All I want to do is drink my coffee but the people, oh the people, won’t leave me alone this morning! Emails, texts, phone calls all asking the same question: “What did you think of the debate?” I wish I could say that I have some incredibly original take on last night’s events. All I can offer is the following casual observations and then I will point you to some good reads about the debate, people who said it better than I can.

1. Palin was WAY TO FOLKSY. BTW – why does she have a midwestern accent? She sounds like she was auditioning for Fargo, the sequel.

2. Palin did much better than I expected. She didn’t fall down or say a name wrong or act like a total idiot. However, she did say “Joe six pack” and I wanted to throw things at the television.

3. Biden said “Bosniacs” and I immediately laughed out loud. This man is supposed to be a foreign relations expert. Yikes.

4. Biden was off his game – he is totally stumped by Palin and her “down home” nature. Normally this guy is a bulldog, I guess pit bull trumps bull dog any day.

5. I have worked in politics for years and even I couldn’t stand to watch the whole debate.

Okay, on to some good summaries………..

Dooce’s husband offers some good blow by blow action on the debate at Blurbomat

NY Times has an unusuall good opinion article about the debate. (Mom you will like this one)

Apparently the American people, aka Joe Six Pack, turned in big Neilson ratings for this “Thrilla in Manilla”

For those readers out there who watched – what did you think?

So last night Sarah Palin addressed the Republican National Convention. I don’t know if you watched it, but I sat through every last minute of it. I will admit that I have been heavily weighted toward Obama since last January. I am not really interested in a McCain presidency, as I think it is time for a “regime change” in DC. However, last night was a watershed moment for Sarah Palin and she didn’t disappoint.

I don’t care if they picked her for the wrong reasons. I don’t care if her daughter is pregnant. I don’t care if she hasn’t had much experience. I just don’t care about those things. What I saw last night was a strong, compassionate and believable woman come into her own on the political stage. She walked out on the platform and right into my living room. She, much like Obama does, connected with people in a real way.

There were some things said that I didn’t like. She took a few shots at Obama that I thought were uncalled for. However, I couldn’t help myself from liking her. I couldn’t help but feel proud to be a woman when I watched a mother of five children stroll onto the national stage and say “bring it on Washington.”

So, what now? I don’t really know. I don’t want higher taxes (Obama), I don’t want extended wars (McCain), I don’t want bigger government (Obama), I don’t want a single issue president (McCain) and I really want to see change…real change not just promises.

I have come to dislike most of what both parties stand for and I feel a bit cynical about politicians in general. I think that is natural after having worked in politics for 10 years in arguably one of the most dysfunctional states in the union. However, last night I was impressed with Governor Palin and it made me want to believe again.