The XX Factor: What women really think.

Everyone Can Cry

Palin started to disintegrate in the second half. She ran out of talking points and started to get plastic and incoherent on the subject of mavericks. Biden, meanwhile, started strong, briefly slumped a bit—some repetition and exasperation in the middle—but he came back strong. And it was rather moving when he choked up, talking about his first wife and daughter—killed in a car accident—and knowing what it was like to worry your child might not make it.

As far as the gender dynamics go here—I'd say Palin lost, but she lost not because she went all helpless and girly and speechless—she was confident, smooth, tough, etc. She just didn't say much of substance, and she ducked most of Ifill's questions. Biden, meanwhile, was occasionally repetitious and a little wonky, but on the whole he also defied expectations: He was calm, reasonably consise, not visibly patronizing ... and he's the one who cried. Huh.