Palin Pounded

The general consensus from the vice-presidential debate is that Alaska Gov. Palin did “fine” — but not good enough to dispel the image, driven by Tina Fey and a series of excruciating Katie Couric interviews, that she is violently unqualified to be vice president.

By all accounts, Palin exceeded expectations, if only by not falling on her face — but then, that wasn’t difficult; expectations for a candidate have, perhaps, never been lower. Her opponent, Sen. Joe Biden, gave far more specifics on policy implementations, and independent voters polled after the debate said they thought he performed stronger.

In fact, some observers think that by any meaningful standard, Palin’s debate performance was awful. A New York Times editorial said that Palin had to do little more than “say one or two sensible things and avoid an election-defining gaffe,” and that by that standard, “but only by that standard,” she did well.

The debate also outpaced the presidential debate in the overnight Neilson ratings.

Some other interesting media observations from the week, RE: Palin and the debate.

The Los Angeles Times thinks it’s possible Biden could step down from the ticket.

CNET is asking its readers which tech gadget Sarah Palin is.

Palin has at least one supporter, though unfortunately he can’t vote: Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari. Zardari’s comments didn’t play so well at home, though.