Still not ready for prime time
About the VP debate last night...Palin for student government president!
Republicans are probably breathing a little easier today. Sarah Palin did better in the debate than everyone thought she would -- after all, when the bar is on the floor -- and she disappointed a lot of Democrats because she made no big Couric gaffes.
Well, she did keep referring to a NATO commander in the war in Afghanistan as McClellan (a Civil War general), not McKiernan...and she was totally wrong about what the generals in Afghanistan are saying about a surge.
Yet, all in all, she probably stopped the bleeding of the McCain campaign, and that's all the GOP bigwigs wanted.
I'm glad that Palin had a satisfactory performance...otherwise McCain might have felt that a change might be needed. We Democrats like things just the way they are...
I'll tell you one thing -- that winking thing gets really old really fast. This was not "Dancing with the Stars" and being cute does not a Vice President make. The economy is in the tank and war on two fronts and she's hamming it up winking?
And maybe it's just me, but "Eye-ran" and "Eye-raq" get on my last nerve...but Bush has said "nukular" so much that I hardly notice when she says it.
Okay, that's nit-picking. But, while she didn't fall on her face, she still didn't prove that she is presidential material either. I truly didn't understand half of what she said. She didn't answer half of Gwen Ifill's questions or even pretend to. Maybe because she couldn't?
Since Palin wasn't pinned down Couric-style, she ended up chirping random strings of talking points. This was especially true as the night wore on...which made it very difficult to judge the substance of what she believes.
So she got away with using unchallenged talking-points and folksiness to fill in her time. I don't know how many people really say "doggone it" in a setting like that, she seemed to be trying too hard to be folksy.
Yes, ordinary people eat folksiness up...but enough to put her a heartbeat away? Her obvious lack of command of the issues, paired with her obvious reliance on the stale talking points, probably wasn't all that impressive to people outside her base.
I sure didn't like her snark-with-a-smile (and a wink)...and whoever told her to say, "Say it ain't so, Joe" should be looking for a job today.
And I got so tired of the "maverick" word. The 'meter line' from people in CNN's sample voter group immediately sank every time Palin mentioned the word, indicating that no one is buying the image of McCain as a maverick these days.
Washington, D. C. is filled with John McCain type mavericks...those who will say and do anything to get what they want.
Biden was the best I've ever seen him. He had good energy, made his points sharply (thank goodness for the time restraint), and didn't make any mistakes. He was also very good on substance...solid, detailed, knowledgeable, calm, and presidential. My only complaint is that he bordered on being too senatorial...too much Senate-speak.
Palin, on the other hand, seemed wound up like someone pumped full of coffee, she might have been better off with a lower key style.
Before the debate a lot of people were concerned that if Biden came on too strident he would be seen as attacking poor innocent female Palin. But his approach was genius, very simple -- he went after McCain. When Palin said something foolish or dishonest, he didn't attack her, he called out McCain.
Since McCain "tapped" her, all Palin has done is repeat the talking points that McCain's staff wrote for her, and Biden was too smart to waste time arguing with the puppet...he went after the guy behind the curtain.
I think Biden won this debate. He didn't overdo things...he was assured, confident and in command of the facts...he defended himself well without seeming overbearing. And he was adept using his own brand of working class folksiness.
Of course, I'm a Democrat....but I think the polls will bear me out:
"Two quick, post-debate polls agree that Joe Biden was the better performer in his debate Thursday night with Sarah Palin.
-- CBS used uncommitted voters, who gave Biden the edge in early numbers, 46-21 percent, over Palin.
-- CNN's instant poll of regular voters showed Biden victorious, 51-36."
One good thing was that Biden made a good debut onto the national stage, he made a good impression. The media hasn't paid much attention to him after the nomination...whereas Palin had two celebrity interviews and, for better or worse, hogged the news every day.
Okay...the VP debate is finally over and the McCain camp will hide Palin from the press from now until November 4th. We are going to start looking at McCain again -- how he lies and changes his opinion every five minutes.
It's hard to tell if he is senile or completely desperate.
