Sarah Palin Vs Joe Biden: Vice-Presidential Debate Round Up

by Rob Walker | October 3, 2008 at 06:07 am
1576 views | 26 Recommendations | 22 comments

While many people were waiting for either Palin to fail or Biden stick his foot in his mouth, I suspect most people who watched the debate enjoyed it and found it to be a mostly even back and forth.

Though personally I would have liked to see Palin answer the exact questions that were asked of her (in some cases she went very off topic - did she not get the question or did she have her own policies she wanted to talk about?), Biden delved a few too many times into statistics and percentages. All well and good, and probably accurate, but it doesn't make for an interesting debate.

For the record, I counted three winks from Palin into the camera...did I miss any?

NowPublic member Rhonda Mangus posted the link to the full transcript of the debate:

The Commission on Presidential Debates sponsored the event. The Commission will sponsor two more events -- Next Tuesday, October 7th, with Tom Brokaw at Belmont University in Nashville, and on October 15th at Hofstra University in New York, with Bob Schieffer.


A Transcript of the 2008 VP Debate is available at the link.

Source: cnn.com


Another editorial from NP member Edmund Jenks is here:

Palin Delivers Hope In Protecting Freedoms For Americans

While gaining confidence throughout the evening, Governor Sarah Palin delivered a message of Change and Hope better than the Democrat talking point delivery of Senator Joseph Biden.

There was plenty of spin from both would-be VP's, though some of them were just out and out wrong. My grammy would call that 'lying', but that word doesn't seem to apply anymore to politics.

PALIN: "Two years ago, remember, it was John McCain who pushed so hard with the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reform measures. He sounded that warning bell."

THE FACTS: Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska led an effort in 2005 to tighten regulation on the mortgage underwriters — McCain joined as a co-sponsor a year later. The legislation was never taken up by the full Senate, then under Republican control.

Polls - Who do you think won the debate?

Some huge discrepancies in some of the online polls I've seen, of course we have no idea how secure the systems are, if anyone is pushing the votes.

  • Story Highlights
  • 51 percent say Democratic Sen. Joe Biden wins vice presidential debate
  • Republican Gov. Sarah Palin exceeds expectations, 84 percent say
  • Palin beats Biden on likability, 54-36
  • 87 percent say Biden is qualified for job, 42 percent say Palin is
  •   17.4% Sarah Palin   82.6% Joe Biden
    BIDEN


    28% 140,971

    PALIN


    70% 345,617

    NEITHER


    2% 9,177


    Total Votes: 495,765

    recommend This comment thread is now closed
    0
    jordan

    Yesterday you wrote,

    Some people are suggesting that the GOP has set the bar so low for Palin, even a mild success, or not screwing up entirely, might be hailed as a huge win for them.

    ... And that's exactly what happened. "Not screwing up completely" is the new victory, I guess.

    (Disclosure: I shouted at the screen quite a bit last night. Election-year debates do not generally bring out the best in me)


    0
    Karen Hatter

    I'm just glad the footwear within my reach were slippers. It bounced off the television. 

    0
    jordan

    Yeah, I kept any and all footwear out of reach.

    0
    Jarrett Martineau

    " 'Not screwing up completely' is the new victory, I guess."

    Sad, isn't it?

    0
    yuls.source

    and, Palin winking and calling herself a hockey Mom again gave me a bit of a headache.

    Rhonda J Mangus
    Rhonda J Mangus
    flagged this story as Good Stuff

    at 06:35 on October 3rd, 2008

    Rob Walker, I like this story. It's good stuff. Thanks for this story and for the acknowledgment.

    0
    World_Groove

    So why do you mention "lying" and only list a Palin comment ?

    Fact check seems to have Biden listed with more actual lies / fact errors during the debate.

    Biden incorrectly said “John McCain voted the exact same way” as Obama on a controversial troop funding bill. The two were actually on opposite sides.

    And you have to just love factcheck, when Biden says an out and out lie in an attempt to win an exchange, it is said to be "incorrectly stated" by them. They go on to use terms like "Biden Fudges". It makes the lie sound so delicious !!! everyone should just eat it up!


    Paschen
    Paschen
    flagged this story as Good Stuff

    at 06:37 on October 3rd, 2008

    Rob Walker, I like this story. It's good stuff.

    Karen Hatter
    Karen Hatter
    flagged this story as Good Stuff

    at 06:58 on October 3rd, 2008

    Rob, I like this story. It's good stuff.

    0
    René

    Reading the transcript, and watching the debate reruns, I find Biden's responses mostly off-topic and non-responsive to the topic right from the start. But then I'm an American and a voter, and what do I know?

    angelica_77777777
    angelica_77777777
    flagged this story as Good Stuff

    at 07:31 on October 3rd, 2008

    Rob Walker, I like this story. It's good stuff.  Like a true Canadian I tried to see the most of both debates - the one at home with the english Leadership aDebate and the Biden-Palin one.  I managed to watch about half of it and thought that overall if wasn't a bad debate as it did stick pretty close to the economics issue, and I had to laugh when Palin got into the "we have soooo much oil here in the United States of America that needs to be tapped for us, and all those hungry nations out there .... " speech!  Judging from Biden't expression he too got a kick out of that comment, considering the U.S. has about 3% of the oil reserves and they use up a whopping 25% of the World's Oil.  The other thing that got on my nerves was when Palin started referring to Biden and Obama as "you guys!" and "your ticket!".  She probably could use a few lessons in political speech etiquette, but then as all the reporters suggested, the expectations for Palin were pretty low to begin with -- so taking that into consideration she may have scored enough points to hang in there for a while! (But I suspect that it may be fairly brief!).

    0
    ms. negativity

    Given Palin's Katie Couric disaster, it's true that she could have done much worse in the debate. Still, her performance was amazingly bad. She spent the night speaking (if you can call it that) in absurd cliches about how government is bad, how Americans need to get Washignton off their backs, and how she, because she is an "average American" with a family, is uniquely qualified to run government. Her attacks on government are pretty rich given the fact that the useless, good-for-nothing government is currently bailing out the free-market geniuses who have trashed the US economy.

    0
    amyjudd

    I just hated how she kept avoiding questions and then insisting she was talking to the American people. Seemed to be a bit of a tactic if you ask me..

    0
    World_Groove

    I have seen this "avoidance" concept bantered around quite a bit today. I have not made a study of the transcript, but I did not upon a quick read through see anything she didn't actually answer. Seemed to me Biden pulled the classic debate tactic of throwing out several charges at the end of his rebuttal and thus making his opponent have to choose whether to let his comments stand as facts or debate them before moving on to the current question.


    theunderminer
    theunderminer
    flagged this story as Good Stuff

    at 11:11 on October 3rd, 2008

    Rob Walker, nice round up! I say that Biden won. Even tho' Palin didn't fall off the podium or speak in tongues that don't mean she was a winner! A whiner maybe! haha.

    apple_jamz
    apple_jamz
    flagged this story as Good Stuff

    at 11:27 on October 3rd, 2008

    Rob Walker, I like this story. It's good stuff.

    0
    merlingraycat

    She seems like a female version of George Bush.  "Heck of a job Brownie."  Just down home folks.  They both are pretty embarrassing to the American public.  But hey, maybe we expect too much from our "leaders."

    0
    Fairbanks

    Listened on radio only so missed all the winks and nods.  It sounded like a draw, and spieling out facts doesn't matter in the slightest in that kind of show.  Even the moderator was excellent. 

    0
    master_jim2008

    I have always advocated that politicians talk to the American People in the STYLE Palin did last night. So she won the debate in THAT respect, even though half the things she said were distortions and lies and I still feel she would be VERY dangerous in the Oval Office.

    As to substance, honesty, experience and knowledge, BIDEN WON hands down.


    0
    Wino

    At least Biden tried to answer the questions.  Palin is not prepared.  Her answers were just a bunch of populist talking points. The winking made my stomache turn.  Answer the questions! This isn't a beauty pagent, or a popularity contest.  Palin's candidacy is a slap in the face for America by the Republican party.  She shows just how stupid they think their base is. By foisting this telegenic attack dog to the cameras and foresaking a vast pool of qualified candidates they show how much they care about America.

    The prospect of another puppett president is truely frightening. 


    0
    angelica_77777777

    Well, here are some folks that took the time to do some homework on Sarah Palin's record as the new Governor of Alaska, and reported what they found.  It is worthy to at least take a look at this, as it does indeed show another side to Palin that you aren't going to see in one of her carefully crafted public appearances and speeches!  This report is brought to you through: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/us/politics/14palin.html?ex=1379217600&en

    Reviewing this and other information supporting her negative style shows that perhaps the observation of Sarah Palin as a Pit Bull with Lipstick is more accurate than one would think at first glance.  Especially given her recent direct attack on Barack Obama which was totally uncalled for, I would have to agree that she is looking more and more like a Pit Bull every day!  So, here's the report I mentioned earlier:

    "WASILLA, Alaska — Gov. Sarah Palin lives by the maxim that all politics is local, not to mention personal.

    So when there was a vacancy at the top of the State Division of Agriculture, she appointed a high school classmate, Franci Havemeister, to the $95,000-a-year directorship. A former real estate agent, Ms. Havemeister cited her childhood love of cows as a qualification for running the roughly $2 million agency.

    Ms. Havemeister was one of at least five schoolmates Ms. Palin hired, often at salaries far exceeding their private sector wages.

    When Ms. Palin had to cut her first state budget, she avoided the legion of frustrated legislators and mayors. Instead, she huddled with her budget director and her husband, Todd, an oil field worker who is not a state employee, and vetoed millions of dollars of legislative projects.

    And four months ago, a Wasilla blogger, Sherry Whitstine, who chronicles the governor’s career with an astringent eye, answered her phone to hear an assistant to the governor on the line, she said.

    “You should be ashamed!” Ivy Frye, the assistant, told her. “Stop blogging. Stop blogging right now!”

    Ms. Palin walks the national stage as a small-town foe of “good old boy” politics and a champion of ethics reform. The charismatic 44-year-old governor draws enthusiastic audiences and high approval ratings. And as the Republican vice-presidential nominee, she points to her management experience while deriding her Democratic rivals, Senators Barack Obama and Joseph R. Biden Jr., as speechmakers who never have run anything.

    But an examination of her swift rise and record as mayor of Wasilla and then governor finds that her visceral style and penchant for attacking critics — she sometimes calls local opponents “haters” — contrasts with her carefully crafted public image.

    Throughout her political career, she has pursued vendettas, fired officials who crossed her and sometimes blurred the line between government and personal grievance, according to a review of public records and interviews with 60 Republican and Democratic legislators and local officials.

    Still, Ms. Palin has many supporters. As a two-term mayor she paved roads and built an ice rink, and as governor she has pushed through higher taxes on the oil companies that dominate one-third of the state’s economy. She stirs deep emotions. In Wasilla, many residents display unflagging affection, cheering “our Sarah” and hissing at her critics.

    “She is bright and has unfailing political instincts,” said Steve Haycox, a history professor at the University of Alaska. “She taps very directly into anxieties about the economic future.”

    “But,” he added, “her governing style raises a lot of hard questions.”

    Ms. Palin declined to grant an interview for this article. The McCain-Palin campaign responded to some questions on her behalf and that of her husband, while referring others to the governor’s spokespeople, who did not respond.

    Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell said Ms. Palin had conducted an accessible and effective administration in the public’s interest. “Everything she does is for the ordinary working people of Alaska,” he said.

    In Wasilla, a builder said he complained to Mayor Palin when the city attorney put a stop-work order on his housing project. She responded, he said, by engineering the attorney’s firing.

    Interviews show that Ms. Palin runs an administration that puts a premium on loyalty and secrecy. The governor and her top officials sometimes use personal e-mail accounts for state business; dozens of e-mail messages obtained by The New York Times show that her staff members studied whether that could allow them to circumvent subpoenas seeking public records.

    Rick Steiner, a University of Alaska professor, sought the e-mail messages of state scientists who had examined the effect of global warming on polar bears. (Ms. Palin said the scientists had found no ill effects, and she has sued the federal government to block the listing of the bears as endangered.) An administration official told Mr. Steiner that his request would cost $468,784 to process.

    When Mr. Steiner finally obtained the e-mail messages — through a federal records request — he discovered that state scientists had in fact agreed that the bears were in danger, records show.

    “Their secrecy is off the charts,” Mr. Steiner said.

    State legislators are investigating accusations that Ms. Palin and her husband pressured officials to fire a state trooper who had gone through a messy divorce with her sister, charges that she denies. But interviews make clear that the Palins draw few distinctions between the personal and the political."

    0
    poli_pic_fun

    Vote wisely!

    poli_pic_fun has contributed a photo to this story.

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