Adam Serwer

Palin’s best moment so far was calling Biden out on trying to have it both ways on the war. She’s absolutely right that he was engaging in Washington speak, not that platitudes topped by nonsense and gibberish are much better. –A. Serwer

Obviously, Gwen Ifill’s biggest problem is not bias, but really bad questions. “Which is worse? A nuclear Iran or an unstable Pakistan?” I’m paraphrasing, but that question is roughly equivalent to “would you rather be stabbed or shot?” –A. Serwer

Palin is clearly showing that she hasn’t let her lying muscles atrophy. She just accused Obama of “voting against funding for the troops.” Of course, John McCain voted against funding the troops too. The difference between the bills that Obama voted for and the ones McCain voted for is that the former had timetables, and […]

Palin is trying her best to signify herself as “working class.” She just referred to “people on Mainstreet like me,” “East Coast politicians,” etc. Like Nixon, but with lipstick. People on Main Street don’t have mansions with tanning beds. I’m sorry, none of the people running for president are “working class” or “Main Street”; they […]

Palin is repeating the “fundamentals of the economy are strong” line referred to “the American workers.” If that’s the case, then why did the RNC cut an ad dishonestly implying that Obama said the same thing and attacking him for it? On the other hand, Palin is best when she’s criticizing Obama. When she’s talking […]

If there is no really pivotal moment in this debate, expect people to play up Palin’s greeting. Even I have to admit, it was a sweet moment. –A. Serwer

Kevin Drum, responding to my statement that, “In my view, if there’s a constitutional right to privacy, you can’t take away someone’s right to have an abortion, anymore than you can take away someone’s right to bear arms:” In fairness, I really don’t think this is true. The Fourth Amendment protects you against the police […]

Conservatives are up in arms over Gwen Ifill, the moderator of the vice-presidential debate tonight, ostensibly because she wrote a “pro-Obama book.” None of them have read the book, but they all just assume it is “pro-Obama.” The publisher’s description of the book is as follows: In THE BREAKTHROUGH, veteran journalist Gwen Ifill surveys the […]

Katie Couric may understand that a right to privacy is “the cornerstone” of Roe v. Wade, but since Sarah Palin‘s answer that she believes there is an “inherent” right to privacy in the Constitution, Ramesh Ponnuru moved the goalposts. Palin, meanwhile, is asked a somewhat oddly phrased question by Couric, and says, reasonably enough, that […]

Via Oliver Willis, Homer Simpson runs into some problems when he tries to cast a vote for Obama. –A. Serwer