I don’t believe that I was as “mesmerized” by Palin’s performance last night as Rich Lowry or at least, she didn’t “excite my base in the sub-prime area.”
To be honest, I thought that last night would be a mis-match. It reminded me of when I would watch a fighting match, thinking that the one fighter would just clean the floor with the other guy, only to find the “underdog” holding his own and making it to the final rounds losing only by a “TKO.”
I can’t speak for all of the swing-voters in the battleground states, but I can offer my own insight as to how last night’s debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin went.
The fact is, Palin did better than I expected.
Sadly, that’s not saying too much. What I’m actually saying is that her talking points during the debate were generally cohesive, and she didn’t make any unbelievably stupid gaffes with the possible exception of mispronouncing our Commander in Afghanistan.
Palin did go to the final rounds, and the debate in my opinion, had no knock-out by either side.
So who won the debate? It depends on who you ask.
Personally, I give it to Biden by a “TKO.” Biden looked far more Vice-Presidential, going over the facts that he had gained in his decades in the Senate. He attacked John McCain’s record, and backed it up with facts:
“Look, past is prologue,” said Biden as he countered Palin’s remarks that he keeps looking to the past. “The issue is, how different is John McCain’s policy going to be than George Bush’s? I haven’t heard anything yet. I haven’t heard how his policy is going to be different on Iran than George Bush’s. I haven’t heard how his policy is going to be different with Israel than George Bush’s. I haven’t heard how his policy in Afghanistan is going to be different than George Bush’s. I haven’t heard how his policy in Pakistan is going to be different than George Bush’s,”
Palin countered by repeatedly going back to energy and accused Obama of voting for a bill that gave big tax breaks for big oil companies:
“In Alaska I had to take on those oil companies,” she says. “I had to break up a monopoly and say the people had to come first.”
The problem with Palin was that while Biden could come up with a good answer for every single question, Palin sounded as though she was regurgitating all of those talking points that were fed to her by her debate coaches. I will concede that she seemed to be more cohesive than in those interviews with Gibson and Couric. I will say that she memorized most of her talking points fairly well. At times however, she refused to answer a question, but would revert to something that she somewhat knew. At one point, she flat out told Biden and moderator Gwen Ifill in her own “Fargo” way, that she’d darn well only answer the questions she wanted and was going to ignore them and talk to the American people about the topics she came to talk about. Congratulations Ms. Palin. I see you’ve graduated from the “Dick Cheney School of Vice Presidentin’.” A hint to Ms. Palin: There is a reason debates have moderators.
My greatest difficulty with the debate was when Sarah Palin was seemingly in agreement with Dick Cheney:
“Well, our founding fathers were very wise there in allowing through the Constitution much flexibility there in the office of the vice president. And we will do what is best for the American people in tapping into that position and ushering in an agenda that is supportive and cooperative with the president’s agenda in that position. Yeah, so I do agree with him that we have a lot of flexibility in there, and we’ll do what we have to do to administer very appropriately the plans that are needed for this nation.”
Dick Cheney went down that road, and we see where it got us. Joe Biden was only too happy to counter an admirer of Dick Cheney’s policies:
“Vice President Cheney has been the most dangerous vice president we’ve had probably in American history. The idea he doesn’t realize that Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the vice president of the United States, that’s the Executive Branch. He works in the Executive Branch. He should understand that. Everyone should understand that.
And the primary role of the vice president of the United States of America is to support the president of the United States of America, give that president his or her best judgment when sought, and as vice president, to preside over the Senate, only in a time when in fact there’s a tie vote. The Constitution is explicit.
The only authority the vice president has from the legislative standpoint is the vote, only when there is a tie vote. He has no authority relative to the Congress. The idea he’s part of the Legislative Branch is a bizarre notion invented by Cheney to aggrandize the power of a unitary executive and look where it has gotten us. It has been very dangerous.“
My thanks to Joe Biden for at least keeping his ambitions in check. Of all of the remarks in both the Presidential and Vice-Presidential debates, I’d have to say that this was the most dangerous remark that I’ve heard. It is certainly one to keep in mind as election day approaches.
Biden’s moment in the debate was when he was visibly overcome with emotion when he rebutted the idea that “just because I am a man” he didn’t understand what it was like to wonder whether or not a child would “make it” in recovering from a life-threatening medical situation. At the time, he was likely recalling the tragic automobile accident that killed his wife and daughter and severely injured his two sons. I looked at it again, and knew that this was genuine. It was not some sort of contrived stunt. Anyone who knows Biden though, knows that he wears his heart on his sleeve.
Palin’s moment in this debate was a bit less authentic. She answers Biden’s connection of McCain’s policies to George W. Bush:
“Oh say it ain’t so Joe. There you go again, pointing backwards again. I know you prefaced your whole comment with the Bush Administration. Now doggone it, let’s look ahead and tell the Americans what we have to plan to do for them in the future.”
Why did it sound as though she stole not only from Ronald Reagan, but the movie “Fargo? Yah! You betcha!
I noticed a few of those moments from Palin throughout the debate. While Biden was playing it straight, Palin was hamming it up with the “folksy” style, winking at various people, and giving “shout-outs” to teachers in her family and some middle-school class. Really? In the middle of a Vice-Presidential debate? I didn’t see it as cute or endearing. I saw it as contrived and rehearsed. Quite frankly, it was beginning to get annoying.
Confidential to Ms. Palin: The top American Commander in Afghanistan is Gen. David McKiernan . . . McKiernan, not McClellan for whom the Army base down the road from where I live is named. I suppose it’s a little too late to clear that one up for you.
After seeing the debate, I watched the spin-people work their magic.
From CNN:
And from FoxNews. Notice that the sponsor is Budweiser. Hey, doesn’t Cindy McCain’s company distribute that brand? Probably just a coincidence:
After all of that spinning from the cable news spindoctors, I need a rest. Bleh!
