The spin room…get it???

I haven’t yet read anything from the spin room. I’ve only talked to a handful of people at length. So I thought this’d be the optimal time, before my mind gets totally corrupted, to give my short two cents on last night’s debate.

1. Most importantly – Biden kicked ass. He was clear and straightforward, but also honest and gracious. When he spoke, I believed every word he said.
2. Biden also showed tremendous restraint. I know that’s what he had to do, but man I really wish he had pounced on some of Palin’s responses. She flubbed names and circled the issues, and I really wish Biden had called her on it.
3. On that note – umm, seriously Palin? Winking at the audience and dodging literally ALL the questions? We must have heard about her energy policy 5 times, if not more. We know she governs the HUGE, energy-producing state of Alaska, but she have anything else to talk about?
4. But because Palin sounded literate, we will hear the “she nailed it!” spin. Of course. So, Palin, bravo for stringing sentences together. You get a Reading Rainbow certificate of appreciation.
5. And I’m just going to throw this out there: How the HELL are we going to solve the environmental crisis if we don’t first acknowledge the cause of the problem? Logically, that makes ZERO sense.
6. The format sucked. Big time. It favored canned speeches and memorized answers.
7. Along those lines, with all due respect to Ifill, I really wish she had demanded that each candidate (Palin more so) stick to the issue at hand. I remember watching the primary debates, and man oh man Tim Russert really forced the candidates to answer the actual questions. I would have liked to see something similar from Ifill. Oh well.
8. And one other thing, are you kidding me with the “McCain suspended his campaign for the economy” play? McCain didn’t save the economy. He barely “suspended” his campaign, if at all. Can we just call that for what it was – a pure political play?

There’s my pre-spin room rant. If you watched the debate last night, what did you think?

This post originally appeared on Ryan’s blog Cheap Thrills.