Regarding McCain's debate performance, Kevin Drum wrote, "He sounded like a guy who had so many preplanned attacks lined up that he could barely spit all of them out in the allotted time."

In other words, he was just like his overly coached running mate in her debate. She had so many talking points and sound bites crammed into her noggin that she resorted to just ignoring the questions asked and instead just regurgitate these phrases where/when she could. It ended up sounding forced, nonsensical, and frantic in a very disturbing way.

As Kevin said, McCain similarly seemed to have a gazillion little attack lines that he wanted to launch like spaghetti against the wall, hoping at least one of them would hit the mark ala "I knew John F. Kennedy...." But it was not to be, with instead McCain appearing more/less like a male version of his running mate (sans the winking).

It's quite sad that with either McCain or Palin you never hear a coherent, well thought out answer rooted in policy. All of their responses are reactive, cobbled together talking points and gotcha lines that are expected to resonate with the base -- who apparently just want blurb lines they can repeat at the water cooler and to friends.

Haven't we seen enough of this make-it-up-as-you-go-along "policy" over the last eight years?