[IWE] VP Debate

[Ashton Brown]

D. Scott Katzer wrote:
> Hi Jay,
>
> Jay Mehaffey wrote:
>> Well Palin didn't botch it, both sides where obviously well prepared. 
>> I would give it to Biden by a few points, but there was no knock out 
>> or even staggering here.
>
> I thought Biden showed what a lightweight she is.
>
>> The only clear cut win is that Palin is easier on the eyes then 
>> Biden. Biden is starting to develop some weird lines around his eyes 
>> and is looking old. There was something odd with the way Palin 
>> sometimes looked happy and comfortably with something things but was 
>> awkward and stuttering with others. It was like she was happy when 
>> she was on script and unhappy when she was off script or having 
>> trouble remembering it. Biden did have one effective bit though, 
>> whenever Palin went to direct attack on Biden, Biden looked back at 
>> her and smiled in way that left you with the impression he took it as 
>> a joke.
>
> She seemed very mechanical to me.  Like a beauty queen or a TV 
> announcer.  Hmm...  Beautiful smile, perfect sultry makeup.  She's not 
> real.
>
>> Palin did sound awkward talking about homosexual relations, but the 
>> Biden/Obama and Palin/McCain position are close enough to be 
>> indistinguisable, so this won't be a big campaign issue.
>
> I heard her trying to finesse the issue.  She talked about her 
> personal feelings, but it's clear to me that a McCain/Palin 
> administration won't do anything to fix the laws that treat homosexual 
> couples differently from heterosexual ones when it comes to medical 
> issues, etc., but Obama/Biden would.  The uses the same construction 
> in reverse on abortion - she wants everyone to think that she's just 
> personally opposed to abortion when in fact she would use the power of 
> the state to restrict access and ultimately abolish it if she had the 
> chance.
>
>> Biden did better on the war in Iraq, probably his best sequence in 
>> the debate. Biden's slam of Cheney was better then Palin's defense, 
>> but that was just one short bit. In fact, I don't think there was any 
>> sequence where Palin got the best of Biden, but Biden rarely got the 
>> best of Palin either.
>
> I think that Biden did a great job of showing that the majority of 
> Palin's talking points were lies and distortions.  I don't think that 
> she was able to combat that.  For example, I thought Biden's comments 
> on federal windfall profits taxes like she imposed in Alaska was 
> perfect. She had no counter for that.  She also messed up Gen. 
> McKiernan's name, which isn't a big deal except she tried to correct 
> Biden about what McKiernan said about the surge - and got it wrong.
>
>> Biden did better when they wandered from the prepared script, but 
>> Palin was not stupid enough to do more then a quick distraction 
>> before returning to the prepared plan. Biden was careful to avoid 
>> directly attacking Palin, prefering to aim at McCain or the Bush 
>> administration directly. Palin took shots at both, but aimed more at 
>> Obama then Biden. Both dodged a few questions and went into a 
>> prepared script that answered a different question, but neither did 
>> it badly enough that it came across badly. I think Palin did it more, 
>> but that may just reflect Biden's greater experience with doing it.
>
> She often asked and answered her own questions rather than responding 
> to Ifill.  I thought Biden did that far less often.  The stupid format 
> that they decided to use made it difficult for any nuance to come out.
>
> I don't think she ever gave any specifics in any of her responses.  A 
> lot of what she said was gibberish - like when she was talking about 
> how she somehow annulled the federal energy bill by having oil company 
> taxes in Alaska, or something.
>
> She seems to have no understanding of many issues.  Like why the US 
> Embassy in Israel is not in Jerusalem.
>
> Biden objectively won on substance.  I have no idea how the polls will 
> regard it, though.  I see that Buchanan is already saying that she 
> won, so the partisans will be spinning things like mad...
>
> My $0.02.
>
>> Jay
>
> Cheers,
> Scott. 

Concur generally with your recap.  Sadly.. (for us all) I'd guess that 
she met the acceptably low standards of the Repo mindset we have 
witnessed during these 8 mind-numbing years, standards like --

Little credit for insight (nor penalty in its complete absence.)
Easy eliding of cant replies or 'answers' to another more comfortable 
question substituted for the asked one.
Tolerance of generalized, Stuart-Chase blab-grade (programmed) 
time-fillers --where a few specifics would reveal a hint of historic 
knowledge / or lack. 
When in doubt, revert to fluffy-bunny Momism sketches (á lá Generation 
of Vipers.) That, or when all else fails -- YAN pæan to The Troops; 
apparently not quite needed in this kindergarten pitched romp.

I too thought Ifel's questions inane; not a one whereby any vast 
difference in perceptiveness might have been made evident in an answer.
Bad questions / no Gotcha-grade screwups == infotainment grade waste of 
90 minutes, as we have come to expect.

I OTOH have expected More of PBS, especially to make up a bit for 
Lehrer's doddering, unimaginitive management of the '04 dog& pony.
And remain disappointed.  Softball ... so as not to seem to pick on an 
obviously unqualified candidate (thus: one beloved of her many similarly 
equipped fans.)

(Glad that Biden reiterated some of the salient pieces of agitprop, 
especially his litany on the 'maverick' misnomer.  Not that you can kill 
so carefully cultivated a sobriquet with mere voting factoids.)


Pshaw.