All Sarah Palin had to do in last night’s Vice Presidential debate was show up and not make too many flubs. That’s how low expectations for Sarah were.This is the only reason why Sarah “exceeded expectations.”
But, were her answers substantive? More often than not, Palin used campaign slogans and McCain talking points, referring to her notes continually. Joe Biden stayed on message, continually linked McCain to Bush.
BIDEN: Yes, well, you know, until two weeks ago — it was two Mondays ago John McCain said at 9 o’clock in the morning that the fundamentals of the economy were strong. Two weeks before that, he said George — we’ve made great economic progress under George Bush’s policies.
Nine o’clock, the economy was strong. Eleven o’clock that same day, two Mondays ago, John McCain said that we have an economic crisis.
That doesn’t make John McCain a bad guy, but it does point out he’s out of touch. Those folks on the sidelines knew that two months ago.
Sarah’s reply? John’s a maverick.
I think that’s why we need to send the maverick from the Senate and put him in the White House, and I’m happy to join him there.
Granted, the maverick part came at the end of a rather short answer, but that’s the part people will remember.
Nothing pertaining to substance, whatsoever, were contained in many of her answers, contrary to some. We’ve had 8 years of folksy, wanna have a beer together, and that just is not enough to run this country. That was when she wasn’t refusing to answer questions:
IFILL: Governor, please if you want to respond to what he said about Sen. McCain’s comments about health care?
PALIN: I would like to respond about the tax increases
[...]PALIN: I’m still on the tax thing because I want to correct you on that again. And I want to let you know what I did as a mayor and as a governor. And I may not answer the questions that either the moderator or you want to hear, but I’m going to talk straight to the American people and let them know my track record also.
Sarah Palin doesn’t seem to get that these questions are the questions the American people want answers to.
And what the hell was up with her wearing the Israeli flag OVER the American flag?
Most importantly, the uncommitted voters do not see her as a winner, rather these voters felt Biden won the debate by a 2-1 margin. That is a pretty big margin.
But, in the end, this debate was a non-event. Joe Biden did his job, marginalizing the McCain/Palin ticket by linking them to Bush and more of the same. In the end, that is what matters.
I don’t think her being cute and talking like a 10 year old is going to earn the US any respect from other countries. “Gee golly I don’t know much about the Supreme Court”. The fact that she didn’t even have a passport until recently worries me too. How can you have any objective views about the world when you haven’t experienced the world. I lived abroad for 5 years and I can tell you that in order for you to rule in the global economy and make global decisions, you have to have experienced other countries first hand. We need a more stately leader, and I don’t think she meets the requirements of a Vice President of the United States of America. Cute sure. But cute isn’t enough to run the country if McCain dies, and it certainly won’t gain us any respect from other countries which we desperately need after 8 years of republican George Bush.
I am encouraged by the fact that one voter I know who was leaning toward McCain/Palin threw her support to Obama after watching the debate. She thought Biden was the clear winner. She also said, “I’m not voting for someone to be my next door neighbor. I’m voting for someone who could be President some day.”
I find the language mangling by Palin to be appalling. My grandmother, who was a strong force in my life, always told me, “it doesn’t matter how much formal education you had or didn’t have, if you do not speak properly you will always be seen as uneducated to others.”
I know that there are people that just love the “folksy” talk, but I can’t get past that. We tried that for the last 8 years, and look what happened.
I’m glad to hear, for whatever reason, people aren’t buying the guy/gal next door for president/VP routine again.