Here's how the pundits are claiming that Palin was last night's 'winner'

[LynneSin]

Not all of them but the die-hard republican shrills.

It's simple - you look at the Sarah Palin we saw with the interviews she did with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric. Palin was BEYOND awful; hell on the Couric interview Palin looked like she was trying to run for VP of her 3rd grade class. Because the bar was set so horribly low with those interview, merely standing and talking would have been a positive step up for Palin.

I don't know if any of you ever saw the movie "Born Yesterday". Mind you, I only saw the remake "regrettably btw" and when smart person Don Johnson tries to make clueless Melanie Griffith look smart around a bunch of DC bigwigs, he had her memorize a bunch of phrases. Then when someone asked her a question, Don Johnson would give her the signal as to which phrase she should use so she would sound 'smart'.

Last night we saw that Melanie Griffith role in a real live debate. They had her memorize about 10-15 answers all spackled with cutsie phrases like "Heckuva" and "Darn Right" and it was up to Sarah to fit them in for each of the question. And if she got a question she couldn't answer she was to just go back and retrace the steps over a previous question (hence the "Gwen I'm gonna not answer what you're asking me" bullshit).

The reason she was reciting was simple. When she pointed out that Obama voted to not fund the troops, Biden came back and pointed out the obvious - McCain voted the same way as Obama on that bill. Had Palin actually been listening to Biden she would have known better to recite that one again because now her argument was ruined. But instead she came right back out with again setting Joe up to remind her AND the viewers that McCain voted with Obama on not funding the troops.

She was a 'winner' only in the sense that she was better than her interviews with Gibson & Couric. But hell those interviews were so bad it wasn't going to take much to improve.

[Buzz Clik]

1. God bless her. She wasn't born with a lot of smarts, but she sure is cute.

[Beausoleil]

2. "Born Yesterday"

You should check out the original with Judy Holliday (Oscar).

[sellitman]

3. I saw Palin and she is no Melanie Griffith!

Just saying.....

[leftynyc]

4. First off

You must see the original Born Yesterday - Judy Holiday was amazing in it. On all your other points, I am in complete agreement (although I never saw the remake). I was offended by her winking at me and I'm seeing many commentators mentioning that she didn't answer the question. For once, I felt Mika had a very good point - expectations were so low for her, she really couldn't help rising above them. It's like people really expected her to dissolve into a puddle of drool.

[LynneSin]

5. I'm really not a fan of the classic movies and it wasn't me that picked out the remake either

It was horrible.

But I really thought we were seeing that one scene being lived out by Sarah Palin.

She recites and it's just horrible

[leftynyc]

7. Complete agreement

on the comparison. If you belong to Netflix or some other DVD club, I think you'd really like this one though I am a big fan of the oldies.

[FatDave]

6. I can't believe anybody could try to spin her performance as positive.

She spouted obviously memorized talking points, often in no way related to the question she was asked.

Biden answered questions fully, and you could tell he was actually considering the question and formulating an answer, not just spouting memorized lines.

It was a night and day difference. Anyone could see it. The early polls indicate that undecideds heavily favored Biden. I'm eager to see more polls.