A thing with feathers

Crises are good for pointing out people's weaknesses. The problem is this all happens while *you* are in the middle of a crisis and not in the best mood for taking notes and pondering the implications dispassionately. Plus humans are emotional creatures and panic is contagious. So far, we have

-the financial crisis/Congressional raiding party
-the election
-radioactive Somali pirates
-Russia acting up
-Solar Cycle 24 still being coy, over a year later than it should be
-the Large Hadron Supercollider has generated more rap songs than Higgs Bosons

And that's just the stuff *I'm* keeping track of. Now tonight is the VP debate, and I am really disappointed in the oh-my-god-we're-all-gonna-DIE tone coming from so many conservative sources. Usually ones that are prone to listen to media content. I am so glad I never got cable, don't watch TV, don't listen to talk radio. Stress-related illnesses are expensive.

Look, I admit from the get-go Sarah Palin could choke. She's human, and under a lot of pressure. Possible. However, there is evidence that her opponents in the past misjudged her and got walloped. Oh, but this is the NATIONAL election, we are told. Completely different! Spock has a beard! Biden has experience! No, he doesn't. He has *seniority*. What has he actually done? What has he said that was insightful, or even, ya know, correct? If he's so wonderful, why was he never a serious presidential candidate (except in his own mind)?

All the investment prospecti have "past performance is not a guarantee of future results." True, but it's really useful for bookies calculating the odds. In the many, many years of Biden in Congress has he EVER wisely kept his mouth shut? The commentariat notice how he gets a bye on the stupid things he says, and say "oh, everyone knows Biden is Just Like That and he won't get criticized." That's my point. Everyone knows he's an idiot. It's rude to point and laugh at the mentally deficient. Palin may possibly fall on her face, but the odds are much, much lower that Biden will find 50 extra IQ points in his sock drawer this morning.

Now Governor Palin has been doing things. I found this article very interesting. I am much more interested, as a voter, on how she does actually governing than in how she can talk to Katie Couric without punching her. I don't know for a rock-solid fact how she will do in the debate tonight, but I have hope. Based on past performance, both for her and for Biden. It won't be the Rocky-esqe knockout complete with swelling triumphant background music and strategic lighting that seems to be the minimum standard for success set by a lot of conservative pundits. That won't happen, ever. The media will make sure of that, even if Palin discloses in her closing statement the formula for cheap fusion energy she worked out in her spare time, after discovering the cure for cancer and a nifty recipe for negative-calorie chocolate.

Please, guys. We have enough real problems to worry about. Don't make stuff up. Don't set impossible standards, just because she's a woman. Don't believe the media's predictions, they WANT her to fail. Here's a paper bag, breathe into it. Wait and see what really happens.

I have hope.

... but mostly because my fortune cookie said "Fame and fortune is coming your way." A fortune cookie wouldn't lie, would it?