Debates of all ilk

[bewitched]

Generally, I think Palin did a good job speaking. (I was kinda hoping for a bigger "entertainment" factor.) It would've been nice if she would've answered more the actual questions instead of giving snippits of a stump speech. Still...much better than most people expected, which was what she needed to do.

(BBC is saying, "She didn't do enough and Biden didn't make any mistakes" therefore, it changes nothing.)



As an aside, every time she winked at the camera and said things like, "Say it ain't so Joe," I would think of Tina Fey with her fingers in the air going, "Pew, pew, pew..."

and,

"John McCain has already tapped me..." is an SNL skit just waiting to be written.

[CoasterMatt]

You need to see the Bill & Ted's Halloween Adventure show at Universal Studios Hollywood (Halloween Horror Nights).

[JWBear]

I agree, she did much better. But the cutesy folkisms have got to go!

[Alex]

You could tell they not only did a lot of coaching but had her memorize very specific speeches. The way she was rushing her lines, particularly at the beginning made that obvious. But she didn't fall on her face, she just didn't do anything that evidence native knowledge of the subjects. Even on her supposed strong topic of energy (which was her fall back whenever given a question she didn't want to answer) she never really said anything specific.

The format was pretty much to her advantage as it made direct confrontation almost impossible and no follow up questions.

I couldn't tell whether she was saying the constitution gave her expanded powers (wrong) or if she thought she should get expanded powers (bad). That was really the only interest position taken by either her or Biden.

Of course, when you are defending your interpretation of the recent comments by "commanders" in Afghanistan, it would probably be best that when you repeat someone names in a familiar way that you get the name right.

[Gemini Cricket]

Palin did not suck. But she wasn't good, either. A CNN political commentator said something afterward that hit home for me. She talked about how in a 9/11 situation that she could not picture Palin making the decision to shoot down aircraft that flew in a restricted area while the President circled in Air Force One. I can't picture that either.

Biden was great. I found myself being impressed with him. There's a reason he's been in the Senate since he was 30. He sounded presidential to me, she did not.

Palin's cutesy sh!t is wearing thin on me. I'm also glad that Biden called her and McCain on all the 'Maverick' talk.

I even found myself teary-eyed when he talked about his son in the military. I loved that he pointed out that she didn't corner the market on family life.

I think tonight Palin erased her Couric interview image. But it made invisible Biden look downright awesome, imho.

[flippyshark]

Palin got one important phrase backwards. She talked about a "toxic mess on Main Street that's affecting Wall Street." I'm pretty sure she meant the other way around. Minor, but I haven't heard anyone mention it yet.

A couple of her blatant dodges were grating, essentially saying 'I'm not gonna answer that, I'm gonna talk about what I was told to talk about.' But, yeah, better than I expected.

Noo-kyoo-lar! Really, Governor Palin, is it that hard to say "nuclear?" Say the word NEW, then say the word CLEAR (kinda draw it out a little), put them together and you're pretty much there. Sheesh.

[Gemini Cricket]

I also thought the "I've only been at this for 5 1/2 weeks" line was not smart.

[innerSpaceman]

Originally Posted by flippyshark

A couple of her blatant dodges were grating, essentially saying 'I'm not gonna answer that, I'm gonna talk about what I was told to talk about.'

This is where I was really disappointed with Gwen Ifill. The other candidates did it with Lehrer, too. But Lehrer let the world know they were pathetically ducking questions. Gwen gave them a complete pass, and both of them ducked questions often and inartfully. Palin's duckings were particularly awkward.

But she only gave one gibberish answer. I suppose after the week she's had, it's considered a victory that she wasn't speaking in tongues through the whole thing.

[Gemini Cricket]

Gwen seemed stricter last time. I remember Cheney saying something like 'I wish I had longer to answer this question' and she said, 'Well, you don't.'
Love her.

[LSPoorEeyorick]

Yes, I'll agree with Alex and GC. She didn't make as much of a fool of herself as she has in the very recent past. But to me, she only demonstrated that she can memorize passages and come up with twee phrases and redirects to substitute in when she doesn't know the answer of the question she's being asked. She was frequently timid and left Biden with the last word.

And, boy, he did an excellent job of saying it. I was very moved by his talk about family, I was very pleased with his firm stances - he was polite (didn't even correct her when she mispronounced the general's name) but he did not let up on the weaknesses in their arguments. It's a debate, and it often seemed one-sided because she refused to step outside of her rote answers to actually discuss.

And, yes. If you've only been doing this for 5 weeks, you're in no position to take this position.