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Biden versus Palin: debate to watch
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Also by Ryan Masse:
- Count down to Keith Olbermann's irrelevant exit (November 12, 2008)
- Health plan losing steam (October 29, 2008)
- ACORN unintentionally fraudulent (October 16, 2008)
- Biden versus Palin: debate to watch (October 2, 2008)
- Anti-Palin talk emboldens GOP (September 18, 2008)
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The way I see it, tonight’s slugfest between Republican Sarah Palin and Democrat Joe Biden will be the most entertaining vice presidential debate in a long, long time.
Both candidates are experts at invoking irrelevant facts to establish their base of knowledge on a certain subject.
Palin infamously tried to bolster her foreign policy credentials by noting Alaska’s proximity to Russia. “They’re our next-door neighbors,” she noted in an interview with ABC News. Never mind, of course, that the respective seats of government for the two polities, Juneau and Moscow, are 4,500 miles apart. Among the foreign capitals closer to the Alaska statehouse: Mexico City, Havana, Tokyo and London.
Biden claims to know intimately the struggles of blue-collar workers thanks to his upbringing in Scranton, Pa. “Everything I know about working hard, I learned growing up in my grandpop’s home in [Scranton],” he said in a campaign commercial. Never mind, of course, that his family left Scranton when he was 10 years old. Surely, he was his second-grade class’ resident authority on labor law issues.
Both fall short of expert status when it comes to touting their bosses’ policy positions.
Palin says the United States should launch cross-border raids into Pakistan to root out terrorists, something that John McCain insists mustn’t be announced beforehand.
Biden told Ohio voters that he and Barack Obama are “not supporting clean coal,” despite the technology being a major plank of the campaign’s energy platform. And he badmouthed the government’s bailout of American International Group while Obama was supporting it.
Both have drawn scorn from disillusioned supporters. On the Republican side, National Review’s Kathleen Parker called on Palin to step down after watching her cringe-inducing interview with CBS News’ Katie Couric last week. On the Democratic side, Joe Biden himself suggested to New Hampshire voters that “[Hillary Clinton] might have been a better pick than me” as vice presidential nominee.
Tonight will also be the most important vice presidential debate in a long, long time.
Faced with a teetering economy and a rising deficit in the polls, McCain’s road to victory in November has become exceedingly formidable. To preserve any chance for a late rally, he undoubtedly needs two things to happen: Congress must pass a bailout bill to reliquidate the credit market and calm the panic on Wall Street, and the selection of Palin as his running mate needs to not blow up in his face.
Time (though hopefully not much) will tell on the first; tonight alone will be dispositive on the latter. Palin’s recent interview with Couric deserved the criticism it has incurred from the likes of Parker and David Brooks. Explaining how a seized-up credit market hurts “Main Street” by stifling consumer lending should not have been overly difficult, yet the Alaska governor was not up to the task. Palin is not and need not be a policy wonk. But she does need to demonstrate a baseline understanding of what has become the most prominent issue in this election.
If the Alaska governor can’t do that tonight, her political capital will shrink to zero — and stay that way until Election Day. Voters won’t give her another chance. For a McCain campaign that has relied so heavily on her charisma and compelling narrative in the last month, this would amount to a death sentence.
In retrospect, the McCain camp could have handled Palin’s exposure much better. That she could change the dynamic of the presidential race in the way she has should have been obvious long ago, especially after it became clear Obama would not select Clinton as his running mate (which is to say, immediately after he locked up the Democratic nomination). McCain chose Palin as his running mate only a little over one month ago. Instead of training her over the summer for her first foray onto the national scene, she’s had to learn as she’s gone along. And not even that, really, considering the campaign’s efforts to shield her from all but a few media interviews.
Making up for lost time, the campaign has sequestered Palin at McCain’s Arizona ranch the last few days to prep for tonight’s debate. In a state that saw an unheralded New York Giants team defeat the theretofore perfect New England Patriots eight months ago, McCain will have to hope some lingering magic has rubbed off.
Of course, low expectations can make for a dangerous opponent. Palin has exceeded them before. And Biden is more than capable of blowing things all by himself (see his bout of spontaneous plagiarism in 1988). It shall be entertaining — and if McCain is to mount a comeback in the polls, a vitally important hour and a half.
Ryan Masse (rmasse@badgerherald.com) is a second-year law student.
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What a wonderful excuse of “low expectations”. Nothing like lowering the bar for the no. 2 in charge of this country. Pathetic
Biden’s strategy: let her speak as long as she desires. Watch the polls rise tomorrow.
I gave Sarah Palin a hot carl.
All we need to do is ask whether Biden/Palin believe they will see Jesus Christ in their lifetime… that will be the icing on the cake (in case you are unaware, one of those candidates thinks he/she will. Try and guess which one.)
It will be interesting to hear the questions of a “moderator” with such a huge financial stake in the election. Her book about “The Age of Barack Obama” may make her hundreds of thousands - but only if Obama wins.
I can see it now:
Hey, Palin, what about all the Alaskan pork in the bailout bill?
OTOH:
My dear friend Joe, please tell us about the widows and orphans which will be saved from the greedy Republicans by provisions that Saint Obama put into the Rescue America from Bush bill.
While some have blamed the McCain campaign for agreeing to Ifill as a moderator for tomorrow night’s VP debate while writing a book about “The Age of Barack Obama”, it turns out that Ifill didn’t bother to inform the Commission or the McCain campaign about the book.
Of course, the book title, “The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama,” assumes that there will be an “Age of Obama” — which seems a little presumptuous for a politician who hasn’t even completed his first term in the US Senate. Put it this way: when did the Age of Edwards end?
And if there isn’t an “Age of Obama”, then doesn’t Ifill’s book title look rather … lame?
A partial list of Gwen Ifill’s questions for the VP debate:
Mayor Palin, Barack Obama is a handsome, charismatic demigod. How many boxes of Kleenex will you need after your crushing loss?
Senator Biden, what is your favorite color? And if you have time for a follow-up question: Why?
Mayor, you talk funny and you own a tanning bed. Why haven’t you released Trig’s birth certificate?
Senator, have you seen those pictures of Obama in his swim trunks? If not, I have them right here.
Mayor, what are the names, ages, and blood types of all 71 members of the Belgian Senate? And why are you unwilling to admit that your inability to instantly produce any and every fact I demand makes you unfit to stand in the way of history?
Senator, you’ve spoken at length. Could you please continue?
Mayor, which is your preferred method of stifling dissent, banning books or burning them? Since it’s both, please explain how you can deny the accusation that you’re a fascist, which I am making now.
Senator, could you please sign my book?
The Age of Obama is not a biography of Obama. It’s a book that examines the new, younger generation of African Americans in politics today, of whom Barack Obama is the most prominent.
11:05- A simple google search would have found the information about Ifill’s book; Apparently the multimillion dollar Debate Commission does background checks as well as the multimillion dollar McCain campaign.
11:41, you shouldn’t steal content without sharing the source.
http://www.620wtmj.com/shows/charliesykes/30092259.html
Sarah Palin is an imbecile. End of discussion.
Ifill Ethics Commission Clears Ifill
By Gwen Ifill PBS Chief Political Correspondent and Gwen Ifill President, Ifill Center for Media Ethics and Gwen Ifill Editor, BarackBeat Fanzine
WASHINGTON - As expected, a blue ribbon panel from the Ifill Center for Media Ethics cleared award-winning political journalist Gwen Ifill of all charges today, ending a lengthy 20 minute investigation into “ethics” charges that most observers believe were motivated by politics and racism. Ifill, like dynamic groundbreaking President-in-Waiting Barack Obama, is Black.
The complete exoneration clears the way for Ifill to moderate the Vice Presidential debate tonight between respected Senate veteran Joe Biden and former beauty pageant loser Sarah Palin.
http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2008/10/ifill-ethics-co.html
Maybe the stupidheads on the Debate Commission thought that Ifill would be honest on the questionaire she filled out.
Coming from NPR they should have figured that they’d need to verify everything and never take hert word for anything.
Thet clever Ifill sure fooled them, the poor fools. But wait, who controls the Debate Commission?
http://www.debates.org/pages/lead.html
Do I see a lot of FOOs (Friend Of Obama) there?
Nice that there’s same number of Repub and Dem Honorary Co-Chairmen. Too bad the Repubs are †Deceased
How in the world did America get to this point? From Benjamin Franklin to this white trailer trash! What has this country come to? White people would rather have an ignorant uneducated white woman, who is barely ariculate, be in a position to run the country rather than elect a black man who is highly intelligent and a Harvard graduate! It is beyond me! I’ve been in civil rights for 20+ years, but if white America elects this stupid ass woman over Barack I am done (and trust me, this is about race! If Barack was 100% white (by your standards), we would not even be at this point). There will not be shit else white people can say to me! White people will have proved that they are the most mornic assholes that ever lived!
wait barack obama is not 100% white? o man now im definitely not voting for him…ha
white people may be moronic assholes, but they also seem to do pretty well for themselves too. im not a racist, but its always awesome being called one just for voting for a certain candidate. i was going to vote for mccain on the basis that i think he would be a better president than obama, but now im going to vote for mccain on the basis that all obama supporters are ignorant pricks who play the race card whenever it is possible. also, the words “white trailer trash” make you a bigger racist than anyone else here, you should know that after “20+ years” of being in civil rights, w/e that means.
@1:25am
Wow, you’re voting McCain because you don’t like Obama supporters. I think people should have to take IQ tests before voting, and if their IQ falls below 50, they are denied.
I should pull a you and vote Obama because McCain supporters are ignorant twats who vote not on presidential credentials, but on a bad experience with a supporter of the opposing presidential candidate.
Moron.
the VP debate was stunning. Palin did a decent job faking about 20% of the questions and didn’t even bother answering the other 80%
i couldn’t help thinking of the end of the movie Billy Madison, when the Principal says to Adam Sandler, “Mr. Madison, what you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.”
The pot calling the kettle black is doing no amount of “good.”
Palin is fine at what she currently does, apparently she has more going on than many gave her credit for. Obama hopes to instill change (that is sorely needed).
I just personally don’t believe in her (Palin) politics or radical viewpoint/s, and don’t like McCain (personally), either. They are completely out of touch with American public (at large).