Finally

Thanks to early voting, I was able to cast my ballot today. Cross your fingers that Diebold doesn't erase or change it.

Post-debate body language

One of the bits that struck me about the VP debate last night was the interaction between Biden and Palin afterwards. You couldn't hear what they were saying, but it looked to me like Biden was giving Palin a dressing-down about something. She looked like nothing more than a schoolgirl being lectured by the principal. I'm wondering if this had anything to do with it (emphasis added):

Forget the tight stripper skirt, forget the metallic eyeshadow inappropriate for anyone over the age of 40, forget the cloying sitcom delivery, the lies, the cruel and calculated needling of Biden by calling his college professor wife a "school teacher" and saying "she'll get her reward in Heaven" (to a man whose first wife died in a car accident) -- she's an idiot.

Debate Clouds

Based on these word clouds, the key terms Sarah Palin wanted to focus on were "also" and "going." I'm actually surprised that "energy" wasn't the biggest since she seemed to prattle on about that no matter what the question. Normally these word clouds are just mildly interesting, but I think the contrast with Joe Biden's in this case is telling, and is a clue to why people are saying he won the debate.

Ooh ooh ah ah!

On Talking Points Memo today, I found the following:

I'd never even considered monkey rank.