Quin: You chide Palin for too often straying from the question, but I think she did that brilliantly on one of the two issues you urge McCain to exploit: gay marriage. Gwen Ifill tried to corner her regarding gay rights; having already commented on that, she turned Ifill’s gotcha effort immediately around by returning to the matter of gay marriage, which she reiterated she opposed, just as Joe Biden had just said he does.

This episode brought out why Palin had a fine night: it captured her competitiveness and thus essential toughness. And she did it smilingly. It was a huge relief for her to be her unfiltered self.

Remember too that this was television above all. She looks great. She and the camera get along. Biden more often than not looked irked and never did find the camera — with eyes that looked surgically repaired.

My one regret is that Palin can’t combine her folksiness with better syntax. In any case, the real loser tonight was the drive-by media, as a liberated Palin was again back being herself — “the Sarah we really know,” as one friend of hers just said on Fox.