Alaska Governor Sarah Palin engaged in a spirited if ultimately inconsequential debate with Delaware Senator Joe Biden Thursday in St. Louis with a polished, pristinely prepped Palin clearing the hurdles cleanly while laying on the folksy Soccer Mom shtick. Biden, for his part, reined in his gregariousness to a kindly, fatherly college professor, effortlessly negotiating the debates’ turns while thwupping Senator John McCain every chance he got. Kudos to McCain’s prep machine for slowing Sarah Palin’s freefall toward a national joke, though I found her at times robotic and perhaps a little *too* obviously coached. She seemed to know what to say while not having the best grasp on what those words meant. I wish Biden could have challenged her, in several places, to expand on her talking points to find the water’s edge of her ability.
For his part, Biden seemed to all but ignore Palin, who was of little consequence to Biden other than that the debate gave Biden another opportunity to pound on John McCain. Palin’s attempt to spin Biden from Bush-McCain toward “the future” didn’t work, as we are all in fact evaluating the Bush administration and John McCain’s complicity in many of that administration’s failures. But she wasn’t awful. She stood up straight. She smiled. She had a few really well-prepared responses.
While the news media seems ready to award the debate to Biden, I actually think it’s a net win for Palin. After all, John McCain’s *entire campaign* rested on this debate. Had Plain frozen up, moose-in-headlights, what remained of the GOP faithful’s faith in her would surely have collapsed. But moderator Gwen Ifill never seemed to ask any questions that might have stumped Palin—such as asking her to name *any* Supreme Court decision other than Roe v. Wade or, perhaps, what newspapers she reads. To that end, I was a little disappointed with the moderator, whom I found quite dull. I didn’t find the questions terribly probing or demanding, just open opportunities for rehearsed stump speeches. I doubt the debate moved the needle for either candidate: if you liked McCain, you probably still do, if you liked Obama, you probably still do. The big disappointment: so far as I can tell, at no point did the moderator ask the most obvious question: “Why should the American people feel comfortable with you being a heartbeat away from the presidency?” A glaring omission for a veep debate. An even bigger disappointment: no major comedy from Palin, whose generic, grade-C performance fell far short of the cringe-inducing mindless rambling of her recent network interviews. She walked across the stage. She didn’t fall down. Net win: Palin.
10 Comments
I thought it was a wash.
The bar was set so low for Palin that all she had to do was portray some level of competence in order to come away from this debate NOT hurting McCain anymore than they BOTH have hurt his campaign bid to date.
And even though Biden could have challenged her more on numerous occasions, I believe he knows if he did it would've gotten interpreted as "Flash_Bullying_Peter_Parker". I believe it was the Obama plan to mostly leave the challenging of her answers to the moderator. Which leads me to...
Gwen Ifill might have been hampered in her abilities to more openly challenge Palin's responses to questions. If you've heard about her upcoming book then I'm sure you know of the spin being put out there by the Republicans that since Ifill is including Obama in her book, and since the book is being released on Inauguration Day, then she is probably in the tank for Obama (especially since she is also black *gasp*). So if this innuendo weighed on her in any way, maybe she layed off of Palin at times when she could have numerously asked Palin to respond to the many questions at hand instead of giving her "Ya know, I dont know anything about this topic so I'm gonna talk about Energy" responses. If Ifill held back in any way during the debate, then Palin was essentially "green-lighted" to frame answers to any question anyway she wanted to, never have to worry too much about getting called out on her non-responses, and therefore, end up giving the aura that she at least looks competent in her responses and really can hold her own onstage with Biden.
The reason she bombed with Couric and Gibson was that they called her out again and again on not answering questions and she could never give a competent response afterwards. Although Biden did mildly point out her non-answers once or twice, it never happened explicitly during the debate and she never was pushed into giving her patent flustered responses.
scrawled by Ty | October 2, 2008 11:03 PM
It makes me sad that a VP candidate is graded on the moron curve.
scrawled by Pete | October 2, 2008 11:12 PM
To be fair to Palin on the SCOTUS thing, she wasn't asked to name a court decision. She was asked to name one that she disagreed with in the same way she disagreed with Roe v. Wade, which is a bit trickier. After all, she's one of those people for whom disagreeing with Roe v. Wade is practically a second religion...there ISN'T a court decision that comes close to comparing to it in terms of the white-hot hatred it generates. But she tried to pretend like it was just one of many "the Feds should leave the states alone" cases, and that was her mistake. Her anti-Roe fervor blinded her to any other possibilities. Even the recent Exxon decision wouldn't be on the same plane.
scrawled by Dave Van Domelen | October 3, 2008 7:28 AM
The Exxon decision that Palin actually disagreed with.
Look, this woman is an onion. Even the Roe thing--she makes no cogent arguments for/against privacy, which is the heart of Roe, or the fact most legal scholars consider Roe settled law. And I'm a half-wit who knows *nothing.*
Her discourse on Roe did not differ materially from one I might have with a supermarket checkout girl. She has absolutely no depth. And the Dems seem brainless, here, by always being in a crouch, playing by GOP rules. That phony outrage over the book--Biden should ripped into that the way he did w/Couric, jabbing a finger and snarling, "I-am-so-SICK-of-all-the-PHONINESS."
Where the devil was THAT guy?!?
As usual, the Dems just blew it. Biden waited for her to hang herself. Once it became apparent that wouldn't happen, he should have mauled her like a Pit Bull. Net win: Palin.
scrawled by priest | October 3, 2008 1:18 PM
"One must usually go to a bowing alley to meet a woman of her caliber." --Sir Jonathan Gielgud, Arthur
scrawled by priest | October 3, 2008 1:20 PM
I could tell that it was painful for Biden to hold back, but it was necessary. The way the McCain Campaign is manipulating the press and the public, Biden would've come off as a bully and that would've been a distraction from the issues, which is what the McCain folks would've preferred.
Palin's victory was that she didn't get soundly trounced.
scrawled by Wilfredo | October 3, 2008 1:40 PM
How does an onion compare to a tuna sandwich?
scrawled by David Van Domelen | October 3, 2008 6:23 PM
An onion is a vegetable. It's exterior is very flaky and brittle. At the top of the onion, its leaves are upswept and then fall over the bulb of the onion, akin to bangs across a little girls forehead. In an attempt to explore the inner makings of an onion, many find dissatisfaction with the taste and smell of the onion, which then leads to tears of sorrow and uncontrollable winking.
Sound familiar?
Onion Photo
I cant comment on anything dealing with tuna...I've been a vegetarian for the last 17 years.
scrawled by Ty | October 3, 2008 7:50 PM
Dave, I believe the Priest Glossary says:
A tuna sandwich, no matter how complicated you make it, is still a tuna sandwich.
An onion, no matter how many layers it has, is still an onion.
I agree with Wilfredo...had Biden gone off on her, he'd be a bully...instead, she's being pegged as emotionless for her lack of reaction to the story of his wife and children.
scrawled by Scavenger | October 3, 2008 10:01 PM
I disagree. Biden clearly one this debate. Sure, Palin might've surprised people by not falling over or accidentally setting the building on fire but I think people know that simply exceeding expectation does not equal actual qualification. I think Biden played it exactly right. He gave the people the FACTS, which every poll shows that the people want the facts and not soundbytes this election cycle. And he got in his biggest shots at the end of the debate, particularly when he pointed out clearly why and how McCain wasn't a maverick. Definitely the best shot of the night.
scrawled by Trav | October 7, 2008 6:43 AM