Biden's Opening Statement at the VP debate

From Andrew Sullivan comes a stinging indictment of the Republican ticket. If I managed Biden's debate appearance, this would be the basic template for his opening speech. I edited the last three graphs to make it read more like a speech.

[B]ecause he could see he was going to lose, [John McCain] threw caution to the wind and with no vetting whatsoever, picked [Governor Palin, someone] who [he knew was going to] reignite the culture war as a [desperate] last stand against [Barack] Obama. That's all that is happening right now: a massive bump in the enthusiasm of the [fundamentalist] base. This is pure Rove, [pure Bush, and just more of the same.]

Yes, [my friend John] McCain made a decision that revealed many appalling things about him. In the end, [we can all see that] his final concern is not national security. No one who cares about national security would pick as vice-president someone who knows nothing about it as his replacement. No one who cares about this country's safety would gamble the security of the world on a total unknown [just] because she polled well [with the base]. No person who truly believed that the surge was integral to this country's national security would pick [someone] who, so far as we can tell, opposed it at the time. [That is not putting "country first." That is putting himself first.]

[In America, we judge a person by his or her actions. John] McCain has [with his own actions] demonstrated in the last two months that he does not have the character [or the judgment or the temperament or the integrity] to be President of the United States. And that is why it is [now] more important than ever to ensure that Barack Obama is the next president. The alternative is now unthinkable. And [by his own actions, John] McCain - [and] no one else - has proven it.