Obama just proved that he is a careful, calm guy in a crisis. What the voters saw is at odds with what the GOP is now saying. So in that context, it's the GOP that's damaged outside its core believers.
Being for Bloomberg now does not imply rejecting Thatcher yesterday. The problem with conservatism today is that it has become an ideology or even a theology, immune to the changing times.
I don't think this debate changed the direction of this election campaign, and I think Palin's performance will buck up base Republicans but actually unnerve some independents.
I began this debate feeling that Palin was steam-rolling Biden. She was. But it was a steam-roller coming at you on fumes, not real fuel. She doesn't have it. Maybe one day she might. But not now. Biden's peroration was very, very strong. There is no contest here. There was only one loser: Gewn Ifill. She was intimidated, peripheral, neutered.
The Conservative Soul: How We Lost It, How to Get It Back
