"I don't think Joe Biden has been exactly idle all this time. It's that the media is ignoring him and spending all their time drooling all over Sarah Palin."

Yes, that is exactly the problem I'm really alluding to here. It's the media who are being irresponsible in their coverage. The media is playing the "entertainment" game as if this were an American Idol show search for a sexy new "star", not a national election. They similarly basically ignored Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul, both of whom have had a great deal of useful stuff to say.

They pay lots of attention to whichever candidate is "sexiest" (in the very general sense of the term). For awhile that was Obama and/or Hillary Clinton. Right now it's Palin.

That is an irresponsible way for the national media to present a national election to the general public, but I bet their sponsors love every minute of it.