That’s the headline on Roger Simon’s column. He appeared on the late edition of “Hardball,” last night where he argued heatedly for his thesis against the combined boorishness of Chris Matthews and Howard Fineman. Fineman compared Palin to a “wolverine chewing through plywood,” (yeah, I don’t get it either) while Matthews said her tactic of looking straight into the camera made her a “dolt.” Thanks for the professional take, guys. Here’s video of the nonsense. Back to Simon:
She went out of her way to talk in everyday terms, saying things like “I betcha” and “We have a heckuva opportunity to learn” and “Darn right we need tax relief.” Biden was somber, serious and knowledgeable. And he seemed to think that debates are about facts. He had a ton of them. Criticizing John McCain’s health care plan, Biden said that McCain would tax health care and “then you’re going to have to replace a $12,000 – that’s the average cost of the plan you get through your employer; it costs $12,000 – you’re going to have to pay – replace a $12,000 plan, because 20 million of you are going to be dropped. So you’re going to have to place – replace a $12,000 plan with a $5,000 check you’ve just given to the insurance company.” Got that? Palin was a lot more direct in her attacks on Obama and a lot more simple. Criticizing Obama for saying he would meet with some foreign leaders who are hostile to the United States, Palin said: “Some of these dictators hate America and what we stand for. They cannot be met with. That is beyond bad judgment. That is dangerous.” She also said: “An issue like that taken up by a presidential candidate goes beyond naiveté and goes beyond poor judgment.” Sarah Palin accusing Barack Obama of being naive? Yep. And she was unabashed about it. And so what if Joe Biden has been in the Senate approximately forever and knows a lot more about a lot more stuff than she does? She doesn’t care.
