The Key to the Debate

In the closing moments of the debate, Joe Biden opened up and made a very timely, very touching observation about life as a single parent. Why was he a single parent? He very sensitively and appropriately explained, without any maudlin dwelling on details, or pathos, that his wife and daughter were killed in a car accident. His two sons were also badly injured in the same incident.

Now, Joe Biden has talked about this before, and perhaps that was why Governor Sarah Palin, given a chance by moderator Gwen Ifill to respond to Biden on the challenges facing American families, instead completely ignored him and launched into an unrelated string of talking points, including what a maverick John McCain supposedly is, and how she governed Alaska, and how America has a bad economy.

But she couldn't even muster the simple decency or grace to acknowledge that Joe Biden had suffered a tragedy. A mere "I'm sorry, Senator, for your loss," would have sufficed before she began her irrelevant, wandering patter.

Barack Obama and Joe Biden have gone out of their way to note and applaud the humanity and sacrifice of John McCain and, to a lesser extent, Sarah Palin. But neither McCain nor Palin can conjure the strength to do the same. What is wrong with the Republican nominees that they are so tone deaf, so callous?

Or was Sarah Palin so busy frantically shuffling her cue cards looking for that last, unused talking point, that she just didn't hear Joe Biden at all?