Same deal as the Presidential debate, I'm watching the debate and want to pay attention to the visual aspect of the debate as well as the content. I'll offer thoughts afterward. Fire away in the comments in the meantime.
Posted by Eric Earling at October 02, 2008 06:09 PM | Email ThisI don't understand why the moderator asks Palin about Bush's policies. Bush doesn't count here. Could it be a way to try and trip up Palin ala' Gibson? Or to make the McCain/Palin ticket "just like George Bush"?
Posted by: G Jiggy on October 2, 2008 06:44 PMPalin sort of stumbles over her words somewhat like Bush...
Oh man, nice hit on looking backwards!
Posted by: David on October 2, 2008 06:44 PMGovernor Palin looks and sounds good.
But when I look at and listen to Joe Biden-- a guy who chronically misspeaks and comes off the total political boob everywhere he goes: No. Freaking. Way. If this is who the democrats consider to be the 'gravitas' on their ticket, they just aren't trying hard enough.
All palin needed to do was show that she isn't the character Tina Fay plays, and she has done that in spades.
Posted by: Moondoggie on October 2, 2008 06:54 PMNBC,PBS,and CBS all depicted Gwen Ifill's jacket as cerulean blue, while ABC depicted it as vivid chartreuse. TV set comparison revealed that only my basement set showed this anomaly. The set was operating in default color mode.
Note that I have perfect color vision as proven by my 100% score on Bausch and Laumb's "Pseudo Isochromatic Plates" test. This test was partly designed to detect military malingers.
My second observation. My basement set depicted Biden's teeth in a conceivable shade of near white. My other sets showed his teeth as whiter than his shirt.
My feelings about the debate: If was a character in "LOST", I would prefer to have Palin calling the shots in those first moments on the beach. Not McCain, Biden or Obama.
I have a Global Warming interest. I think McCain's dumb position on GW caused Palin to fumble in her response to Gwen's question on that one. How could Palin intelligently support her co-ticket candidate? A man who co-authored the McCain Lieberman bill.
Posted by: Bart Cannon on October 2, 2008 07:00 PMShe came back with no emotion, and slammed him, he couldn't shake her up !!!
Posted by: Chris N on October 2, 2008 07:12 PMThis really isn't the venue to ask to rerun the clip or have the press clipping in your pants pocket Hairy. Biden has lied on numerous occasions and just hopes nobody does the legwork to find out he lied.
Sadly, after 36 years of politicking, Biden realizes that what he says will be absorbed by the average turnip voter at home and it becomes instant fact in their brain so facts don't matter on the fly to an unethical cad like Biden. On pudges blog I posted a noted Biden lie bigger than the population of "new Pennsylvania" when he told Katie Couric on CBS News,:
"When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the princes of greed. He said, look, here's what happened." ~ "Clueless"Joe Biden
First of all, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected in 1932 and the market crashed in 1929. Second of all, the first working television wasn't created until 1928. Again, the market crashed in 1929. How did FDR get on a device that nobody had at a time when he wasn't president?
He's obviously a dolt of the lowest order.
Posted by: Rick D. on October 2, 2008 07:14 PMTaking a play from Ronald Reagan's playbook! Yea!
Posted by: Paula on October 2, 2008 07:15 PMWOW! That's an upper cut I think! 7:31pm
Posted by: drakaba on October 2, 2008 07:22 PMThe proof?
Tom Brokaw stated that this was not the debate that mattered.
Posted by: Bart Cannon on October 2, 2008 07:29 PMPalin and Biden both clearly had their talking points that they wanted to make, and both of them ignored the actual question when they preferred to switch to their talking points.
Palin may have done this a tad more than Biden, for example on the question about the "conventional wisdom" view of each candidate's Achilles heel vs. what the candidate him/herself viewed as their Achilles heel, and on the question about whether each candidate had changed their opinion on some issue in response to changing conditions. In each of these cases Biden answered the question that was asked, while Palin veered off into talking points. I'm not sure if this is because she didn't understand the question, or if it's just that she didn't want to answer it. But each of them avoided questions they didn't want to answer.
@6: Biden wasn't tearing up over Palin's baby. He was tearing up over his wife and young daughter, who were killed in a car accident. Biden has been a single father for years.
Palin did try to score with the "looking back" comments, though it sounded a little forced and rehearsed the second time she used it. CNN's audience reaction meter says that Biden's response "past is prolog" scored some points.
@14: The FDR comment was a gaffe, no doubt, but not quite as bad as some people make out. FDR became president in 1932, but it was FDR's New Deal that pumped a lot of money into the economy and boosted employment, and that is generally credited for lifting the country out of the Great Depression. And FDR did, in fact, go on the RADIO quite frequently and explain what happened and why the New Deal was necessary.
Listening to CNN interview a panel of undecided Ohio voters (evenly distributed between Republicans, Democrats, and independents) is providing some interesting audience reactions.
Posted by: Prometheus on October 2, 2008 07:38 PM(Pssst: it's Article II.)
Whether or not YOU agree, and whether or not you agree with Cheney's position that the Office of the Vice President isn't governed by the rules of the Executive Branch or his views on the powers or the executive in general, that's a point that's going to resonate with a lot of undecided voters. Palin put her foot in it with that answer.
Mistake, or typical attempt by a Democrat to misrepresent?
How does a Republican in a national debate, after years of liberal media building the foundation behind leftist lies, like man-made Global Warming, deny it? Was it a good strategy for Palin to avoid the argument with Biden, citing the same Democrat and liberal media lies about who was at fault in creating this financial crisis? I would have challenged the lies, but then I would have lost the debate.
Questionable question of the night from Ifill. Whether rights should be extended to same-sex partners, and not whether the candidates support same-sex marriage? Two entirely different questions, and I'm thrilled that Palin knocked it out of the park, turned it to the real underlying question about marriage, and that she appeared to lead Biden to the same conclusion.
Posted by: Reality on October 2, 2008 07:45 PMEither Biden lied and knew it wasn't the truth or was clearly ignorant of the facts yet stated it as if it were in fact, a "Fact". Classic D.C. politician since 1972.....but, but, I thought Obama was the "change" agent?
Posted by: Rick D. on October 2, 2008 07:49 PMI think all anti-Bush Americans would do themselves a favor by watching Karl Rove a bit on Fox News. I think even his harshest critics, those who've bought into all the hate spewed against Rove, Cheney, and others for 8 years, would be surprised to see the man they've been taught by the left to hate. If Rove isn't the monster he's been portrayed as, just maybe Cheney isn't the monster either.
Of course, changing of deep-seated hatred fueled by MoveOn and extremist sources, including mainstream coverage and distortion, would be difficult for anyone to overcome. I've yet to know a liberal myself capable of this sort of change.
Posted by: Reality on October 2, 2008 07:56 PMWell, Duff and Puget Sound - there is probably some life in this race as it turns toward the home stretch. There is still a chance that the Clintons may get their wish after all when McCain and Palin win.
Those who insulted the intelligence and competence of Sarah Palin can go choke on their own vomit !
Posted by: KS on October 2, 2008 07:57 PMAnd "Bosniac" is the term for Bosnian Muslims. If you look at the the Dayton peace accord and the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, it says
"Bosniacs, Croats, and Serbs, as constituent peoples (along with Others), and citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina hereby determine that the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina is as follows:"
Biden's use of the term is technically correct, and reflects his knowledge of the situation there.
It's a joke that Ifill, who stands to make a ton in extra royalties if Obama wins, is allowed to continue as debate moderator.
Posted by: russell garrard on October 2, 2008 08:49 PMI think that those who insulted the intelligence and competence of Sarah Palin can go and pat themselves on the back for getting it right.
Posted by: demo kid on October 2, 2008 08:49 PMI think those of you who think that way need to take a deep long look at yourselves in the mirror and question your own intelligence. Partisanship rules...
Joe Biden had command of information his facts which were not always the real facts and a good presence. He is a better debater than Hussein. Sarah Palin has moved up to speed in a short period of time and held her own against Biden for the most part and got in some good rebuttals.
Posted by: KS on October 2, 2008 09:02 PMBiden was making some pretty weird faces and smirks... I suspect to his wife and family in the crowd... until he saw the camera close in on him. He has his strengths and they were evident.
He got a bit excited on a few comments and he swallowed it with great difficulty, but swallow it he did.
Sarah connected with people.
She had a couple great shots against Biden, particularly using HIS words against Obama. She really didn't let him get away with too much.
AND, she got a great shot in against Gibson and Couric referreing to editinig and her preference of speaking directly to the people. Some talking head suggested she invite 'Say it ain't so Joe' to a town hall debate twice a week until election day. I would love that!
No heads exploded tonight, but lots of renewed energy for the McCain supporters.
Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on October 2, 2008 09:13 PMBiden was a single father for a few years, but he got remarried in 1977, after his first wife's death (and the death of his 1-yr old daughter) in December of 1972. So, no, he hasn't been a single father for over 30 years...