re: "She spoke to the American people", my foot.
He showed the mastery of subject one expects of a serious candidate.
Mastery means nothing when you stand for the wrong things.
He said in so many words gay rights were Constitutional rights and then (in what was absolutely amazing to watch) turned right around and said that he supports traditional marriage when Palin more eloquently straddled that fence and he realized hit a larger demographic.
He just lost the entire gay marriage community with that about face and stab in the back. He also made it obvious that he was all about nuance - the ability to justify voting against gay marriage while simultaneously being able to speak to a group like you are their greatest champion.
Biden is transparently two-faced. He is the smiling Janus. All politicians are, but he has mastered it better than Kerry ever could and he's more likable than Kerry to boot. Biden deserves better than an Obama ticket. Obama is still amateur hour and the Chicago politics he was brought up in is all about appealing to the poor. Biden knows better and will probably outlast Obama in the senate after his persona is defrocked and he becomes just another chainsmoking version of Kerry - a guy who was supposed to destroy the evil conservatives but somehow just wasn't up to the task.
In another note, I know ihill is far left, but her naivete' as a leftist actually favors the "relative" honesty of the GOP when she moderates. If I didn't know better I would say she is a well groomed, long-term plant. She moderated the Cheney-Edwards debate and Edwards still has Cheney's tire marks all over his back.