VP Debate

[rlrose328]

Okay, I just watched my very first presidential-year debate... VPs.  I know what I need to know about McCain and Obama, so I didn't watch them.  But I just HAD to see this one.  :raised:

OH... and I LOVED how she grabbed his hand and shook it like she was skinning a moose, with the "Can I call ya Joe??"  The backwoods, sweet as pie, hick thing was overbearing.

Biden did okay... and I loved how he kept setting her straight on voting issues when she told blatant lies about who voted for what.  And how she kept picking on a vote that OBAMA did just to have Biden remind her that McCain voted the same.  I HATED how he kept repeating, doing the "Let me say that again..."  UGH!  Great once... twice if spaced out... but I think he did that 4 times.  And the "Let me just tell you..."  So.. JUST TELL ME!!!  

Okay... what are YOUR thoughts?

[curiosityandthecat]

I really enjoyed watching Biden look at her like a vulture watches a dying animal. He's by far the superior debater, and she was entirely out-matched as far as forensics go. I mean, at one point, she actually said, "I might not answer the questions in ways you [Joe] or the moderator want to hear, but I'm going to talk about my track record." I was sitting at work, in a library, barely able to contain a scream of, "YOU'RE IN A DEBATE, YOU CRAZY WOMAN!"  

Unfortunately, I missed the middle of it; I was copying some VHS tapes to DVD and had to leave the desk for a while, so I didn't get a chance to hear about the gay marriage issue. Wish I had.

Here's some great quotes from the BBC News site that pretty much sum it up. You can tell which quotes come from blatantly biased sources (Michelle Malkin? Hello?):

Steve Benen, The Washington Monthly:  For anyone who cares about susbtance, it wasn't close. Palin just kept repeating lies and nonsense, regardless of the question, and regardless of common sense. On point after point, Biden just out classed her. The two really didn't belong on the same stage.

Michelle Malkin, michellemalkin.com: Five weeks on the campaign trail, thrust onto the national stage, she rocked tonight's debate. She was warm, fresh, funny, confident, energetic, personable, relentless, and on message... McCain has not done many things right. But Sarah Palin proved tonight that the VP risk he took was worth it.

Unknown: Palin also reprised Ronald Reagan's famous put-down during his 1980 presidential debate with Jimmy Carter, when she told Biden: "There you go again."

Unknown: Palin's performance tonight may silence critics who suggest she is fit only for the stage at Wasilla Town Hall. Her "betchas", "doggones" and "darnits" will no doubt have played well with many voters. But has she done enough to reverse the Republican ticket's recent move south in polls?

Matthew Yglesias, Think Progress: Palin was clearly operating with a game plan that involved simply refusing to answer certain questions in order to drift over to her pre-prepared text, and Ifill didn't ask any followups or challenge either candidate to address the questions she was asking.

Michael Sheridan, Middlebury, VA, US: Biden won in terms of actually knowing something. Palin won in terms of style by looking at the camera, being relentlessly folksy with a bit of a bubbly smile in her voice. Biden was often boring. This is about charisma vs. substance.

Inspiredone tweets: Joe Biden won this debate, Palin did all the winking and avoided questions that she did not know and all that slang did not help her

Unknown: Some are saying expectations for Palin were so low that she scored a victory tonight simply by not being drubbed or falling off the air.

[Tom62]

I think that Biden was presenting us facts and Palin emotions. It was disappointed by the interviewer who didn't push Palin to answer the questions that Palin was evading. Palin's reply on the global warning issue was so funny that I had to laugh very loud. Basically she was saying that foreign countries are to blame and that to solve the problem we had to drill for more oil. Fact is that the United States consumes far more energy than any other country -- more than China and Russia put together. Imagine just five percent of the world's population consumes 23% of its energy! Sure China has bad pollution statistics, but the USA doesn't do much better.

Unfortunately, I missed the middle of it; I was copying some VHS tapes to DVD and had to leave the desk for a while, so I didn't get a chance to hear about the gay marriage issue. Wish I had.

The whole debate can be watched at CNN.com.

[rlrose328]

Yup, my husband, who went to sleep rather than watch, emailed me this morning, quite amused (and none too happy) that Palin is basically being congratulated for not sucking.  LOL!

If you want to see the "facts":  http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/ca ... act-check/

[McQ]

I watched about 45 minutes of it. Biden is the better debater, for sure. Palin was over matched. He came across very well. Palin did OK, but not great. My son kept laughing because a couple of times she referred to Biden as Senator Obiden. She also kept saying Nuke-yoo-lur, instead of Nuke-lee-ur, just like the current occupant of the White House does. That annoys the hell out of me!

My personal opinion is that she will end up sinking the McCain/Palin ticket. The more exposure she has, the less people are going to like her and the less they will think she can handle everything inside The Beltway.

[Whitney]

Although Palin didn't suck as badly as I thought she would have, she did a horrible job "debating" (if you could call it that).  Whenever there was a question that she either couldn't or didn't want to answer she started rambling on with talking points (that they probably drilled into her head over the past week or so).  I also noticed her say obiden a couple times.

I watched on CNN and thought it was interesting that the women favorability bar was typically lower than the men's when Palin was speaking.  I think the whole let's pick a women to gain the women's vote thing backfired and now most women are simply offended that an under-qualified person was chosen due to gender.  Her qualifications, or lack thereof, wouldn't bother me if she was better versed in speaking, government, and politics...but she simply isn't presidential material.  What she does know about scares me...she has some rather kooky religious views that I hope she wouldn't try to push if she finds hereself in the White House later down the road.

As for Biden.  Since I really haven't cared much about politics till recently, I didn't really know who he was till Obama selected him as a running mate.  So, I had no preconceived view of what he would act like.  I found him to be competent and knowledgeable, yet not particularly inspiring in the same way Obama can be.  He did call Palin "Senator" at least once...so I guess we should let Palin have an out for when she said "obiden," a phrase I've seen posted on various parts of the internet by people attempting to create clever slogans.  At least Biden was comfortable enough on stage that he corrected himself when he misspoke.

[Moosader]

For those who haven't seen it yet:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4497318n
I was in class while it was going on last night, so I'm watching it now. ^^;
I'll get back to you guys later.