Robin PottratzAssessing the VP debate: Sarah Barricuda vs Joey the Shark
October 3rd 2008 22:48
October 2nd was a historical night. Not just because the Chicago Cubs are on the brink of failing in yet another attempt to reverse the curse, or because of the impending head scratching bailout. No, the history came in the form of the much anticipated debate between Vice Presidential candidates: Sen. Joe Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin. One humor I have found when it comes to debates in the current 24 hour news cycle is their insistance to find a "winner," ignoring the fact that a winner in a debate is impossible to determine.
This particular debate was different in one significant respect. Both sides had completely different barometers for what they would determine to be successful. For the Democrat Joe Biden, the key was to resist the temptation to be the horse's ass that we all know he is capable of being. Right wing commentators have even coined Biden with an appropriate nickname "The human gaffe machine." However there was no question that he was going to "win" this debate significantly, and in terms of rhetoric and clarity, he did outperform Palin. The key to success for the Republican Palin, was to simply not screw things up worse than she already had. In the five weeks since John McCain had named her to be his running mate, she had only been allowed to do three interviews (and that's including the Sean Hannity lovefest). The moments that stand out in the minds of Americans are her inability to define the Bush Doctrine, her inability to recall any McCain headed legislation, and that she couldn't name any supreme court decisions, magazines, and any abortion clarity. So her goal was to just stay as close as possible to Joe Biden, because she simply couldn't keep up with him in terms of rhetoric...I mean the guy has been in the Senate forever.
There were two things that stood out to me in this debate. The first was that in the early going, Sen Biden could not remove the shit eating grin from his face. It was painful to see, because even though this may not be the case, it appeared to be very condescending, which is what the Obama camp wanted to avoid. On the other side, it could not have been more apparent that Gov. Palin was very coached and very rehearsed when it came to her answers. She never looked at Biden for more than a few seconds without turning right toward the camera and belting out an awkward, emotionless and memorized statement. However, this strategy worked to her advantage, because in this speaking system, she couldn't possibly screw up.
The debate continued with Gov. Palin achieving a few body blows on Biden on subjects like coal plants and meetings with Iran. However, Biden simply appeared more confident and clear, especially when talking about relations with Israel and tax breaks for the middle class, even though I gagged a bit when he said "no one has been a better friend to Israel than Joe Biden." What stood out during the middle and end of the debate was how accurate Saturday Night Live's depiction of Gov. Palin is. When cornered, she simply becomes increasingly adorable. She winked at the camera at more than one occasion, called upon the "Hockey Moms" around the country to come together, gave a shout out to a 3rd grade class, and used a soccer game analogy when asked about the economy. As strange as these might sound, this is what Gov. Palin's constituency likes. They like her "down to earth" persona, and in that regard Gov. Palin succeeded.
Gov. Palin did nothing to vault the McCain campaign's pole numbers, however she didn't hurt his numbers either, which was the original barometer for success. I do feel however that she did nothing to ease the collective mind of the american people who think that she is not qualified to be in the position of the 2nd most powerful person on earth, and I swear if she would have used the word "Maverick" one more time. Joe Biden was very articulate and kept his obnoxious qualities to a minimum, which is what he needed to do. I don't think that either candidate did much to sway poll numbers in either direction.
One thing is very clear. I think that both parties are very happy that there will not be a second VP debate in this election cycle.
This particular debate was different in one significant respect. Both sides had completely different barometers for what they would determine to be successful. For the Democrat Joe Biden, the key was to resist the temptation to be the horse's ass that we all know he is capable of being. Right wing commentators have even coined Biden with an appropriate nickname "The human gaffe machine." However there was no question that he was going to "win" this debate significantly, and in terms of rhetoric and clarity, he did outperform Palin. The key to success for the Republican Palin, was to simply not screw things up worse than she already had. In the five weeks since John McCain had named her to be his running mate, she had only been allowed to do three interviews (and that's including the Sean Hannity lovefest). The moments that stand out in the minds of Americans are her inability to define the Bush Doctrine, her inability to recall any McCain headed legislation, and that she couldn't name any supreme court decisions, magazines, and any abortion clarity. So her goal was to just stay as close as possible to Joe Biden, because she simply couldn't keep up with him in terms of rhetoric...I mean the guy has been in the Senate forever.
There were two things that stood out to me in this debate. The first was that in the early going, Sen Biden could not remove the shit eating grin from his face. It was painful to see, because even though this may not be the case, it appeared to be very condescending, which is what the Obama camp wanted to avoid. On the other side, it could not have been more apparent that Gov. Palin was very coached and very rehearsed when it came to her answers. She never looked at Biden for more than a few seconds without turning right toward the camera and belting out an awkward, emotionless and memorized statement. However, this strategy worked to her advantage, because in this speaking system, she couldn't possibly screw up.
The debate continued with Gov. Palin achieving a few body blows on Biden on subjects like coal plants and meetings with Iran. However, Biden simply appeared more confident and clear, especially when talking about relations with Israel and tax breaks for the middle class, even though I gagged a bit when he said "no one has been a better friend to Israel than Joe Biden." What stood out during the middle and end of the debate was how accurate Saturday Night Live's depiction of Gov. Palin is. When cornered, she simply becomes increasingly adorable. She winked at the camera at more than one occasion, called upon the "Hockey Moms" around the country to come together, gave a shout out to a 3rd grade class, and used a soccer game analogy when asked about the economy. As strange as these might sound, this is what Gov. Palin's constituency likes. They like her "down to earth" persona, and in that regard Gov. Palin succeeded.
Gov. Palin did nothing to vault the McCain campaign's pole numbers, however she didn't hurt his numbers either, which was the original barometer for success. I do feel however that she did nothing to ease the collective mind of the american people who think that she is not qualified to be in the position of the 2nd most powerful person on earth, and I swear if she would have used the word "Maverick" one more time. Joe Biden was very articulate and kept his obnoxious qualities to a minimum, which is what he needed to do. I don't think that either candidate did much to sway poll numbers in either direction.
One thing is very clear. I think that both parties are very happy that there will not be a second VP debate in this election cycle.
| 44 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog