The Miami Herald’s Carl Hiaasen asks whether the press would follow The Sarah Rules and defer on every issue if Palin were a man.

Most journalists are still getting accustomed to the Sarah Rules, as established and enforced by John McCain’s campaign team. The most important is Sarah Rule No. 1: Don’t treat Gov. Palin like a male candidate, or you’ll be accused of character assassination…

…the same right-wing gasbags who’ve trashed Hillary Clinton for 16 years have morphed into sensitive souls when it comes to their own hockey-mom candidate. Each unsettling news revelation about Palin is automatically decried as a sexist smear.

But if the gender issue were removed? Think about it, Hiaasen says.

• If Palin were a male candidate, Democrat or Republican, she’d be taking heat for ducking reporters when the election is only five weeks away.
• If Palin were a male candidate, she might also be encouraged to discuss why she chose a high-school pal to head Alaska’s Division of Agriculture at a $95,000 salary. Among her flimsy qualifications, the woman, a former real-estate agent, claimed an affection of cows.
If Palin were a male candidate…
• If Palin were a male candidate, she’d be asked why she put another childhood friend in charge of a money-losing, state-subsidized creamery that was supposed to shut down until Palin reversed the decision. As The Wall Street Journal reported, the doomed dairy cost Alaskans more than $800,000 in additional losses before it was finally closed.
• [I]f she were a male candidate, she’d be pressed to explain why she billed the state more than $17,000 as ”per diem” expenses — for 312 nights she spent at her own home.
• Imagine if her Democratic opponent, Sen. Joe Biden, had been videotaped while being solemnly blessed against ”every form of witchcraft.” The Republicans would jump on it, running blistering ads to portray Biden as a whack job unfit for the vice presidency.

It’s hard to perform this same mental exercise with, “If Obama were white…” and come up with examples of how Obama has been given similar passes by the press. Lord knows, we discussed his pastor’s much less bizarre sermons ad nauseum. When you consider Hiaasen’s key Sarah Rule, there is no comparison.

…the Sarah Rules allow everyone to explain Palin’s words and past actions except Palin herself.

McCain smirked, blinked and grinned but couldn’t seem to look Obama in the eye

The punditocracy has reached a consensus that the debate was a draw, and a few of these thought leaders are even suggesting that McCain won. If so, that’s a shame, because I found his performance to be appalling. Josh Marshall, said it this way, and I couldn’t agree more:

Whether it was contempt or condescension or some sort of fear or inability to — in the most literal sense — face Obama, it made McCain look small and angry. I apologize that I can’t link to them because I don’t remember who wrote it. But as someone wrote after the debate, for that kind of attitude to have ‘worked’ for McCain, Obama needed to come off as completely ignorant and unprepared. And I don’t think even his harshest critics believe that is what happened. Roll it all together and Obama just seemed like a bigger person than McCain. And in a race in which the issue agenda and party identification already work strongly in Obama’s favor, that’s an advantage that is very hard for McCain to give up.

Here it is a full four hours before the first presidential debate tonight and the McCain campaign is already running “McCain Wins Debate!” ads on Web sites. Is this a “Dewey Defeats Truman” moment, a screw up or just another instance of the Republicans knowing that if they say a lie often enough, people will believe it?

See a screenshot here.

Last week conservative pundit David Brooks threw in the towel on Sarah Palin as a serious vice presidential pick. Now Kathleen Parker, who first applauded Palin’s selection, is suggesting she do the Republican ticket a favor and announce she’s decided to spend more time her family.

It was fun while it lasted.

Palin’s recent interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity, and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who Is Clearly Out Of Her League.

No one hates saying that more than I do. Like so many women, I’ve been pulling for Palin, wishing her the best, hoping she will perform brilliantly. I’ve also noticed that I watch her interviews with the held breath of an anxious parent, my finger poised over the mute button in case it gets too painful. Unfortunately, it often does. My cringe reflex is exhausted…

If BS were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself.

Parker acknowledges that McCain can’t admit his monumentally bad judgment without making his campaign suspension permanent. Which sounds like a great idea to me, but not to Republicans. Instead, she calls on Palin’s sense of patriotism.

McCain can’t repudiate his choice for running mate. He not only risks the wrath of the GOP’s unforgiving base, but he invites others to second-guess his executive decision-making ability. Barack Obama faces the same problem with Biden.

Only Palin can save McCain, her party, and the country she loves. She can bow out for personal reasons, perhaps because she wants to spend more time with her newborn. No one would criticize a mother who puts her family first.

Do it for your country.

Nice try, Parker. But Palin isn’t all that committed to this country anyway, having participated in those Alaska secessionist conferences with her husband, a member of their party. And Lord knows, she can’t have that much maternal instinct if she’s pushing off on her five-months’ pregnant 17-year-old a 4-month-old with Down syndrome, as every photo shows. Experts say what happens in the critical early stages of development is crucial to the Down infant’s lifetime potential, yet Palin seems unconcerned.

As much as conservatives might wish, I don’t look for Palin to pull a Harriett Miers and go quietly.

Obama/Biden 49%
McCain/Palin 42%
Undec 7%

– Obama’s 7-pt lead is his largest since Diageo/Hotline tracking began on 9/2.

– On the economy, Obama has a 48-34% advantage over McCain.

– When asked how the financial news/events will affect their vote in Nov., 48% said it would not. Among those who said it would, 29% said it would make them more likely to support Obama, 16% said they’d be more likely to support McCain. Among those who say the economy is their number one issue, 34% say they’re more likely to support Obama, 16% pick McCain.

– Voters are also split on whether they want to see more or less gov’t involvement in the financial markets. 46% – including 35% of GOPers – say they’d like more gov’t involvement. 31% say they’d like to see less involvement.