Joe Biden won the Vice Presidential debate just finished but Sarah Palin did much to repair the damage created by her recent TV appearances. According to a survey of viewers carried out by CNN, Joe Biden won the debate by a margin of 51% to 36%. 64% of viewers had a better impression of him after the debate, but 84% felt Sarah Palin had exceeded their expectations. A CBS survey scored the debate 46 to 21% in Biden’s favour.
The consensus of the CNN pundits appeared to be that whilst Sarah Palin did much to rehabilitate her reputation and help rebuild morale amongst the Republican base, she did little or nothing to sway independent or undecided voters and reverse the momentum of the campaign as a whole which has been moving towards Obama since the economy re-emerged as the dominant issue of the campaign.
Palin tried to paint Biden as the Washington insider out of touch with main street reality whilst she and McCain were the outsider Mavericks – despite McCain’s long service in the senate. Biden stressed McCain’s record of voting with Bush and almost indistinguishable positions on tax cuts, deregulation, health care and Iraq. Palin chided him for playing blame games with the past rather than building hope for the future. It was as if all criticism of Republican rule over the past 8 years was supposed to be off-limits. Certainly Palin/McCain were going to take no responsibility for it.
Both sought to connect emotionally with their audience, but it was Biden who almost choked up when speaking of raising a family as a single father and worrying about a son who was perhaps not going to make it (through an illness or injury?). Although a bit wordy at times he generally managed to conclude with some kind of punchline whereas Palin sometimes lost her way a bit and turned many questions back to her energy policy. The fact that she was working from a script also meant that she wasn’t able to challenge or respond effectively when Biden Challenged McCain on his record. His charge that McCain had refused to talk the Prime Minister of Spain – a NATO ally with troops in Afgahistan – went unanswered. (Who cares about Spain anyway?)
The focus groups polled afterwards seemed to indicate that those undecideds who had made up their mind tended to swing towards Biden/Obama. Palin did much to retrieve her own reputation, but little to provide the game changer needed save McCain’s campaign. Biden managed to avoid gaffes and too much Washington insider speak and was also careful not to talk down to Palin in any way. The atmosphere was a good deal warmer and friendlier than it had been for the McCain Obama debate, and both managed to observe the first rule of Vice Presidential debating: Do no harm.
Palin did appear to agree with Biden on same sex couples – something which may cause her some difficulty with her Christian fundamentalist base. Expect a post debate campaign “clarification” on this point. That is one group she can’t afford to piss off.
It is unlikely that this debate will have much impact on the campaign one way or another, except perhaps to provide some temporary relief in the daily news cycles from the gathering economic storm. It is perhaps best that the distractions of Lipstick on pigs and bridges to nowhere are left behind. This debate could have been an embarrassment for either campaign. That it has proved a qualified success for both has just removed one further obstacle from the path of a probable Obama victory.
…(through an illness or injury?).
(From Biden’s wiki-entry.)
Thanks for the background – shows you how much of an outsider I am – that I didn’t know any of it. All her responses seemed robotic and scripted and empathy free and lacking in a specific link to what the moderator or Biden had just said – beyond a broad subject heading.
Obviously those who knew Biden’s background would have been taken aback by the crass insensitivity of it. It would make thewm wonder how much her “hockey mom” persona was scripted as well. Painting Biden as a member of the Washington elite – when he has only the one home – which is his total investment also won’t sit well in that context. Biden connected with struggling fathers and mothers very well there.
I was trying to put myself in the position of the average low information undecided American (and as you can see I succeeded brilliantly in relation to Biden’s circumstances!) and what struck me was how fast both candidates spoke – a blizzard of points which you could structure and retain only with some prior knowledge and a lot of concentration.
In Palin’s case it came across as nervousness and a determination not to be bested by her senior. In Biden’s case it came across as energised, articulate and experienced – the guy had a lot of experience and a lot to say. If you wanted to be sexist about it, she came across as every man’s nightmare – a highly opinionated women who thought she knew everything, who bombarded you with her “facts” and who simply wouldn’t stop talking. I would be really interested to find out what the internal male/female breakdown in the approval ratings were.
I think somewhat fewer points put together more slowly, empathetically, and with more inflection would have come across as more assertive and authoritative and served her cause much better. (In Biden’s case it might have emphasised his age and he had less need to show authority. For him it empathized his passion and engagement – something an older candidate needs to do with a younger electorate
In other words it emphasized her willing “puppy dog” status to work hard but didn’t give her the gravitas most expect in a President. So whilst she shed some of the “deer in the headlights” cluelessness of the Couric interviews, she didn’t radiate the authority, gravitas, balance and judgment you would look for in a leader in a tricky and complex situation.
Great to get the PTA moving, perhaps, but to steer the USA out of the greatest financial crises in nearly a century? I don’t think so. The more I think about it, the longer term (as opposed to immediate) reaction of most viewers will be – “well at least she had some spunk and gave Biden a run for his money, but it she ready to be President?” Even the GOP partisans, not to mention the low information undecided must have private reservations about that.
The CBS poll details as published don’t give a mail/female breakdown, but confirm Biden did better with uncommitted voters under almost all headings. A stunning 97% think Biden is prepared to be VP compared to 55% for Palin. You can’t do much better than that.
Take it from intellectually dishonest, Tony Blankley, a sit in journalist who is on NPR’s radio program “On Point” Tony has supported the GOP and Bush all the way to Hell and back. My ears hurt when he talks.
As I write, Tony was asked to give his views on the Biden-Palin debate.
Tony gulped, “In a word, Advantage Obama”
Other female guest, “Palin is Bush in a skirt”
Biden was presidential authoritative, made no gaffes. Fact checking on “NPR’s Morning Edition,” – Biden won the tests for accuracy.
Nevertheless…go to Google News and check out the tenor of the coverage.
I said yesterday that the media’s main objective is to keep the eyes and ears of the American people glued to their media outlets for as long as possible. The results of last night’s so-called debate as reported this morning bear out this idea.
In spades.
Right.
It ain’t over until the last dollar of ad revenue can be scraped off of the rotting corpse of the republic.
Bet on it.
NEWSTRIKE!!!
Goddamnit.
AG
Yep its almost laughable the way he MSM are still trying to portray the race as tight when all the data currently suggests a gathering blow-out. Of course things can still change but it is getting increasingly hard to see how.