Before the debate, the idea was that we’d get to see Sarah Palin without the filter. I’m assuming by “filter,” they meant “Couric.”

While Palin exceeded expectations of most people, who may have expected more of the Tina Fey caricature to appear onstage Thursday night, she did so through some heavy-handed acting.

I wondered if she really was talking like people from Alaska, or at least from Wasilla.

This morning I decided to watch the 2006 Alaskan governor debate, and what I saw was a Sarah Palin who was decidedly more in her element, answered questions more directly, and was an absolutely credible candidate for the position.

I think The Daily Show nailed a tic of Palin’s, which is to “act more adorable” when cornered for an answer.

In 2006, a debate that also lasted around 90 minutes, Palin’s invented “Fargo” character was nowhere to be found. She didn’t have a sing-song delivery, spoke in even tones, didn’t have a shred of “Joe six-pack” in her, and came across as someone who understood the fundamental issues facing Alaska, as any governor should. She was someone to be taken seriously.

The character that showed up in St. Louis last night didn’t resemble the 2006 Sarah Palin. It was as though her training for the debate consisted of Henry Kissinger in one ear and Frances McDormand in the other.

The folksiness was almost unbearable out of the gates: two “darn rights,” two “heckuva’s,” a couple “maverick’s”, a “betcha” and a “bless their heart” in the first half hour. — And not one of them felt authentic.

It was foreign to her. It reminded me of a few foreign exchange students, who, in adding English profanity to their vocabulary, spit a cuss word out and emphasize it crisply, instead of letting it roll off and flow naturally. It was like watching Peggy Hill speak her butchered, well-intentioned, quirky version of Spanglish — transparent to most people who speak that language.

The 2006 Palin Never. Came. Close…to winking at the camera, or bein’ all folksy with a rash of verbage that would make even Roy “Daggum” Williams say — Hey, you’re over-sellin’ it; go ahead and bring it down a notch.

I’ve lived in Kansas for a quarter century, and think I know folksy when I see and hear it: Governor Palin, you’re no Roy Williams.

The reason for her character is pretty obvious: There was no way she was going to be able to go toe-to-toe with Biden on straight-up policy. He’s got a few decades of national experience on her, while she’s been cramming for, in her words, “What, about five weeks now?”

She employed an old debate trick of turning negative arguments to affirmative arguments by tweaking her case just a bit. In the ’06 debate, she didn’t refer to any conversations with soccer moms, or attempt any other “See-I’m-Just-Like-You” appeals.

If she’d been in the spotlight for a year and a half like Obama, I think we would’ve seen someone closer to the 2006 Palin last night. She seems like a relatively quick study, if a bit incurious, and wouldn’t have had to rely on a made-up character to deflect attention from her answers that seemed mostly unrelated to the questions asked.

Well-played, Gov’na.

We’ve fallen for a Harvard cowboy twice in a row. And this year, you betcha we’re ready for change — and you might just have that faux-folk facade needed to pull it off, doggone it!