The Wink Heard ‘Round the World

Whether they think Sarah Palin or Joe Biden "won" last night’s vice presidential debate, pundits and critics are in agreement

Whether they think Sarah Palin or Joe Biden "won" last night’s vice presidential debate, pundits and critics are in agreement about one thing: Governor Palin’s wink was really important.

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As Governor Palin told ABC News’ Charlie Gibson, "You can’t blink."

But she sure can wink.

Here are some takes on the gesture that launched a thousand op-eds:

– "The whole debate was about Sarah Palin. She is not a person of thought but of action. Interviews are about thinking, about reflecting, marshaling data and integrating it into an answer. Debates are more active, more propelled—they are thrust and parry. They are for campaigners. She is a campaigner. Her syntax did not hold, but her magnetism did. At one point she literally winked at the nation," Peggy Noonan, The Wall Street Journal.

– "Sarah Palin looked as though she had prepared for her appearance at the vice presidential debate last night by studying Tina Fey’s impressions of her on "Saturday Night Live." She twinkled and winked and piled on the perkiness, a ‘darn right’ here and an ‘I’ll betcha’ there," Tom Shales, The Washington Post.

– "After enduring weeks of derision, Palin didn’t just beat the low expectations for her performance; she ran all over them… But how? Superior debating ability? Commanding logic? A winning manner? No, not at all. If you listened to Team Obama after the debate late Thursday, you learned Palin accomplished her impressive performance by . . . winking," Byron York, The National Review.

– "She lit up the screen at times with her smile and occasional winks," Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montaro, and Carrie Dann, MSNBC.

– "When he could find a point to rebutt, Joe Biden did just that. He did it with facts and the clear, coherent language of a guy who happens to know John McCain a helluva lot better than the challenger who couldn’t stop smiling and winking," Peter Gelzinis, the Boston Herald.

– "Over and over, she pitched her message to the middle class in a folksy way, throwing in a few winks for good measure," Linda Feldmann, Christian Science Monitor.

– "She was friendly and respectful to Mr. Biden. Then, every now and then, she cocked her head, winked, and nudged him hard — like a little sister who knows her older brother cannot hit back," Alessandra Stanley, The New York Times.

The Wink Heard ‘Round the World