to you?

At this point it is not about people who will try to see if she has spent considerable time thinking about important issues or not ... for the McCain ticket. Such people who will not vote for a ticket because the VP does not know much are already a lost cause. The people who matter are the people who want to vote for McCain (either because they believe in the Republican principles religious/social/fiscal, don't believe in the democratic principles or the candidates ... but still need to convince themselves that they don't dislike Palin so much that they can't vote for this ticket. For them, Palin did well by finding something to say even if it was not remotely connected to the question asked of her.

Funnily enough on a different note ... Palin answered the questions she could not in the KC interview on a new interview with Fox. For all you professors out there, beware: your students will return blank answer sheets to your exams, and then after a week or so want to come and retake the exam with the same questions.

When did I say that anything about her was news to me? I was simply commenting on how her performance would be received by middle America. She is, clearly an idiot, and a dangerous one. The people who you mention in the second paragraph are not a homogeneous lot. I am suggesting that while she has energized the redneck Bible thumpers, she is also distancing people with an eye on the economy, with education, and a tendency to think independently. All of them might not switch to Obama, but I suspect many of them will not vote.

[poondu]

rote memorization=a+...sort of like the kota candidates you dislike

I do not dislike kota candidates.. that is harsh. I just don't find them meeting our requirements. they are all wonderful, qualified people.

I will watch the debate and let you know.. I agree my wife does not follow politics (which is like most people in this country)..but this liberal friend of mine, is a keen and dedicated follower and he is a tough grader of politicians

So did u watch the debate ? 

[WicketView]

My two cents:

1. The republican objective, as many experts speculated, was to stop loss rather than to get anything positive out of this venture. That is, despite the fact that the ticket is collapsing in the polls. They knew what their barbie was capable of.

2. Hence, the strategy was to give her a few memory cards with the instructions to stick to those talking points no matter what be the nature of the question or the drift of the conversation. We saw that happening several times. For instance, when Biden took apart the McCain health plan, saying that the 5000 dollar check in the mail would have to pay for a 12000 dollar annual health insurance bill, she switched to energy.

3. The rest we saw. To my elite, professorial eyes, it was an utterly pathetic performance. Now the pundits say that her coached performance averted an outright disaster. To me, especially at a moment of crisis like this, that does not constitute victory. Not by a long, long shot. The sunny, vacuous, and folksy optimism of Reagan (It's morning in America) is utterly misplaced when people are having nightmares about 1929, and then sobering and grim visions of 1930 when they open newspapers the first thing in the morning without brushing their teeth, and frankly, without even bothering to check whether the morning is sunny or not.

4. Here is the thing nobody in the mainstream media is talking about. With this performance, let us aver that she has stopped loss from her evangelical, trailer trash, white, redneck base. Maybe. But I am willing to bet money that she has lost a swathe of fiscal republicans. The latter are not stupid people; they are, well, elitists. They will think hard about a potential presidential phenomenon down the line and the state of today's economy. After having thought, if they still support the M/P ticket, they will do so without energy. That is, the critical threshold of energy required to haul an American backside to the voting booth.

5. Joe Biden, on the other hand, was spectacular. This Joe was not average, not by a long shot, but he did display a six pack.

Well, but in your professorial eyes, did you expect her to actually talk about issues in a satisfactory way? Even after seeing the clips of KC interviews? Which part of her incapability came as news to you?

At this point it is not about people who will try to see if she has spent considerable time thinking about important issues or not ... for the McCain ticket. Such people who will not vote for a ticket because the VP does not know much are already a lost cause. The people who matter are the people who want to vote for McCain (either because they believe in the Republican principles religious/social/fiscal, don't believe in the democratic principles or the candidates ... but still need to convince themselves that they don't dislike Palin so much that they can't vote for this ticket. For them, Palin did well by finding something to say even if it was not remotely connected to the question asked of her.

Funnily enough on a different note ... Palin answered the questions she could not in the KC interview on a new interview with Fox. For all you professors out there, beware: your students will return blank answer sheets to your exams, and then after a week or so want to come and retake the exam with the same questions.

When did I say that anything about her was news to me?

That was a rhetorical question. I am simply pointing out that anyone, like the fiscal conservatives you refer to, who would be open to the conclusion you or I reached would have done before the debate. There was no room for benefit of doubt after her second interview, the camp switching was done.  The only people who would watch the debate to see if they could reach a different conclusion are the people who are really looking for a different conclusion.

Of course, I agree that this debate only reinforced those perceptions, and did little to change that.

I was simply commenting on how her performance would be received by middle America. She is, clearly an idiot, and a dangerous one. The people who you mention in the second paragraph are not a homogeneous lot. I am suggesting that while she has energized the redneck Bible thumpers, she is also distancing people with an eye on the economy, with education, and a tendency to think independently. All of them might not switch to Obama, but I suspect many of them will not vote.