Lowering the bar

Over at Electoral Vote, The Votemaster has this comment about the upcoming VP debate:

"The Republicans have been bad-mouthing [Sarah Palin] for days now to lower expectations so that if she manages to put both a subject and verb in 50% of her sentences they can say she beat expectations. In truth, although she is not experienced in national affairs, she is not stupid. You can't be elected governor with an IQ of 90. She is unlikely to make many gaffes. The real fear is that she will make one humdinger of a gaffe...."

I think he's right that they're trying to lower expectations — otherwise why would her own campaign leak that she's doing badly in rehearsals? Even if she doesn't commit any major gaffes, though, and manages to beat expectations, it's hard to imagine her exhibiting the kind of grasp of international affairs that would reassure people about her readiness to be president.

Incidentally, while you're over there check out the state-by-state polling. North Carolina is a statistical tie. Who would have thought North Carolina could be in play? Even if McCain ends up taking that state, which is likely, this is still good news for Obama — it means the Republicans have to spend time and money defending that state, resources that won't be available elsewhere.