The VP debate

I watched the VP debate last night, and I'm going to give a brief evaluation before I read what journalists and factcheckers think of it. First off, let me say Biden blew Palin out of the water, and I don't think that's just because I already support the Democratic ticket.

I'm not sure I had heard Palin speak before - and certainly not at length. Like George W., she is an earsore when she talks! She says "nucular," a choice that has to be deliberate after how much GWB has been made fun of. More offensively, at the beginning of almost every rebuttal she spoke in SUCH a condescending tone, warbling from low to high, as though patiently discussing with a child his/her naughty behavior. She didn't even integrate it well - a patronizing comment would be followed by an argument made in a level voice with little inflection.

Both candidates annoyed me by saying the same phrases over and over, and by focusing on their opponent's shortcomings in what I saw as an inappropriate proportion to their own merit. But when it came to replacing content with buzzwords, Sarah Palin won out. Based on GWB's tactics in presenting himself as a guy you'd want to have a beer with, I would have expected her to speak simply, but in fact most of her arguments were obscured by jargon while Biden was clear and straightforward. She also criticized Biden for "looking backward" when he talked about the failures of the Bush administration and whose predictions have been correct - but how is this any different than the comparing of records that all candidates have been doing for months?

When asked a question about what views they have changed due to changed circumstances, Joe Biden gave an interesting answer about federal judges. Palin more or less said "Sometimes I don't have enough support to do what I want, but I never actually change my position." I think she was trying to paint herself as solid and reliable - playing the "flip-flopper" card we all know from Kerry 2004 - but I thought she came off as arrogant and naive. When talking about Iraq, she said several times that she and McCain have a plan and someone in the room where I watching yelled out "tell us what the plan IS." She never got around to it, and Biden picked up on that saying "well, I didn't hear a plan" and following up with a description of his and Obama's. There was also a beautiful moment where - and I don't even remember what the statement was - Palin took something about Obama's record out of context and Biden put it thoroughly back in, adding that McCain voted the same way on the bill in question. If there was any single "knockout punch", I think that would be it. the

Also, there were just so many times when Palin didn't actually answer the question posed and/or brought up Alaska as an energy-producing state out of context. The only time I felt like Biden didn't answer the question was the one about the candidates' Achilles heels as VP - and of course neither one answered that question properly because nobody is going to admit to a weakness. Palin's response was still more over-the-top though, vociferously defending her bank of experience as adequate.

Something I found quite interesting is how both candidates flaunted their middle-class cred here. Although Sarah Palin may not be rich, I think Joe Biden's credentials are somewhat more relevant. Though Sarah Palin may claim middle-class values, her experience of the middle class is not average or widespread. She comes from a tiny town in a state that has little in common with the rest of the union. Yet she must make a point of it, because John McCain, as I was told the other day, has thirteen cars and almost as many houses.

And then there was the moment where Biden's voice caught for a second as he touched on a sensitive personal subject. (I will say Sarah Palin took a few below-the-belt jabs at personal topics, though I forget the specifics now.) I want to see how this is interpreted by the media, because when Hillary Clinton did that several months ago she was criticized for taking advantage of her status as a woman. That argument can't be made for Biden, but simple fact that it has been seen before as a female thing might spell danger; how many macho-men will be turned off by it?