Should We Thank Katie Couric? And Tina Fey?

Justin Hart at Culture11 suggests that Katie Couric may have done the McCain campaign a real service:

Before the debate last night I updated by Twitter and Facebook status: "Rope-a-dope tonight. And Sarah is not the dope." My liberal friends went into full fury mode asking what I meant (they thought I was belittling Joe). I wasn't. I was belittling them.

Many of my friends on the left expected her to fall on her face. They zapped their popcorn (wait, they probably don't use microwaves... do they?) and scripted in their minds how they might work Tina Fey if they were a writer for SNL. They slapped together quick drinking games to down a shot for every gaffe uttered by Governor Mooseburger. By the end of the night they were stone cold sober and Tina Fey was looking for a new job. In short, their expectations were shattered.

One of the biggest concerns in the McCain campaign after the St. Paul was "expectations". How do you top that awesome speech from Alaska's shining star? You can't. The only way to beat expectations is to lower them again. But how?

Have the liberals do it for us. Did Katie Couric win the election for John McCain?

If you had to put a physical height on the hurdle that Palin had to clear last night... how high was it? I reasonably estimated the height at 2 inches. She basically had to show up and not get sick on camera. Mission accomplished.

In fact, she exceeded expectations, which for conservatives, was all important. Conservatives have invested a lot in Governor Palin. She made it cool to be conservative again. She made it acceptable to vote for Senator McCain. She rallied the base and brought out the crowds in force.

Returning to Cardozo: "customer satisfaction with a product is influenced by the effort expended to acquire the product." Conservatives have been spending herculean efforts to get her and McCain elected. But after Gibson and Couric we had some serious questions in our minds. Did we buy lemon?

Palin proved us wrong, buoyed the faith of everyone on the right, and simultaneously smacked down her liberal detractors last night. Thanks Katie Couric.

I must admit that after reading the reviews of Couric's multiple interviews and the daily drip of "gotcha" questions that were being released, even I was beginning to doubt whether St. Paul Sarah or Katie Couric Sarah would show up. I was glad to see the Sarah Barracuda from St. Paul on that stage last night.

And while we're thanking liberals, let's give Tina Fey and SNL a nice hand. They decided the only way they could be funny was to portray Palin as a complete know-nothing ditz. That stereotype won't work if they try it again. They might actually have to be funny if they want to use Fey again.

Maybe they can show Joe Biden field dressed and strapped to a dogsled...