A couple of thoughts on the VP debate...

I haven't really talked politics on this new blog yet, so, full disclosure going in: I am a Democrat, and I was an early Obama supporter.

Listening to the debate, I think Palin "won" in the sense that I don't think there are any sound bites from the debate that will make her sound as ludicrous as the ones that have been going around YouTube and elsewhere. (When your expectations are negative, zero looks pretty good.) Biden, of course, was right far more often, but that's another question, and in some cases a matter of opinion.

There are a couple of things I wish Biden, or some other big-name Democrat would say, and one thing I would like to say to Sarah Palin.

As to the former: Palin talked a lot about how Obama would raise taxes, and that would kill jobs. To me, "tax cuts" are the Republican equivalent of what they accuse the Democrats of liking to do by "throwing money at the problem." Yes, taxes can have an effect on job creation and other important areas of the economy, but the notion that tax cuts are an economic cure-all is one that we're long overdue to discard. (Further, I resent the notion of job creation by cutting corporate taxes in the name of job creation when many of them could fund the creation of several hundred jobs just by cutting the pay of their CEO to reasonable levels.)

Palin also kept talking about how people want to "get government out of the way." I know Democrats are reluctant to argue this directly, because the phrase "big government" looms over everyone. But the moment! "You know, Governor, government got out of the way of Wall Street, and look what happened. In California, government got out of the way of the energy industry, and the whole state wound up getting raped by Enron. Sometimes, Governor, government needs to get in the way! Which, by the way, is something that was thoroughly understood by Senator McCain's hero Theodore Roosevelt. He got the government in the way of the big trusts. He got government in the way of people who refused to bargain in good faith with organized labor. And he got government in the way of people who wanted to despoil our wilderness instead of preserving it for future generations. Sometimes government isn't the answer. But sometimes it's the only answer."

And finally, directly to Governor Palin: In answer to a question about gay marriage, you made a great point about how "tolerant" you are of gay people. You know what? Screw you. I don't need your tolerance. "Tolerating" something is what you do when you don't like something, but you resolve to put up with it. If you're not really willing to accept it -- then you can take your tolerance and shove it. I'd rather you stopped pretending you're enlightened, and just be honest in your bigotry.

(For those who may not know me, I am not actually gay -- but do have gender identity issues, and I doubt Palin really knows the difference, or cares.)