Are you ready for some football?
October 2nd, 2008Who is watching the US Vice Presidential debates? Who can’t wait? Who is terrified?
Who is going to screw up the worst?
7 pm MDT: We are live. Hopefully watching the HD version of the debate. Leta is stoked.
7:02 pm MDT: Leta: “I can’t hear myself. It’s too loud!”
7:04 pm MDT: Biden is speaking. Making sense. Palin is speaking. Playing the soccer mom card instantly. Used folksy word: “betcha”. Also mentioned the GOP calling card: FEAR. Split screen… obviously being used to make one or the other look bad.
7:08 pm MDT: Biden repeats talking point about McCain’s gaffe regarding the sound fundamentals of the economy. I think I’m going to take a drink every time “John McCain” is said by either Biden or Palin.
7:09 pm MDT: Palin: “Darn right”. “on that”. “hockey moms”. “joe six pack”. Calling for strict oversight. Seems like a bit of a policy departure for the GOP. Biden is winning the John McCain war.
7:13 pm MDT: Biden still winning the John McCain war. Palin: “Darn right.” “Kill jobs.” She’s not doing that bad. Biden is turning it up.
7:15 pm MDT: Palin is getting worked up. Awesome.
7:16 pm MDT: Taxes. Biden is looking right at the camera. Palin talking about distribution of wealth and millions of small businesses making above $250,000 a year getting hit hard.
Switching to healthcare. Palin just used the words “budget neutral”. Also just referred to the federal government as “the feds”. Half of Utah just fainted with delight.
Biden brings up the McCain $5,000 healthcare credit. Biden just dropped a good one: “That’s what I call the ultimate bridge to nowhere.”
7:23 pm MDT: Time for Leta to go to bed. She’s burned out on politics tonight.
7:44 pm MDT: Ok. Back. Leta has advanced to Fox on Socks. The words are a little more difficult to read. Leta did not mention John McCain, soccer, hockey or awesome. She did not wink, either.
Palin favorites so far: “Toxic Waste on Main Street”.
“But also.”
“Goin’ on.”
“We’ve got to clean up the planet.”
“Also.”
Wow. Word salad-or-rama from Palin. She just hit every bullet point in her prep deck on global warming.
Biden: Not really addressing Palin at all. Attacking John McCain’s record. Also.
I don’t think I can EVEN KEEP UP WITH THE NON-STOP INSANITY.
Palin’s diverse friends: The Gays.
Dude. I should be taking a drink everytime “John McCain” is mentioned.
Have finished dinner wine. Switching to something more appropriate. Hot Damn.
Palin should not look down to read her notes. Split screen not doing either candidate any favors.
This whole “debate” is one giant non-sequitur. As is this post.
Nuculer weapons discussion from Palin. Yee HAW! I’m convinced that Palin is a circular breather. She can talk while inhaling and then gradually exhale while continuing to speak. It’s remarkable.
Biden is doing better than I thought he’d do. Palin hasn’t seemed to answer a question from the moderator. Must be the liberal media at work again. Biden just said “Bosniacs”. AWESOME. HOT DAMN!
Sadie Hawkins vote win? Palin.
Answering no questions at cheerleader tryouts: Palin.
Awesomely avoiding Biden’s amazing personal moment: Palin.
Mavericky Maverickness and Winking: Palin.
Platitudes: Palin.
Mom: Palin.
Question: Is Palin our Oil Mama?
Biden is actually being inspirational. Hell yes.
Ok. Who do you think won? o
Tags: 2008 presidential election, debate, joe biden, politics, sarah palin, vice presidential debate
I’ll be watching. I can’t wait and I am terrified.
I’ll be watching, but through my fingers.
I think the expectations have been set so low for Palin that it’s almost a foregone conclusion that she’ll be considered the “winner” in that at a minimum she won’t lose. I think she’ll be able to hide her gaps in knowledge a lot better than in a one-on-one interview; I think Biden will have the harder time appearing calm and above-the-fray without being condescending and also avoiding making a sure-to-be scrutinized gaffe.
As with the election in general, it’s the Democrats’ to lose
She’s not as smooth as Joe, but it’s already evident that she’s been rehearsing non-stop for the last week.
“My track record”. Come on, Joe. Go for the jugular early and throw her.
My my…she’s getting a bit flushed.
Wouldn’t it be nice if she actually answered the question that she’s been asked??
Dude. It’s over.
She just said Nukular.
We are yelling at the TV…”Answer the damn question!” Ifill could spend the entire time telling her “your recall of your talking points is interesting, now, please answer the question!”
shame on both of them on their statement on gay marriage. what hypocrisy. Palin used the word lovers of freedom and liberty 5 minutes after saying she opposed gay marriage.
Canadian against a two party system.
I, like Sarah Palin, am tolerant of people of different sexual orientation.
McCain/Palin must loose, if only for the fact that I can’t listen to ‘nukular’ for 4-8 more years.
Say it with me people; NUCLEAR!!
The financial crisis “…it’s a toxic mess on Main St. that affects Wall St.”
Me: OMG she just totally avoided the question
Him: Are you going to criticize him too or just my woman?
Me: He didnt answer the question but at least he skimmed it.
Him: You just hate her don’t you?
Him: …
Him: Ok so you’re right.
“The governor of a huge, enegry-producing state…” With a population smaller than Salt Lake County.
A shout out? is this American Idol or something…
ALSO?
Maverick? enough already.
Still not a fan of hers but I was actually surprised. She did much better than I thought she would.
Joe worried me a bit. He was boring at the beginning and had more than several facts wrong. (Gotta love factcheck.org.) Obviously so did she but I was disappointed that he played that way too.
I also hated it how he constantly kept referring to McCain. Made it seem as if Obama isn’t even a player in the game!
MSNBC: Biden won
FOX: Palin won
CNN: Tie
Typical.
I’m glad it’s over. Maybe now we can focus on the two presidential candidates and what they can or can’t do for us.
I don’t know if it’s just me, but I find her “down home” talking with her darn tootin’ and dropping every freaking ‘g’ from every ‘ing’ word ridiculously offensive. That doesn’t make me feel like she’s “one of us.” It just makes me feel like either she’s completely uneducated, or thinks that we are. Neither is a trait I’m looking for in a Vice President.
Palin didn’t crash and burn, but I still don’t see much substance there. Biden was boring for the first part of the debate, but made some strong points later. Palin got a total pass on gay rights.
I hated the format and I don’t know if Gwen Ifill had a bad night or was just too hamstrung by the format and the accusations by the McCain campaign.
Palin’s awkward pauses were delightful, especially after Biden’s emotional moment. She hit her points well. And I’m sure she charmed the base. But I don’t see any independents being swayed by her song and dance.
Biden was serious and had a few zingers. He focused on the middle class, and mastered the foreign policy segment (even when he got a few points wrong.) He directly engaged the camera and likely connected with independents by linking McCain to Bush and vehemently attacking their records.
Biden easily mopped the floor with her. But Palin didn’t look like a complete retard or anything.
Ifill kind of sucked and should’ve kept on Palin, who refused to answer the questions. It was difficult trying to figure out what Palin was saying sometimes. Of course, I don’t speak maverick…
I don’t agree with everything Biden said, but at least I heard about issues from him and not just Obama campaign slogans.
As for Palin: Why can’t she answer questions? I tired of her little “Gotcha!” moments (that her supporters will no doubt remember instead of Biden’s measured answers because, golly, she’s just so CUTE and what is he rambling on about, if an answer takes longer than a commercial it’s just TOO MUCH TALK, OH MY GOD THE HELL!!!!).
Palin was long on campaign slogans and talking points; short on substance. However, that just makes her a certain kind of politician–so no more talk about how “I’m just a naive outsider, an innocent country girl, in Washington.” She can dissemble and dodge with the best of them. And do it with a wink, a smile, and a by-gosh attitude.
Is it possible Edie McClurg was her debate coach?
I think Biden clearly won the debate, but the fact that Palin didn’t crash and burn as many (me including) expected her to, may have made it seem as if she did better than she actually did.
I think they both got a pass on gay rights. I was offended by both Biden’s and Palin’s responses, but with Palin it was more expected.
Biden tried to pretend that he and Obama oppose gay marriage out of some desire to protect religions’ right to define marriage as they wish. That’s incredibly deceitful and just plain false.
The fact that the government sanctions heterosexual marriage and refuses to sanction homosexual marriage has nothing at all to do with religion, and both Obama and Biden know it. They know that giving the right to marry to all people would not affect a religion’s right to define marriage how ever it wants. The government legally needs to apply the same word to both straight and gay unions, whatever that word is if there is going to be equality.
Whilst Obama’s position is more pro-gay than McCain’s, his position still does not include total equality, and that is unacceptable.
I do understand that many people would not vote for him if he supported gay marriage, perhaps enough to jeopardise his chance at winning. Nevertheless, I am very disappointed that even Obama refuses to support total equality for GLBTQ people., and I was more offended by Biden’s answer.
Look, I’m an arugula eating, latte-swilling bleeding heart liberal, so I think Biden won. Duh. Palin did better than expected, but that was just because everyone expected her to trip over the podium and drool and then set fire to the stage.
Seriously, the debate reminded me of NASCAR. You say you are watching for the race, but really, you are mostly interested in the wrecks.
And the “down-home, shucks, I’m just a regular fella, wanna have a beer with me and shoot the shit” schtick the Republicans keep tossing at us?
It’s crap.
Personally, I want the smartest person in office we can find. I want elite. The world’s a complicated place, do we really want someone who funnels everything down to a binary of black and white choices? I want someone who can handle nuance and the shades of grey in issues. A hard working, kick ass genius, basically. Is that too much to ask? That’s what I want in my President. Someone who is better than me and will help me and my family be just as smart and successful as he or she is.
Republicans seem to equate “folksy” with common sense, and while I have a tremendous respect for logic and common sense, I will never want my leaders to be anything but smarter than me.
So yeah, Obama ’08.
Biden Won YEA, Palin did not even try to answer questions, she just kept talking about her energy plain in answer to them all, or was attacking Obama/Biden to the point of nastiness. Oh by the way here is Fox News poll the udated one as of now. WOW huh this is Fox.
Question of the Day
Who won the vice presidential debate Thursday?
Sarah Palin 39%
Joe Biden 61%
Total Voters:117937
Joe baby, yeah! Maybe my neck will unknot a little now…
Bosniacs.
I think it was pretty much a draw. Both did equally well. But I already know I am voting for Obama. She avoided alot of the questions. When she is not sure she starts to talk about Alaska and oil.
If the vote was just on VP, I’d take Biden. He’s a conventional guy, and would stay clear of craziness. Palin has too much to learn before she would be truly safe. Check back in a couple of years.
But the vote is Obama or McCain. Obama’s foreign policy is, take terrorism seriously up to the point where it distracts from domestic policy, but stop there. His domestic policy is, let’s twiddle with stuff so my constituents get more, but avoid admitting that I’m just shifting wealth around. Grow the economy? Help people be more productive? Not my job.
Of course, that’s basically been the domestic policy of the GOP in Congress, and if they won’t do better I guess it’s only fair that to give the Democrats a turn passing out the benefits. Maybe in the meantime the GOP will learn to govern from principle so government can become something other than spoils distribution.
But I fear we’re about to add decades to the war on terror, and tens of thousands to the deaths required to actually stop those guys. And we may open the door to some truly horrifying possibilities. Obama’s foreign policy is a dangerous mistake.