The American Spectator

Wlady, thanks for standing up against “accentism,” of which I am a victim. Jeff Foxworthy says the minute a Southerner opens his mouth, people deduct 15 points from his IQ score, and since coming to Washington 11 years ago, I’ve learned the truth of that. I grew up in a four-bedroom brick ranch house in a suburb of Atlanta, but my Piedmont twang seems to evoke images of moonshine, banjos and outhouses in the mind of the typical Yankee.

As to the debate itself, I think the important thing is that Joe Biden did not lose. He may have told 14 lies, but he told them convincingly, and he played the class-warfare card with such Edwardsian relish that I am beginning to suspect Biden might have a “love child” out there somewhere.

Sarah Palin performed well, but that did not surprise me, and her performance won’t reverse the momentum shift against the GOP ticket that has been the dominant fact of the campaign since Sept. 15. As I wrote Sept. 22, if Obama had bombed in the first debate, it would have been the Democrats’ turn to panic (again), but Obama did well enough to maintain his momentum. Two telling omens:

• McCain’s InTrade stock has fallen to 32% — losing two points today since yesterday’s close.
• The McCain campaign is pulling out of Michigan.

Conservative enthusiasm for Palin is irrelevant to what happens Nov. 4.