Was Biden too focused on McCain’s past votes? Was Palin arrogant in saying she wouldn’t follow the debate guidelines and not always answering the questions asked? Was Biden too professorial while Palin was too folksy? Which was stretching the truth too much? What would you liked to have heard that you didn’t? What did you hear that you didn’t like?
If the VP were to become President, to redirect what one of the pundits said after the debate, which would you rather have making the decision in the War Room with generals on shooting down a plane that might start a war? Which do you trust with your money, job, health care and all the rest?
Have at it!
Hah hah. Like I would watch that extended dual political commercial. I wonder what would happen if they actually did debate?
I miss Pat Paulsen.
Palin did better than I thought she would. The debate coaching seems to have worked… she no longer sputtered or sat there slack-jawed when asked a question she had no answer for. She immediately brought up answers for topics that she had some facility with (e.e., oil from Alaska) while ignoring the actual question asked.
I think the NBC pundit was right – no train wrecks, no car crashes, and people will forget about this debate in 24 hours, and go back to attending to the Obama vs. McBush contest.
More like a mini-speech session. Howerver, Robot Palin did alright. She did talk allot about Alaska though. Biden was a bit longwinded, but addressed the questions well enough. The single parent response was very “real”. The moderator sucked.
“I miss Pat Paulsen.”
I miss James Bond Stockdale.
I was pleasantly surprised by Palin. She did a good job of looking down the barrel of the lens, letting the viewer know she was talking to them, and speaking clearly and concisely.
(This comment sponsored by the least partisan part of Brandon’s brain.) Biden did have a couple good rebuttals, particularly when attacking Palin’s defense of votes McCain made, but seemed to speak more to Gwen Ifill than anyone (suboptimal) and to have a bit more trouble articulating himself than I’d expect a senior senator to.
Palin showed she is a Fembot.
Hell, we could have Tina Fey be Vice President and be no worse off (maybe better).
Palin has been coached by Bagdad Dick.
Her stumbling in prior interviews was probably an act so that when she did the national debate she would impress everyone just by not fucking up.
What was most disgusting was the winks and nods Palin gave the camera.
It was like the biggest slut at a party was looking to screw anyone so that she can become pregnant and finally some how become legit.
I want a leader, someone who can take care of business, not some attention starved slut who clearly hasn’t cared about the Nation or World Affairs until the last 5 weeks.
She is almost leading a Naziesque chant on TV right now.
I checked out the crazies at MSNBC who were left sputtering. They regretfully admitted that Palin brought home the bacon (even if she had to personally slaughter the pig).
Sam, I had that exact same thought this morning.
What debate? Biden responded to prompts. Palin responded to her notecards with whatever they told her to say. I have no idea whether she can respond in a meaningful way to questions since she made no effort to even pretend to do so. Perhaps moderators are not necessary if we follow the Palin model. She can simply talk for an alloted time on whatever subject her notecards say should be next. This will certainly simplify matters for future candidates and make unnecessary watching debates. Palin can say whatever she wants to and those of us so inclined can ignore her staged answers.
She came off as snarky and hyper-folksy. It was so canned. Sadly, I’ve learned that so many peeps believe anything they believe (explains your paycheck) that they’ll take as gospel anything they see on TV. So who knows what’ll happen in 34 days…
Joe Biden was amazing!
The following are all undeniable facts:
– If you read a transcript of the debate, and were focused on the point-counterpoint, Biden won.
– If you watched the debate, and were thereby influenced by personality and pitch, Palin won.
– The debate removes Palin herself as “an issue”.
– The debate itself was not a game changer.
– As evidenced by earlier replies to this thread, angry liberals fail to handle Palin. After all, they just got their asses handed to him by someone who’s been “doing this for five weeks”.
– This is still Obama’s race to lose, despite the media’s best attempts.
Palin didn’t suck as bad as I hoped she would.
While Biden won with more specifics and logic, Palin clearly “won” by exceeding expectations.
#7 Fembot? I could actually see the strings.
Palin came across very well, without the interference of the media cutting her interviews to make her look bad. (It was a bad choice to trust Kattie and CBS)
She looked like the Outsider that all the politicians claim they are.
We would do well if more of our politicians were that real. (on both sides of the eisle)
Biden was on his best behaviour, but came across as very ‘senatorial’ to quote BBC America.
They passed the 1st rule of being the VP candidate. ‘1st do no harm to the Pres candidate!’ 🙂
Looking forward to the rest of the debates.
BTW, what is that big black rectangle behind them? I noticed that in McCain-Obama debate, too.
I think Biden won, but I also think that Palin did not “lose”, just by being there and half-answering the questions without looking like a deer caught in the headlights of oncoming traffic.
BUT, was it just me, or did all or most of Palin’s responses usually end up sounding exactly the same. I think that’s how she ALWAYS answers any questions put to her…you know:
– “main street”
– i’m from alaska
– heartland of america
– oil
– mccain is great
– we are for change
– my great diverse family
WITHOUT answering the questions put to her.
She did not answer the question about same-sex benefits. She left a very large and obvious non-committed response. Why not come out and say exactly what she meant? Not very truthful.
It was also telling when she could not answer the question about whether or not the VP is part of the executive or legislative branch of the government. She went back to the answers above. Biden was very succinct and clear with the VP roles and responsibilities.
I trust Biden for VP far more than Palin, by a huge margin. Not that I trust Biden that much. I am not a big fan of either party. I am still torn between voting to make sure McPalin doesn’t win or voting for a party I agree with the most (neither of the big 2).
I’ll probably vote O’Biden since they are the lesser of two evils… I guess.
The big black rectangle had a couple large camera lenses inside it. Maybe for recording audience reactions? After the debate a guy was in there snapping pictures.
>> Carcarius said,
>> I’ll probably vote O’Biden since they are the lesser of two evils… I guess.
Didn’t Palin say “O’Biden” at one point?
She also kept saying that really annoying Nuk-U-lar common to the uneducated.
Carcarius,
Thanks. I didn’t see any crowd shots, did you? Maybe they used it to take straight-on shots of the moderator.
One more undeniable fact:
– A number of Biden’s “facts” are turning out to be wrong. It will be interesting to see if the media gets on this.
The only thing really cringe-worthy was Palin hitting all the necessary keywords, Joe Sixpack tied with the (I suspect coached) mispronunciation of “nuclear” as the cringe-worthiest. Apart from that, she held her own, though there was much more substance coming from Biden. I personally consider this an important debate, since I’m now sure about who I’ll vote for. I’m aware that what both candidates are saying now will differ greatly from what they’ll actually do in the White House (Clinton taught me that lesson, vividly) but based on what I can know, this debate got me off the fence once and for all. To be honest, I was already leaning pretty far, this just cinched it. But…
I miss George Leroy Tirebiter.
>>mthrnite said,
>> The only thing really cringe-worthy was Palin hitting all the necessary keywords,
I finally yelled at her after the first 50th time she used, “maverick.”
Are you allowed to use the word “maverick” to describe someone who voted 90% with Bush?
Biden wasn’t on his best behavior. He said: “Dick Cheney most dangerous vice president we’ve had in American history.”
He wasn’t suppose to say that. Clearly he was thinking for himself in a moment of candid reflection.
Anyone who thinks Palin was tricked by the reporters and editors has too much Cult of Personality going on in their lives. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THE POTENTIAL LEADER OF THE WESTERN POWERS, THE COMBINED NUCLEAR ARSENAL ALONE IS STAGGERING. And you want to apologize for her statements during an INTERVIEW she should have been able not to screw up?
God, please bring back Richard M Nixon.
>> James Hill
>> – A number of Biden’s “facts” are turning out to be wrong. It will be interesting to see if the media gets on this.
Maybe.
Palin told one lie that even Fox viewers should catch: that Obama supposedly denied that the surge worked.
Didn’t we all hear Obama say the surged worked on Bill O’Reilly’s show?
I was pleased to see that Biden finally told Palin to STFU with that “McBush is a maverick” shit. McBush is no f&cking maverick, and even if he were, enough already.
She did exhibit some fembot qualities; the “maverick nonsense”, the “hungry markets”, answering questions about anything with tales of Alaskan oil, blah blah blah. Too much canned shit.
In any case, I think Biden came out on top. Sure, Palin didn’t fuck up like she did in her interviews, but who cares? She DID lay on the empty generalities pretty thick.
Overall, an Obama/ Biden ticket, with Obama the young Lancelot surging toward Camelot, with Biden filling in the gaps is WAY preferable to a cranky old flip-flopping bastard like McBush dropping dead in the summer of ’09, leaving us with a spunky “hockey mom” know-nothing as the Most Powerful Person In The World.
And wtf is a “hockey mom” anyway? I never heard of such a role until she started jabbering about it. “Hockey dad”, sure, but “hockey mom”??? Does that mean she goes to the games and beats the opposing players’ parents with a baseball bat?