This a blatant rip-off of Maher's shtick (except I'm not really funny) but there definitely needs to be some new rules put in place for the rest of this election especially for future debates. Palin didn't choke on her own tongue during the debate, but her performance left much to be desired. She would been well served to followed these rules:
New Rule: You are not allowed to refer to yourself as a maverick, especially not multiple times during the course a debate. That's not how it's supposed to work. Here's an idea, why don't you mention something wild and crazy (or independent and original) that you've done, and have people think, "wow these guys are a team of mavericks". "John McCain is a maverick" is not an answer to how will you reform government.
New Rule: Not being from Washington is NOT an asset if that means you don't have a basic understanding of the constitution, foreign policy, or the economy. I want my politicians to have the same values as the people I hang out with, not the same knowledge of Waziristan. Yes Washington politicians are famously corrupt, but last I checked, so were politicians from Alaska. Not being from Washington as an argument is also undermined if your running mate has three decades of experience in Washington.
New Rule: If your debate opponent gets genuinely choked up recalling a family tragedy, CONCEDE THE POINT. The correct response to real human emotion is NOT a rebuttal about your principal's mavericky-ness. If showing real sympathy is beyond you, feign it.
New Rule: Do not agree with Dick Cheney on anything, especially not on the role of the Vice President. If the moderator begins a question with, "Do you agree with Dick Cheney on....", the correct answer is automatically no. You do not need to hear the rest of the question. The correct answer also must contain the phrase, "Dick Cheney is the most dangerous Vice President we've had in American history"
New Rule: Being unable to speak proper English, with reasonable grammar, is not an example of being fresh and exciting. You are auditioning for one of the most important jobs in the world, not hangin' at the mall. Dropping the consonant at the end of your words, does not make you more in touch with regular Americans. If we have to speech properly when we go on job interviews, you do to.
New Rule: You can't claim you are running on a platform of getting government out of the way of the people the same week that your principal votes for a $700 billion bail out bill. If government is indeed the problem and not the solution, stop telling me congress is the only thing standing between us and the next Great Depression.
New Rule: You can't propose to combat global warming while denying it's man made. If global warming is cyclical than there's not much we can do about it and we should "drill, baby, drill". If global is MAN MADE then we might want to consider investing in those alternative energies that John McCain keeps voting against.
New Rule: You can't claim to be an expert on General McKiernan's position on Afghanistan, when you don't even know his name. McKiernan is the guy who said it was not possible to import the US experience in Iraq to Afghanistan, because their tribal system is more fractured due to years of civil war. McClellan is the guy who said Bush manipulated the public into supporting his war.
New Rule: STOP WINKING AT ME. Unless you are signaling that you would like me to buy you a drink, or slyly trying to alert me that you're bullshitting, I don't need you winking. It's not nearly cute enough to distract me from the fact that you are repeating the same three talking points over and over. Apply your philosophy on blinking to winking, just don't do it.
And finally, New Rule: Getting through a debate without making a MAJOR gaffe does not mean you've won. These are serious times and Americans are looking for competent leadership. If one debater comes across intelligent and knowledgeable and the other the debater comes as an automaton fresh off the plane from Wasilla, the guy who sounds like he might know what the Bush Doctrine is, won. Back in 2000, the country may have wanted an unintelligent governor with no experience in the White House, but as they are fond of saying, 9/11 changed everything. Americans know rote memorization skills when we see them and we want our VP to have a slightly larger skill set.