VP Debate Reaction
Well, I thought that Sarah Palin did well. She held her own and made no major mistakes. Her only mistake appears to be one of mispronunciation. Biden was wonkish, pompous, and windy.
This being said, I thought it was even. But then, many of the focus groups and talking heads seem to think that Palin won for whatever reason (perhaps low expectations). I thought that McCain wiped the floor with Obama; talking heads thought it was even or lean Obama. Now I figure it was even, and they think Palin came out ahead.
Go figure.
Sarah Palin reaffirmed the support of Republicans and conservatives in her tonight, even if she did nothing else (and I think that she might have, given the talking heads). There were no “wince moments” as there were during, say, the Couric interview. That alone, I suppose, is a big victory.
She was, as many people have said, shockingly ordinary. And for someone so ordinary and representative of the everyperson, she held her own against Joe Biden, the verbose windbag and vainglorious buffoon that is the personification of the Washington establishment.
And in a “throw the bums out” year, this sort of everyperson holding their own against the personification of a do-nothing Congress and a government in gridlock can’t be anything but a good thing.
October 3rd, 2008 at 12:16 am
The Knowledge Networks poll on CBS disagrees; 46% of uncommitted viewers said Biden won, 21% said Palin won, and 33% said it was a draw.
I was at the computer, listening to the TV that was on behind me, so I didn’t get the visuals, but I came to the conclusion that Palin succeeded.
That is, neither one landed a knockout punch, but Biden did about as well as expected and Palin did a lot better than expected.
McCain seems to be losing ground fast. I don’t think this debate is going to change that, and he’s running out of time…. OTOH, I didn’t think the first debate would shift the polls, and it now seems that I was wrong about that.
October 3rd, 2008 at 7:12 am
I featured this post on red county this morning: http://www.redcounty.com/porter/2008/10/vp-debate—indiana-bloggers-c/
I have to agree, no big winner, but due to the prevailing theory that Gov. Palin would bomb, she probably comes out ahead of where she stood going into the debate. Plus, all the media is talking about Palin, and basically disregarding Biden.
October 3rd, 2008 at 9:57 pm
My interpretation of the debate was colored by the fact that I was frustrated that Palin (or McCain in the last few days) are letting this garbage of lack of regulation causing the problem in the banking industry go without pointing out the failures caused BY the regulation and the corruptness of the government sponsored entities in conjunction with the Democrat allies in Congress. That was way up front in the debate and I was yelling at the screen for about 30 minutes.
But generally Palin did fine, but I agree with your assessment that it was, more or less, even. Afterwards it has become clear that Biden has a lot of inaccuracies to deal with. Palin missed a little, but much less than Biden did.
Stylistically Palin was MUCH better than Biden. But I think both you and I were looking at the substance side of things. I thought she left a couple too many attacks left undefended, though the moderator was working in Biden’s favor on that count.
October 10th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
the GOP wouldn’t dare schedule any more unscripted air time for Palin b/c this will give people more time to realize that she doesn’t have a clue… the prospect of her becoming the Commander in Chief is frightening
October 10th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Hit & run troll attack!
According to noted Liberal and Obama supporter Camille Paglia:
(Emphasis mine.)
She goes on:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/paglia/2008/10/08/palin/index1.html