Atrios gives us a taste, from Seelye. Tonight won’t be pretty:

How do Ms. Palin and Mr. Biden greet each other on stage?

This is a sit-down debate. Will Mr. Biden help Ms. Palin with her chair? If Mr. Biden does not make some gentlemanly gesture, it may be a tip-off that he’s preparing mentally to clobber her. Or maybe he’ll just be recalling the observation from Chairman Mao, that a revolution is not a dinner party.

 But it will be televised. Unfortunately.