I don't disagree with the conventional wisdom about this debate. Palin did as well as could be expected in a format where there are no follow-up questions. She was able to say what she had been prepped to say. As a result she helped herself and staunched the bleeding.
But that should be no cause for GOP rejoicing. She said nothing interesting or surprising. She's thin, thin, gruel. She did nothing to change the fundamentals, and the fundamentals are determined by Americans being sick of Iraq and scared about the economy. Nothing she said, no matter how cutely, provided any real evidence that a McCain administration would be anything different from the Bush one responsible for both foreign and domestic messes.
This new GOP talking point trying to inoculate Republicans for blame for the mess they've created by accusing Dems of playing the blame game or looking too much to the past is hilarious, as is the whole strategy that she and he are running against the corrupt Beltway system. I think enough Americans understand how ridiculous these talking points are, and are refusing to buying it. The Dems could do a more emphatic job making sure those too slow or too uninformed to get the joke get it explained to them, but it doesn't matter that much.
Palin will now recede into the background restricted to appearance before friendly base rallies. She's a failed bet. The rest of the campaign will be about McCain/Schmidt throwing as much slime at Obama as they can get their hands on, and I doubt it will work. Assuming nothing disastrously unpredictable occurs, Obama's job then will be simply to keep trotting steadily to the finish line.
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