PLAYING BINGO WITH SARAH PALIN

You can always expect certain words and phrases to come out of Sarah Palin's mouth and that's what made "Sarah Palin Bingo" so entertaining. About ten of us played the game at Angry Wades pub on Thursday night. Each page has 25 blocks and each page is different. Each time the Vice Presidential nominee utters one of the words or phrases on the sheet, you X it out. Like bingo, if you're the first to cross out five boxes in a row, you win.



This was one way of scoring the debate. Personally, I think Joe Biden won. His answers were more precise, more detailed and he rarely went off topic. He was even funny at times. Palin did fine for her first national debate, but she lost. People will like her folksy style and perky delivery, but it stops there. She couldn't answer many of the questions. Countless times, she switched topics to go back to her themes of the environment and energy. She lacked a grasp of knowledge on hot button issues like the economy and foreign affairs. Thank God she didn't cite Alaska's proximity to Russia as an example of her expertise on foreign affairs. She had before. The debate would have even been better had the moderator peppered the candidates with follow-up questions for clarity.



The bingo game demonstrated Palin's lack of depth on many issues. The sheets are filled with catch phrases and buzz words. I got to cross off Mayor, Governor, Wall Street, Main Street, Pakistan, Hero and Suspend the Campaign. Unfortunately, my sheet did not include the words, "maverick" and "hockey mom" which she must have blurted out a dozen times. I never heard anyone shout bingo, but then again there must have been 200 people in the bar. It was clearly a Democratic crowd. Republicans who were there appeared disgusted by Palin's opaque performance. Biden looked Presidential. Palin did not.



People play silly games like Bingo not with people like Joe Biden, Ronald Reagan or Michael Bloomberg. They don't play this game with smart people, or people who appear to be on top of their game. They play this sort of bingo game with Ross Perot, his former and now deceased running mate James Stockdale and yes, even our current President, George Bush. These sort of games are designed to mock. I could have won the bingo game had Palin said "gee," "jeepers" or "gosh darn it." To her credit, I don't think she did.