Not too long ago, I wrote a piece of satire claiming that Palin and Biden had abandoned the traditional debate format in favor of a duel to the death.  In it, I wrote that the last kink to be worked out would be the weapon of choice:

Biden favors bare knuckles, while Palin would prefer hunting rifles. Presidential candidate John McCain has suggested a compromise in which each candidate uses the weapon of his or her choice--Biden’s fists versus Palin’s Remington.

Having had the chance to watch the debate, I think I was wrong about whom the VP candidates would attack, but I got right what weapons they would use.  I can't escape the feeling that McCain, watching the debate, must have gotten a nosebleed from all the hard punches that Biden landed.  But through it all, he acknowledged that the man he was attacking was a military hero and a dear friend.  Palin, on the other hand, stopped just short of calling Barack Obama a traitor, and seemed to wonder why Biden would associate with such a fiend.  Where Biden landed frequent hard punches, Palin was going for targeted lethal force.

For all of that, however, I'm not too worried.  The thing is, as nasty and baseless as Palin's attacks were, they were nothing new, and Obama has survived much worse all along.  Biden's attacks on McCain revealed some surprising vulnerabilities, whereas Palin's attacks on Obama made one wonder if he really is invulnerable.