Thursday, October 02, 2008

The Vice Presidential debate


Sarah Palin exceeded expectations just by not saying something outrageous or stupid.

She read her lines and so did Joe.

A couple of tidbits.

Joe Biden mentioned Scranton a few times. The word maverick was used by Palin 6 times and Biden 8. She flubbed Joe's name one time calling him Senator O'Biden. I liked the shoutout to the 3rd graders and her folksy demeanor. At first Biden was talking Senate speak but came down to earth especially when he talked about being a single parent after the tragic death of his wife and daughter.

On points I give it to Biden.

On style I give it to Palin.

Our last debate poll said Obama beat McCain 58-42.

I have a new poll on the sidebar. Tell me why your guy/gal did better than the other one in the comments.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Palin did what she had to do- make conservatives feel Ok with her as the VP choice. Biden won- best debate I have seen out of him. He did not attack and acutally answered questions unlike either presedential candidate.

Anonymous said...

I think that Palins debate boot camp came shining through. She was well memorized ! Biden made some very strong points and gave a sense that he would most certainly do a better job if he had to take over.

Tony Thomas said...

Biden won hands down. He was the clear winner. Palin was simply well rehearsed and nothing more. She showed us that she has a good memory when it comes to recalling what the GOP debate coaches told her to say. All she said pretty much were either snide attacks of GOP buzzwords/talking points.

prsent said...

Let's be fair here. The liberal media stated that Obama won the first Presidential debate against McCain because he was the underdog and wasn't expected to do well against McCain because of his lack of experience. The liberal media gave the win to Obama for showing up and standing on his own two feet against McCain. If the media is going to use such piss-poor standards to judge who won that debate, then the same should apply to last night's debate for Sarah Palin. She showed up and stood her ground; therefore, she won. Of course, you can't use the same standards because it just "wouldn't be fair" to give a tiny victory to the GOP.

Anonymous said...

THERE IS NO QUESTION BUT THAT MS. PALIN HIT ONE RIGHT OUT OF THE PARK LAST NIGHT. WHILST VIEWING THE DEBATE I FELT AS IF MS. PALIN WAS IN MY LIVING ROOM CONVERSING WITH ME (HER PRECOCIOUS WINKS WERE ALL I NEEDED TO SEE TO KNOW HOW DEEPLY SHE CONNECTED WITH 'JOE SIX PACK'). MR. BIDEN KEPT LOOKING DOWN TOWARDS THE PODIUM AS IF HE WERE ASHAMED OF SOMETHING. OF COURSE, DEBATES ARE WON ON STYLE MORE THAN SUBSTANCE (JFK WON WITH TV VIEWERS, NIXON WITH RADIO), BUT MS. PALIN SHOWED SHE WAS SUPERIOR TO THE AGED MR. BIDEN ON BOTH FRONTS. HER OFF PODIUM REMARK TO THE SENIOR SENATOR AT DEBATE'S BEGINNING, "CAN I CALL YOU JOE?" WAS A GRAND SLAM DELIVERED BEFORE THE DEBATES HAD EVEN OFFICIALLY BEGAN. I THINK THAT WE AS AMERICANS CAN BE PROUD THAT COME JANUARY TWENTIETH WE SHALL HAVE A WOMAN OF SUCH STATURE SERVING AS SECOND IN COMMAND. HER MAGIC IS SO, THAT PERHAPS EVEN THE YOUNG CHILDREN WHO GO "GA GA" OVER MR. OBAMA CAN EVEN BE WON OVER. CLASS DISMISSED.

Anonymous said...

Why can't people be unbiased.

I'm going to say the same thing I did about the 1st presidential debate. Palin was expected to bomb out and embarass herself and she didn't. Everybody was waiting for Biden to put his foot in his mouth and he didn't. It's a tie. 2 debates and 2 ties. I hope to see somebody come out ahead in one of the remaining two presidential debates.

Coal Region Voice said...

Her comments about role of vice-president is of great concern.

After 8 years of Darth Cheney, we need to be concerned.

Tony Thomas said...

Her comment that "I've only been at it for five weeks", sure left me feel very uncomfortable with the notion of her in the executive branch.

The bar was set so low that if she managed to say one coherent sentence, it would've been seen as her "standing her ground".

Anonymous said...

Forest, I agree with you. Two debates and two ties. Although if the McCain Obama debate was a boxing match I'd give it to McCain slightly on points. But their was no knock out punch in either debate.

Joe looked knowlegeble and did not come across as a bully. Palin stayed right in campaign mode and shrugged off any questions she did not want to answer. Biden did not ramble on and cause embaressment for his team, and Palin's performance will put an end to the inspection of her performance in her interviews.

To correct my self on one point. There was one knock down in the VEEP debate. And that was Gwen Ifill. Palin through a wild swing and knocked the Ref down. Ms. Ifill was effectivly made irrelevant early on in the debate by Governor Palin, and Ms Ifill did not challange her about it for the rest of the debate. Gwen didn't even try any follow up questions when the Governor wouldn't give an answer to the question posed to her.

Let's hope we see a little more of a mix up in the next debate between McCain and Obama. Even for a political junkie like me, these first two debates have been pretty tame.

Anonymous said...

Joseph Biden: "I'm not going to change. I have 35 years in public office. People can judge who I am. I haven't changed in that time."

Obama's Campaign Slogan - Change We Can Believe In:

Nuff said!

Anonymous said...

Joe Biden: Can I respond? Look, all you have to do is go down Union Street with me in Wilmington or go to Katie's Restaurant or walk into Home Depot with me where I spend a lot of time and you ask anybody in there whether or not the economic and foreign policy of this administration has made them better off in the last eight years.

I was kinda hopin he would spend most of his time in the Senate but then again.....would it have made a difference.

Anonymous said...

Sara did an outstanding job last evening. She reminded me of the great debater/dead marine general communicator - Kurt Shotko. Can't wait to see how KURT smokes LOUIE and KANJO in their debate.

D.B. Echo said...

Sarah Palin did fine, if you apply a sliding scale based on low expectations based on her recent performances. If you hold her to the same performance expectations as Biden, then she wasn't even in the same ballpark.

If this had been a high school debate competition, Joe Biden would be going on to the next round, and Sarah Palin would be sitting on the bus crying because the debate moderators had tossed her out of the competition for not even trying to address the questions that were posed.

Anonymous said...

Exactly echo...
She had the answers. Just not to the questions asked.
And I'm waiting for all the hyperventilating Michelle Malkins of the world to say they were wrong about Gwen Ifill. All I heard from Fox and Michelle and Billo was how Gwen was in the tank for Obama and how she'd be anything but impartial. Well, she was...in my opinion she probably avoided any questions that would have made her appear so. And what did we hear from all the right wing squawk boxes? Nothing. I haven't read one word about the moderator after the debates on any right wing media outlet. The thing is with them, when they are wrong, you will ever see an admission. Just like W when he was asked what he regretted doing and couldn't come up with a single example...just like Sarah in the debate who when asked to give an example of when she had to change a long held view because of a change in circumstances, and she said she couldn't think of a single time she had to compromise on something.
Never wromg. If she never had to compromise, wouldn't that mean er she thought she was always right?
That, or she wasn't willing to make changes to work with the other side of the aisle, which is ironic (or hypocritical) since that's all I hear out of her mouth about her and her maverick at the top of the ticket.
Give me a break.