Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2008/oct/03/sarah.palin.debate.feminism

From The Guardian newspaper in the UK comes this withering evisceration of Gov. Palin's performance in the VP debate (Disclaimer - I watched about 10 minutes of this "event" and, concluding that it bore as much resemblance to a debate as a chair does to a tree, I wandered off to my hotel room).
The article starts with a picture of one of Ms. Palin's winks to the camera (WTF? Was this a debate or a reality show?) and soon gets out the steel-capped boots:

Early on, she made the astonishing announcement that she had no intentions of actually answering the queries put to her. "I may not answer the questions that either the moderator or you want to hear, but I'm going to talk straight to the American people and let them know my track record also," she said.
And so she preceded, with an almost surreal disregard for the subjects she was supposed to be discussing, to unleash fusillades of scripted attack lines, platitudes, lies, gibberish and grating references to her own pseudo-folksy authenticity.
It was an appalling display. The only reason it was not widely described as such is that too many American pundits don't even try to judge the truth, wisdom or reasonableness of the political rhetoric they are paid to pronounce upon. Instead, they imagine themselves as interpreters of a mythical mass of "average Americans" who they both venerate and despise.

And this line is highly appropriate:

What kind of maverick, after all, keeps harping on what a maverick she is?

This is very true. People who are telling the truth do not generally say "I am telling the truth" - they instinctively expect to be believed. A true maverick does not give a rat's ass about how they are perceived (that's part of the pathology of being a maverick...think about it), so actually telling people constantly that you are a maverick is prima facie evidence of a deep lack of authenticity.
As the article pretty much makes clear, the real shame is not that Sarah Palin gave such a jaw-droppingly inauthentic and shallow performance - it is that a lot of people seemed to think that she did well. That is far more worrying. Clearly more store is being placed on being "cutesy" or "folksy" than any idea of substance and intellect when it comes to attaining high elective office. Which rather confirms my cynical view that the electors of the USA are indeed getting the politicians that they deserve.