Hot Topic: Biden vs Palin
Here’s the rundown.
Joe Biden did a fine job in the vice presidential debate last night. His rhetorical prowess was impressive–something, in fact, to be studied–as was his superior grasp of foreign affairs and the details of his own, his running mate’s, and his opponent’s records.
In our modern 24-7 news cycle, politicians’ performances in national debates (and, sadly, the merits of their arguments) often take a back seat to what comes next — the post-debate spin.
Less than 8 hours after the stage lights dimmed in St. Louis, the Obama camp has already released a new 30-second ad that uses clips from last night’s veep debate to hit the McCain campaign on their plan to tax employee health benefits.
First, does anyone realize how incredibly sexist the media’s (and the public’s) treatment of Governor Palin is? Geraldine Ferraro said last night after the debate that she wanted her to do “OK” to be able to prove that she can hold her own against a man. Why are we holding her to a different standard? Is it because she’s cutesy and feminine? What would have not “holding her own” looked like? Running off the stage in tears?
Speaking of Bush, Joe Biden made countless efforts to show that there’s no difference between John McCain and George W. Bush. This is simply false. For one thing, John McCain is quite a bit shorter than Bush. Also, John’s middle name starts with an S, not a W. So, as you can see, there are many glaring differences between the two men.
The only thing more frightening – or disheartening – than Palin as our Vice President is Palin as our President. If she were a man, we’d all be so much harder on her. On her fumbling for words, lack of knowledge, her folksy way of speaking, her contradictory statements. Imagine it. If she were an older man, everyone would have a field day with it. But as it is now, Fox News is chalking up a victory for her simply because she tells it like it is while sounding like an outsider. Whatever that means. I think it means you play with the hand you are dealt. And they’re doing just that, even though they’ve got a pair of twos. Ugh. Here’s to Palin-Sixer ’12!
Palin managed to change the subject any time the topic was something she wasn’t comfortable. I was disappointed in the moderator in not having her hold to the actual question that was posed. He had a few moments of where I wanted to yell FUMBLE and hoped that Joe could fall on the ball, but she managed to pull through. She managed to avoid a number of topics by outright saying she was changing the topic from the start of her answer. “Mind if I talk about energy?”. I think it was a mistake to have the moderater that was chosen. In my opinion, the pre debate questions about her book on Obama kept her from being able to hold Palin to the topics.
Don’t even think about winking at me during a speech or debate. The implications of that wink last night sent a shiver down my spine… the constant vote detector test, of undecided Ohio male and female voters, running along the bottom of the screen gave me vertigo. I did notice the “Joe six pack” sunk like lead weight.
Larry took an interesting tactic for measuring perceptions of the debate. He watched and recorded Facebook reactions. Additionally he provides a fact checksheet for where he felt candidates may have strayed.