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So this past Thursday, the media was ready to feast upon whatever would come out of the Biden-Palin debates.

No matter your affiliation, I think people were waiting for some good quotables, sound bytes, and SNL skit material.

Sadly, I think SNL has their work cut out for them because overall, the debates were sound. There were a few attempts at humor that can definitely be rehashed for comedic value ("Say it isn't so, Joe", "Joe six-pack", and "go to Home Depot with me" come to mind). Biden did not lose his cool, as he has been known to do, and the only breakdown he suffered was an emotional slip when speaking of the death of his first wife and daughter. Plain did not demonstrate the air-headedness of unprepared speech that has been widely broadcast with her interviews with Katie Couric.

The candidates did not lose ground and they held their own.

I think they did not win nor lose anyone, specifically. It comes down to each of the candidates now to secure their own votes.

What did you think? If you didn't watch them, why did you abstain?

I missed the debate because my husband had dibs on the big TV, and the cable in my bedroom was screwed up. Darn!

Here's the thing (well, actually one of many things) that scares me about Sarah: Her major appeal is her "Joe Six Pack" identity. I don't want Joe Six Pack running the country or representing us to the rest of the world. She says she's just an average, middle class, plain-talking gal. I don't want "average" in the White House! I want someone of superior intellect and ability making decisions for our nation.

I'm average, middle class and plain talking. I have only a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism. I attended several colleges, including community college. I'm not qualified or able to fulfill the role of vice president or president, and she certainly isn't either.

Don't we deserve better? In this economy, in the midst of two wars, with evidence of environmental degradation accumulating daily, don't we need better than Joe Six pack? I trust Joe Six Pack to service my car, but I don't trust him with my future, my children's or my grandchildren's.

Further, her assertion that she has an exclusive on recognizing "the will of God" is insulting and frightening. I have real reservations about someone who so fervently believes "the end times" are near. Is that why she's so emboldened about natural gas pipelines of historic magnitude? Is that why she's so cavalier about oil industry pollution that kills off fish and sea animals in the northern Pacific? Is that why she insists that polar bears (population 125,000, 25% of them in Alaska) are NOT endangered?

She has already spoken of wars with Russia and Iran, and a unquestioning support of Israel if they attack Iran. In her religious fervor, she might be anxious to meet her maker, and cheerful about hastening the hoofbeats of the four horsemen, but I'm not.

The McCain candidacy caricatures Barack Obama as elite. Apparently they don't know the definition: the group, or part of a group, selected or regarded as the finest, best, most distinguished, most powerful, etc. (Webster's New World Dictionary). That's what I think of as a national leader.

I thought that the debates were very interesting and that both candidates did a great job. I think however that SP as I like to call her was trying to be cute. I think that her job as VP running mate is to bring the youngness and life back into the McCain campaign. I think that she is doing just that because weather its good publicity of bad publicity she is still all that the media will talk about. I think that all this negative coverage of things that Sarah Palin said and did are not really going to hurt the campaign that much. I really don't think that the people who are really conservative are going to vote away from the republicans just because they heard that Sarah Palin may of filed her taxes wrong and now owes thousands of dollars in back taxes. I don't know I'm going to stay out of this whole political debate.

Palin has generated a stunning amount of interest in the elections. Are they for the right reasons? Well, that's debatable. But nevertheless, the interest is there.

 It makes for an interesting paradox. I believe that in general, individuals would like to elect a leader who is relatable and that can relate to them. On the other hand, we need somebody who understands the game of politics and have the intellect necessary to handle such a position. What the right mixture is, the perfect blend, and who has it is all subject to personal biases.

 One question I really liked was pertaining to which was more dangerous: nuclear iran or unstable pakistan. This is where both candidates admitted both would be bad but their answers differed significantly. Many other issues, it stayed pretty much the same with exception to timetable of Iraq, economy stimulation, and healthcare. Those differences between the campaigns I've known for awhile. I guess it was just my first time hearing an articulated position when putting two undesirable world conditions in conflict and having to defend it.

 Also, I must say I was very impressed by the SNL skit. They managed to summarize the debates very appropriately from a comedic standpoint.