I now know what that anticipatory feeling sports freaks get prior to “the big game.”

8pm, Palin v Biden.

(so much for keeping commentary on this thing during the debate… I had a coworker over for beers while watching. I’m going to bang something out right now.)

I planned on having a debate party, but that sure did fail spectacularly. When pitted against a Cubs playoff game and the usual Thursday night activities (band practice? trips to California? salsa dancing?), all bets are off.

So I have to thank intrepid JS reporter Frank for pitying the fool, begrudgingly watching a lackluster debate between papa bear Biden and hockey mom Palin. Let’s get down to brass tacks.

What did the punditry think?

There were two debates going on in St. Louis Thursday night. Joe Biden was debating John McCain. And Sarah Palin was debating Sarah Palin — at least the version of her that most of America has seen on TV for the last few weeks. – Mike Madden for Salon.com

Joe Biden and Sarah Palin were talking to two different Americas Thursday night. Actually, that’s unfair to Joe Biden; he was trying to talk to everyone. I can say for certain, though, that Sarah Palin was talking to — and winking at — her own private Idaho, and for long stretches of the debate, it was an unnerving experience. – Joan Walsh for Salon.com

Palin, in her 90 minutes on the stage Thursday night, left the firm impression that she is indeed ready to lead the nation — with an unnerving mixture of platitudes and cute, folksy phrases that poured from her lips even when they bore no relation to the questions asked.

“Let’s commit ourselves just everyday American people, Joe Six-Pack, hockey moms across the nation,” she proposed when asked about the mortgage crisis. – Dana Milbank for the Washington Post