Reflections
The only Vice Presidential debate has come and gone, and I have several observations regarding the content and substance of the evening (hint: it's not complimentary to Palin).
The game plan tonight for Palin was obvious: increase her folksy charm to hyperventilating levels, bypassing substance all together and blatantly ignoring the prompts by the moderator. On more than one occasion, Palin completely ignored the topic in discussion, answering with "yes" or "no" questions and then barreling into something unrelated, or, on one occasion earlier in the debate, literally telling the moderator she was not going to focus on her question.
Why would she avoid these questions? because her note cards did not provide answers. There is no bias involved in charging that Palin did considerable cramming for this debate, as her focus on international affairs, both economically and politically, was slim to none while Governor of Alaska. Her interviews the last two weeks display this in spades. In cramming for this debate, however, she pigeon-holed her performance. She was so reliant on the note cards and on her pre-set answers that any maneuvering--such as when she tried to explain the tax and health care policies of McCain, or when she was asked to differentiate McCain and Dubya--and her answers came off as awkward as a result. And for the record, she never once gave a substantive answer on how McCain is different from Bush.
Consider, for instance, the most moving part of the debate, where Biden made reference to the horrific car accident that took the lives of his first wife and infant daughter. Biden was noticeably chocked up over mentioning the incident, and it tied in quite well with his argument. Palin's response? Talking points, and cliche ones at that. As Chris Matthew said following the debate in regards to her scripted responses, "I felt like I was listening to a spelling bee."
She didn't burn the barn down, so in that respect, she succeeded. But did she provide any substance? any indicator that she has the capacity to be the most powerful person in the world? NO.
Biden, however, was more sluggish in the opening. It seemed he was caught off guard by the pit-bull methods of Palin, and he struggled through the first half of the debate to find a clear voice. That all changed, though, once foreign policy was introduced, a topic that has always remained the piece-de-resistance of Biden's platform. Mr. Foreign Policy, as he is called, Biden plowed over questions regarding Israel, Iran, and Pakistan, where Palin, surprise surprise, lacked serious substance, even getting facts such as the commanding general of the Afghanistan regime wrong, calling him "McClellan."
After the foreign policy segment ended, Biden charged ahead, clearly feeling more comfortable with his forceful stance against Palin. I felt that he tried to play it down the center when the debate started, over-relying on facts and tone and letting Palin win on personality. Once international affairs became the topic, however, and the true Biden came out to play, he seemed remarkably cozy in attacking the platforms of McCain and Palin.
The News
Every debate, in one form or another, creates news, and for tonight's sparing it was Palin's jaw-dropping, outrageous comment that as Vice President, she would seek to constitutionally increase the power of her position.
WHAT?!?
This is clearly an issue that Palin will be clarifying in the coming weeks. The last eight years, we have been subjected to the most blatant assault on constitutional rights in United States history, and who was the man in the center of all this? DICK CHENEY. Here is a man who increased his own power and influence to unspeakable levels as vice president, leading the nation into an unnecessary war while dominating the president's ear on particulars. For Palin to suggest, after eight years of blatant fascism, that she would attempt to bring MORE power to the VP slot is maddening. Check that: it's inexcusable, and it proves my point that she is useless without her talking points note cards.
Press Conference--NOW
Which brings me to the most important issue now, for me at least: Palin in an unrehearsed press conference. The debate tonight appealed to her strengths. It was fast, it was frantic, and it allotted Biden limited time to question her lies on health care, taxes, and her record as Governor; additionally, it removed any time for follow ups by the moderator, as Palin's biggest lie of the night, that she supports rights for gay couples, went all but unchallenged by moderator Gwen Ifill. In a real press conference, with multiple journalists asking a multitude of questions, Palin will have to stand up for these sort of things. Maybe that's why she discouraged the idea of meeting with any more "mainstream media" reporters at the closing of tonight's debate...
P.S. Independent voter reactions are overwhelmingly in Biden's favor. We won't know the full impact of this debate until late Saturday/early Sunday, as those poll results will be post-debate, but the early news seems promising for Biden.
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