As all of you no doubt know, last night was the Vice-Presidential debate between Governor Palin of Alaska and Senator Biden of Delaware. It had been billed as the must watch debate of all debates. The media hype machine was in top form, disaster scenarios laid out, perceived strengths and weaknesses dissected, and the importance of the event was simultaneously inflated beyond all reason and reduced to that of middle school spelling bee. Would Biden say something unfortunate? Would Palin’s inability to express herself or anyone else frustrate her to the point of incontinence? And how would this effect the election if at all?

Most of the interest was directed at Governor Palin who, in a series of interviews with legendary bulldog reporter Katie Couric, had shown herself to be America’s least articulate national figure, no small feat given that President Bush is still in office.

“Thanks to the mainstream media, quite a low expectation has been created for her performance. The style of Sarah Palin is going to amaze people. She is going to be able to amaze people with the substance she is going to deliver.” - Ron Carey, chairman of Minnesota’s Republican Party.

Can our standards for rhetorical ability really be crushed down in this manner? If yes, is this a good thing? Personally I’m not that big on participation medals in presidential politics. Show me you have some comfort talking about stuff, some understanding of said stuff, and perhaps an ability to extrapolate some hypothetical regarding said stuff or don’t. Going from utterly incoherent and lost to mildly coherent and confused isn’t going to impress me that much. On the other hand this would be an opportunity to hear it direct from horse’s mouth, no liberal media to confuse me with their nasty filter.

So I sat down to watch the debate in anticipation of a great nothing. There were two defining moments for the Governor. The first came early when she informed us that she would only follow the format so far as it suited her, and the second came at the end when she let us know that from now on she would be going directly to the people, without a filter, that is to say, no more interviews. The rest of the ninety minutes was largely defined by her reciting talking points and Biden correcting her (Actually Ahmadinejad doesn’t have any control of Iran’s security forces… Um, McCain voted for that bill as well…) and at times being visibly annoyed at both the governor and the format, which allowed only the most simplistic answers to complicated questions.

Unfortunately there wasn’t much comic fodder in there, at least not when compared to what both of these figures have given us before. Biden didn’t make any gaffs and Palin, while still unable to speak past a talking point or demonstrate even a passing understanding or engagement with the issues, failed to make a complete ass of her self. The benefits of high expectations I suppose. In the end the only part of the spectacle that left a lasting impression was  the brutal absurdity of our political discourse and the hot smoke of scotch that got me through it.