"McCain is the man to leave...lead!"
A huge cheer went up in the room when Palin stumbled over these words and then corrected herself.
I'm viewing the Vice-Presidential debate at Casita Del Campo, a Mexican restaurant located at 1920 Hyperion Avenue in Los Angeles, 90027. Casita Del Campo is dead in the heart of the Silverlake area, home to entertainment industry workers, a large gay population, small businesses and a fierce green movement. Despite the presence of the entertainment industry, you won't find any limos in Silverlake, you'll find bicycles and Prius. Sometimes a faint, nostalgic whiff of patchouli lingers in the air.
So, it's no surprise that this Debate Watch Party, coordinated by Fabiola Torres, is homogenous in support of the Obama/Biden ticket.
The room is packed, over 30 people showed up, it's hard to hear. The crowd is mainly in their 20's and 30's, with sprinklings of middle-aged folks. The mix is white, Hispanic, gay.
The energy before the debates begin is high, buoyed by Obama's recent gains in the polls and Palin's decline in popularity.
"I hope she flubs," one young man asserts. There is an overall sense of derision towards Palin.
"She's not the kind of woman I want to be identified with," a young woman tells me.
Did Palin redeem herself during the debates? She didn't flub. She did go toe-to-toe with Joe without disgracing herself, as she has most recently in interviews. She was lively, spirited and didn't melt in a puddle, and I'm sure her fans are raving about her performance, eating up her folksy charm.
That charm didn't go over at Casita Del Campo. A huge cry of disbelief rose up in the room when Palin gave a "shout out" to viewers. A shout out????? Gee willikers!
I love Biden's congenial smile, those beautiful, white teeth . He used it very effectively as Palin attacked Obama, and then turned around and pummeled the failure of George Bush's policies and McCain's alignment with those policies. Biden did what he came to do, and he did it well.
"....the ultimate Bridge To Nowhere!" The crowd gave the loudest cheer of the evening to Biden's biting criticism of McCain's health insurance plan, indicating that is one of the biggest concerns at the kitchen table.
Oddly, the folks in the room were chattering and distracted when Gwen Ifill asked the candidates about their perceptions of the role of the Vice President. A chill went down my spine when Palin filibustered her way through a Cheney-like position, wanting more power and flexibility granted to the Vice Presidency, and I wondered who else in the room felt the same chill and why there was no crowd response.
We need to stay awake at the wheel, America, and pay attention to seemingly innocuous little grains of sand that slowly but surely can erode our Constitution.
Not only does America need a new driver, it needs new bridges. With Obama behind the wheel, we can be assured of a safe, cool, steady hand that won't put us on a Bridge To Nowhere. Instead, bridges will be built that reach out world-wide and restore our relations in the global community, and bridges will be built domestically to help us cross these choppy economic waters.
Palin called it with the slip of her tongue.
McCain: the man to leave
Obama: the man to lead.