I listened to the debate on the radio and thought that Sarah Palin really scored some points. I was surprised to see poll results showing that Biden won by a wide margin. Go figure.

It shouldn't be a surprise that Palin did well. The debate was a real two-fer for her.

First, you had a "discredited" moderator in Gwenn Ifill because of her book.

Second, the format didn't allow for follow up questions. It was on the follow up questions that Katie Couric really nailed Palin. The debate would have been a much tougher test if the format had allowed Ifill to say, "Nice speech Governor, now please answer the question."

Biden is trained debater with what, 30 years experience? He should have annihilated the backwoods beauty queen religious wacko newbie. He's borderline incompetent.

How's that for spin?

ALL politicians have highly-honed the ability to avoid answering difficult/ unpopular questions. Its a job requirement.

For a first-time showing on a national stage against a seasoned vet I think she did fine.

I think they were both equally evasive on certain topics or specifics.

Amen. My mom's "date of illness" was August 5, 1988. The date of filing for permanent disability was 11/1988. In that time, the company she worked at for 23+ years decided to "let her go" as with the remnants of the 80's had the corporation changed hands 3 times so the "cutbacks" worked up to her level. At that time, getting insurance coverage JUST FOR HER was $4700 per year. I can't see $5000 providing insurance for a family of 5 today....

Palin stuck to her talking points very well, I'll give her that. "I'm not gonna answer questions the way you or Senator Biden want me to". She stuck to her guns on those talking points that's for sure.

I forgot what talk show I was listening to this morning but both a high school English teacher and a college professor called in, both stating she sounded like a freshman that crammed for debate team conference.

Thats exactly how it's done. If you didn't hear Biden doing the exact same thing you weren't listening. Every politician, whether in a debate or interview do this and always have.

I passed on it and watch some professional entertainment... Phils win again. ;)Cubs lose again.:eek:
IIRC, neither Joe nor Sarah are running for president. Their influence on policy as VP's will be minor to non-existant. Not worth breaking a sweat over.

The real train wreck happens when McCain is elected.

I wish this election were over just to get it over with.

I'm tired of the bull$$it commercials.

I didn't hear the whole debate, but that sounds about right.

This is funny:

Pretty ridiculous. You have a 2nd career waiting for you.








She's a good speaker, so a debate is a good forum for her. She doesn't have command or knowledge of facts and issues so she can't handle Q&A very well. But, she didn't have to. The debate forum is not an exchange like an interview or reporter questions on the trail.

It's hard for me to judge how she did. On the one hand, she had a few answers with sentences that didn't make any sense, somewhat like her absurd answers to Couric though not as bad. She also quite obviously grabbed the conversation and forcefully steered over to the talking point on the page in front of her.

On the other hand, the people who decide based on debates probably didn't realize a few of her sentences didn't make sense, and I'm virtually certain didn't recognize her changing subjects to what she had in front of her. The sentence thing is bad, but the other is just bad form, which very few people care about.
Overall I think she did what David Brooks said she did. She stopped the hemorrhaging.

Biden ignored a couple smaller points, but did it with better skill, and the issues weren't nearly as significant. Palin blatantly avoided talking about McCain's record on deregulation and on energy, two super important issues. She also side stepped explaining the health care situation, where I think Biden really got her. People have only themselves to blame (this is pointed at the middle class, which I am in as well) for whats happening, they keep voting for the Republicans like a bunch of idiots, and then wonder why everything goes downhill for them.

Yesterday morning Obama was here in Grand Rapids and I went and saw him speak....as well as over 16,000 others....it was an amazing crowd and he made some excellent points in his speech. Here's a pic from the middle of the crowd, if you look really close you can see obama. :D He's under the red arrow. ;)

http://www.tglmarketinginc.com/mbforum/1002081029b.jpg

Try this'n.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/03/us/politics/03watch.html?em

BBC & NY Times both give it to Palin. That's 2 moderate to slightly liberal and very influential news sources. It certainly doesn't elect McCain, but it undermines the dismissiveness with which Palin has been treated the past few weeks.

It's still Obama's race to lose.

My team lost decades ago.

I'm one of the "haves" and I pay more in taxes than most people because of my above-average income. I think it's fair. I have no such conflict that you mention and your link to socialism is quite a stretch.