links for 2008-10-04

She then slammed Barack Obama calling him disqualified to be President of the United States, “Some of his comments that he has made about the war that I think may — in my world– disqualifies someone from consideration as the next commander in chief.” Palin said, “Some of his comments about Afghanistan and what we are doing there supposedly– just air raiding villages and killing civilians. That’s reckless. So I wanted to talk about things like that. So I guess I have to apologize about being a little annoyed, but that is also an indication of being outside that Washington elite and being outside the media elite also and just wanting to talk and just wanting to talk to Americans without the filter and let them know what we stand for.”

So upon what foundations can Republicans being to rebuild? John McCain and Barack Obama will preside of an enormous expansion of government, of the reregulation of American economic life, of massive changes in our health care delivery system and epochal shifts in how we find, use and pay for energy. Americans paradoxically want regulation and ; they support an efficient, effective government, not a government whose reach extends into every area of their lives, as this government inevitably will. The counter-party to the dominant government paradigm might be an economic libertarian, or it might be something else entirely, a hybrid of economic conservatism and communitarianism, perhaps.

One thought I'll throw up for debate: if American Republicans think they can emulate the Tories and rebuild the party without the full participation of social conservatives, they're wrong.

As far as Mrs. Palin was concerned, Gwen Ifill was not there, and Joe Biden was not there. Sarah and the camera were there. This was classic "talk over the heads of the media straight to the people," and it is a long time since I've seen it done so well, though so transparently. There were moments when she seemed to be doing an infomercial pitch for charm in politics. But it was an effective infomercial.

Thursday's highly anticipated face-off between Alaska governor Sarah Palin and Delaware senator Joe Biden may be the most-watched debate in 16 years.

Last night's event totaled a 45.0 overnight meter-market household rating, according to Nielsen Media Research.

That's 42% higher than Friday's presidential debate between top-of-the-ticket contenders John McCain and Barack Obama, which scored a collective 31.6 rating among broadcast and cable networks.

It's also a stunning 60% higher than the 2004 debate between Dick Cheney and John Edwards. In fact, the early figure surpasses any presidential debate since 1992's second bout between Bill Clinton, Ross Perot and George Bush (which received a 46.3 rating).

Speaking directly to the camera through most of the conversation, Palin laid out the big themes of the McCain campaign – government reform, lower taxes, strong defense and the like – in concise, forceful terms.

She showed command of McCain positions on energy and Iraq and presented forceful critiques of Obama's stances on the war and diplomacy.

Regarding the war, she told Biden, "your plan is a white flag of surrender." And she described Obama's statement that he would negotiate with Iran and other rogue countries without preconditions as "beyond naivete" and "downright dangerous."

Most effectively, perhaps, she turned Biden's past criticisms of Obama's plans for Iraq against Biden, adding, "John McCain knows how to win a war."
++++++++
Sarah Palin will push the needle towards McCain-Palin. Watch the polls next week in battleground states.

Preliminary Nielsen fast-affiliate ratings are in — at least for four networks (ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC) during the 9 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. ET period the debate was scheduled — and they were up big, with an approximate 32% household ratings rise over last week's presidential debate between Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama.