Last night was as good as it will get for Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska. After an absolutely brutal week of getting pounded into submission by the media for an obvious lack of knowledge of all things vice-presidential in her interview with Katie Couric and a seemingly endless list of questionable beliefs, she did the best she could last night.

The Keith Olbermann crew over at MSNBC were ready for some more scriptwriting by Sarah Palin for Tina Fey Thursday night - and arguably rightfully so - but for those of you that watched, it's obvious that no such gem was granted. Governor Palin spoke shockingly coherently, yet somewhat redundantly (there's no limit to how many times you can say "maverick" and "reformer," apparently). Although she repeated her belief that Americans want a regular Joe-six-pack in the White House - which I hope isn't true, since we've had a regular guy that's thrown down his fair share of six packs for 8 years and I'm ready for someone with superior intellect - her ability to speak in a simple, plain voice might be what sways some of those independent voters that simply could not understand what Senator Biden was talking about at times wanted. I'll admit it, sometimes I got lost in his semantics, but again, that just shows me he knows his shit, not that he is an elitist. That's just preference I guess.

As for Biden's performance, I'd say he did well. He definitely made that McCain ad put out yesterday before the debate look even more idiotic than it did on its own. Consensus from the CNN staff was that he had his best debate ever. I couldn't tell you if that's true, since I don't watch Biden debates like episodes of The Office. Based solely on last night's performance, though, Biden definitely seemed to play the role of the elder statesman, which is all he needed to do. He obviously had superior knowledge on all of the issues besides MAYBE energy, which is supposed to be Palin's specialty anyway.

Now that the one and only VP debate is over, people are going to want to know who won. Polling consensus after the debate was that Biden won, but the only opinion that really matters is the voter. Even though I don't agree with it, there are those out there that want people in the White House that reflect them and Sarah Palin probably does reflect the average person a bit more so than Joe Biden. But guess what, we're not going to go out and have a beer with our elected officials. Maybe if you're a pretty intern (male or female doesn't seem to matter these days) you'll do more than have a drink with them, but chances are that you'll never meet these people. So vote into office the Ivy League elites or those of equatable intellect and that way your average Joe politician will be more than free to have a drink with you at the bar.

Last thought, Gwen Ifill. For all of those Republicans out there that tried to call the debate unfair and biased before she even took the moderating post, you owe her some ass kissing. She was neutral, even going so far as to challenging Senator Biden on some of his past beliefs that she thought may contradict his current stances. She clearly wasn't playing puppet to the Obama campaign and did just as fair a job as the professionals expected.

Overall, I'd say it was an enjoyable debate to watch and informative. Though both represented their candidates to the best of their ability, I'm afraid this is as good as it will get for Sarah Palin. Like she said, she's at her best just speaking to the American people - although I don't think that's the best excuse for botched interviews - and that was her only debate. At least for Republicans, she didn't kill their ticket and she might've even grabbed some independent voters. But again, if you were one of those Republicans calling foul before the debate, well then throw on a dog collar around your neck and get on your knees. You are now Gwen Ifill's bitch.