Palin Wins!
By JR Hoeft | Thursday, October 2nd, 2008 | Politics
Palin performs incredibly tonight. She connected. Conveyed the conservative message. Stated articulately what we all believe. No doubt, Palin is the point of discussion.
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JR Hoeft
Conservative to the core; liberal with his opinion! J.R. has been involved in politics for over a decade and has worked on several campaigns in Hampton Roads. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Chesapeake and the Central Committee of the Republican Party of Virginia. He is also the director of “Blogs United” in Virginia. E-mail J.R.. Follow J.R. on Twitter.
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21 Responses to "Palin Wins!"
I’m only half way through (DVR) so i’ll hold substantive comments until later. I just had to pause and say one thing. I don’t know if i can suffer through another 8 years of worrying about nucular weapons.
If that’s the only gaffe, as a former nuclear reactor operator myself, I’m content.
She didn’t actually say anything, but you are correct she didn’t have any of her pervious gaffes. That said, compared to Biden she still didn’t look at all presidential – and I have to return to the fact that all she offered was rehearsed lines and empty phrases. Seriously, THIS is someone you would want to be President? Scares the hell out of me.
JR you did see the same debate I did, right? Palin dodged questions like bullets in The Matrix. She did a good job of not sabotaging herself, but she didn’t offer anything of substance… not even on energy which was supposed to be her preferred subject.
All she did was offer a general talking point and bash the opposing side… she had an opportunity to show what she was really made of and instead opted for the safety of conservative talking point. Is that really representing conservative values?
Palin performed well; outperforming expectations. In keeping with analysis from last week many in the media should be saying Palin won, like Obama did, by not failing miserably.
I don’t think any minds were changed tonight which is what I expect from a VP debate because neither VP royally screwed up. Most of us vote for President and not VP. That being said, I cringed when Palin started babbling at one point. I was glad she recovered and started making sense. I also cringed when she said McCain would “leave,” and then said “lead.” Not good.
Biden also stumbled a little, and I don’t know if it was me, but I totally did not understand what he was talking about in one of his responses.
Biden was good about attacking McCain, but he was mysteriously silent about his past praise of McCain and his past condemnation of Obama. Score Palin. I can’t help but think that sin of omission might sway swing voters since it cast doubts about Biden and his integrity.
This may not be a big thing, but with the talk of Ifill not being biased, I think she might have made a couple of mistakes. It seems only fair that if Biden started the debate that Palin should have had the last word. Biden started and ended the debate. That seems to be a blunder and a very unfair to me. Also, I think Ifill messed up on alternating back and forth between the candidates. I could be wrong but it appeared Biden got two questions in a row.
The civil union question appeared to be a softball question for Biden. I didn’t feel Palin received any softball questions. Ifill biased? I don’t know, but I would have thought she would have been a little more careful.
Biden’s best moment: his choking up.
Palin’s best moment: her Anwar comment.
Notice the nod to Reagan “Oh Joe, say it ain’t so There you go again”
The “There you go again” made me smile and proud. She just may be the modern day American Margret Thatcher.
As for experience, she has more executive experience than the TOP of the Dem ticket. As for foreign policy experience, she has as much as Governors. Clinton, Reagan or Carter did… and they were elected POTUS, not VPOTUS. Funny how that never comes up.
“Biden’s best moment: his choking up.”
Agreed. As I said on a live blog, I disagree with a lot of Biden’s ideas and policies, but as a person, I like him. Great sense of humor, straight shooter (to a fault) and a genuine family man. I do not question Biden’s motives… I do question Obama’s
I also enjoyed watching the two Veep candidates talk for a long time after the debates (unlike the POTUS debate). It was their first time meeting and they looked to be enjoying their conversation.
Now if only Obama was half as genuine as his running mate…
SW,
The other conservative I work with and I raised the issue of past former governor/presidents not having foreign policy experience, and the Barry supporters ignored the comment, pretending they did not hear it.
I’m hoping people actually process this debate. Biden made a fatal flaw if we have a thinking public. He basically said almost every decision, and every foreign policy decision McCain has made was the exact wrong decision.
And he said/ implied every decision Obama made was 100 percent right. Might work if you have an audience of liberals. I’m not sure it plays well to the general thinking public though.
Also, Biden said redistribution of wealth is fairness where he comes from? And he seemed to defend his paying higher taxes is patriotic gaffe.
Biden’s audience seemed to be targeting liberals, and Palin tried to talk to everyone.
she was great. I certainly agree that choking up was Biden’s best moment. Palin though got in numerous gracious jabs and, frankly, Biden seemed boring at times – he really did seem so inside Washington as he lectured the audience about Senate procedure at points and yet didn’t seem to understand the Constitutional role of the VP. Veeps don’t do much of it these days but they did actually preside over the Senate in the past and could do so again if they wanted to. Biden just sounded ignorant to me on that point and even on foreign policy – his key area – I thought he did not really outshine her.
Obviously this debate, moreso than the last one, was basically a Rorschach test. Conservatives generally saw Palin as strongly affirming their shared principles and Biden as long-winded and obtuse. Liberals saw Biden as knowledgable and sincere and Palin as overly folksy and overburdened with talking points and taglines.
I was watching the CNN broadcast that had those odd little insta-poll graphs at the bottom meauring focus group response by the second. From what i saw, Palin got the high mark of the evening among both men and women, not talking about policy, but when she started talking about personal responsibility and started channelling Dave Ramsey. Biden never got quite that strong of a response, but his high marks were mostly when talking about the difference in the tickets’ Iraq policies. On the flip side, a few times the response to Palin’s remarks dropped down into pretty negative territory, where Biden’s generally stayed average response and above.
All in all, a good debate. Not as entertaining on either side as could have been hoped for, but a good watch.
And no, personally, i’d give this one to Biden. He sounded to me more knowledgeable, seemed to have a better command of the issues, and was better at actually addressing the question. He only seemed to dodge Ifill’s question sone major time i recall – what could you not do of your platform due to the sour economy. He gave a quick answer, delay foreign aid, and launched into an attack on McCain. Both Obama and McCain, when asked the same question, dodged (or tried to dodge) it. Palin didn’t dodge, she just said she wouldn’t change a thing, all-ahead full speed. Palin however on many other questions seemed to only address them tangentially, just enough to bridge her back into comfortable talking point territory.
And yes, it was good to see what appeared to be honest-to-god comraderie between them after the debate. You don’t get that with Obama and McCain, especially with McCain. The report of his conduct towards Obama on the Senate floor Tuesday just enhances that feeling of extreme dislike.
So, i’d say the score is 1 – 1, with McCain winning the first and Biden this one. The polls may not agree (we’ll see how this one polls tomorrow), but that’s my personal perception.
I like Sarah Palin and look forward to voting for McCain-Palin on Nov. 4th. Having said that, I think she blew the question on who is responsible for the economic crisis. Instead of Wall Street greed being the sole cause, it was government interference in the free market that created this monster. I cringed when she said “Wall Street greed”.
Joe Biden came across as an affable “regular guy”. Still, I wonder why, in 36 years in the Senate, he’s never had a key leadership role as a committee chair or party leader. He’s the ultimate back-bencher.
I thought Gwen Ifill was even-handed in her questioning, although I would have preferred if she had recused herself due to conflict of interest.
As to the pronuciation of “nukyoolar” vice nuclEar, I don’t find it any more remarkable than Jack Kennedy’s pronunciation of “Cuber” or John Kerry’s pronunciation of “Jenghis Khan”. It is an idiosyncrasy, not a measure of intellegence.
If Biden is so great, how come Democrats never support him running for President?
Because Biden is boring. If Biden was taking questions for an hour and a half from Gwen Ifill all by his lonesome last night, who do you think would’ve tuned in?
This isn’t to say Biden lacks substance, he certainly has the upper hand vs. Palin when it comes to facts and figures… but he’s an old dude. So he tells you the facts and figures in old dude ways.
Palin is simply out of her league. She doesn’t know the issues – all she offered was politician-lite dodges and soundbites. It’s an insult to Margaret Thatcher to even compare the two.
The only concrete answers she seemed to give regarded oil and Isreal – and on the later she promised to “build our embassy in Jerusalem.” Great idea – if she wants to go to war with the entire Muslim world – set back our progress in Iraq, and lose both Iraq and Afghanistan in 6 months. For 50 years our nation – Republican and Democratic Presidents – has had an embassy in Tel Aviv and a consulate in Jerusalem, why? Because if we were to move the embassy it would be an official recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Why is this is a big deal Palin asks? This is a perfect example of why she has no business being in the Executive.
Huh? Judiciary Committee
1981 – 1987 Ranking minority member
1987 – 1995 Chairman
1995 – 1997 Ranking minority member
That’s 17 years as ranking party member on Judiciary. Then we have the Committee on Foreign Relations
1997 – 2001 Ranking minority member
2001 – 2003 Chairman
2003 – 2007 Ranking member
2007 – present Chairman
11 years ranking member there.
Biden’s been the ranking member or chair of a committee for more years than McCain has been in Congress, much less a Senator.
So much for know your enemy.
See, that’s the difference between me and you, Jeremy. I don’t consider opponents “enemies.”
Biden ran for President. Hardly any Democrat cared. Biden ran for President again. Hardly any Democrat cared. He can spend his lifetime chairing committees. Hardly anyone is going to care.
He thinks it’s patriotic to pay more taxes. He thinks taking money from people who earned it and giving it to people who didn’t is fair.
I think he’s very, very wrong. I don’t think that’s the country we founded here. I’m sure King George III thought the stamp act was patriotic, too.
Biden’s not the enemy. He’s just wrong.
Brian,
I’m sure there are opponent quotes out there, but i wasn’t up for spending the time to find one and the Sun Tzu paraphrase was a quick, if rough, fit. But if you think i actually consider people who don’t share my beliefs as “enemies”, then we need to go out for a drink sometime
I listened to the debate on the radio and did not watch it on TV. This gave me the opportunity to actually listen to what was said and not be distracted by appearance. My first impression was: “My God! It’s the lady from behind the airline ticket counter in ‘Planes, Trains, and Automobiles’ versus Detective Lieutenant Drebin of Police Squad.”
Most of the questions asked of both Vice-Presidential candidates seemed to have been answered with head nod and wink to the original question, proceed to a non-sequitur, rehearsed talking point, then proceed to cheerleading for the appropriate Presidential candidate.
The following is a dramatic recreation that barely attempts to parallel reality.
“Governor Palin; what are your views on rights for homosexuals?”
“Rights for homosexuals are rights that apply to people that are homosexual. The important thing is that they have the constant supply of oil and natural gas that this nations needs to meet our energy needs without shipping billions of dollars off shore to nations that really don’t like us. I’ve done that in Alaska. Whether it was as a small town mayor where small town values take on the good old boy network, or as Governor, where my executive experience taught me that Washington is corrupt and there is only one man in this race that has actually fought for you, and that is John McCain. He’s a maverick like me who will fight for you, fight for the middle class and return respect and decency to government by stopping pork barrel spending and putting country before self as he has always done since he spent all that time in a POW camp where he learned how to win a war.”
“Senator Biden, what are your thoughts on nuclear weapons?”
“You know, when it comes to nuclear weapons, I remember sitting on my father’s lap in our small, working class, blue collar neighborhood home in Erie, Pennsylvania, drinking a six pack and watching the Lincoln-Douglas debates on TV. My father turned to Joe Biden and said, ‘Joe Biden, when you get knocked down, get back up, and never forget the audacity of hope.’ ‘Oh, and take the train.’ George Bush has never done that. George Bush has never taken the train. That’s where he’s wrong, and that’s where John McCain is wrong. What we need to do is look to the future, not at the past. We need to look past the last eight years of a failed Bush administration that John McCain supported, 100%. We need to focus on what is ahead of us, not at the past where George Bush and John McCain got us into a war with no time line. A war in which my son will soon serve. Where it’s hot because of the failed Bush policies to control global warming. Policies that John McCain supported. You know, I remember one day when Joe Biden was reaching across the isle for a bi-partisan hand shake. And there, next to Joe Biden was Senator Obama also reaching across the isle. Joe Biden was most impressed by his JUD-ga-ment. Senator Barack Obama is a savior. When Joe Biden met him, I had a wholly original thought, ‘I once was lost, but now I’m found.’ He’s clean, he’s well spoken. He is the chosen one.”
In the end, neither won. I just hope we don’t end up losing.
Thank you! I couldn’t put my finger on it, but her voice is like Edie McClurg with what i hear as a Minnesotan accent (of course, that could just be midwestern, but living there for two years makes me think of it as Minnesotan).
Runs with Scissors,
Awesome sumation of the debate!!! That was exactly what I heard.
I tip my hat to RunswithScissors – excellent.
Here’s my take, on substance Senator Biden won. On personality, Governor Palin won.
On the whole I was less impressed with both of them after the debate.
Overall I am so sick of regurgitating Talking Points instead of actual discussions with substance and truth. Both of them were reaching into their bag of prepared “gotchas” and puling out canned lines designed to repeat the official “message”. Both mischaracterized various votes to try to impune the charater of the other parties choice for President or Vice President.
Yawn.
Joe Biden presented hiself as more of a stateman than Sarah Palin.
Both of them are wrong on the causes of global warming.
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