The Verdict
By Nick Ragone | Related entries in News
It really was the tale of two debates.
I usually have a visceral reaction to political debates and big speeches, but I’m drawing a blank here.
My immediate reaction was that Biden had a stronger command of the subject matter — no surprise there — and kept his ego and blowhard-iness in check (which is no short order for him). I thought Palin seemed a nervous at first — no surprise there, either — but found her sea legs as the debate wore on. She didn’t make any major gaffes, and scored a few points here and there.On the whole, however, I thought Biden won on points, and in the least didn’t hurt his candidate.
Then I started flipping around the dial to see what the talking heads had to say. At CNN, Campbell Brown and David Gergen thought Palin more than held her own, and even Paul Begala considered it a good night for her. Over at MSNBC, Pat Buchanan opined that Palin had “wiped the floor” with Biden, while Chris Matthews seemed to think that she connected with middle America with her folksy mannerisms. Of course the entire Fox panel had Palin the winner, though they did acknowledge that Biden had turned in an impressive performance as well.
The McCain camp clearly prepped Governor Palin to look into the camera and speak directly to the people. She seemed a bit rehearsed at times, but came off as likeable and charming, and showed more flashes of “convention Sarah” than “Couric Sarah”.
Was it enough to make a difference? Hard to tell, though I’m doubtful. She might have stopped the bleeding, but I’m not sure if it moved the needle. It’ll be interesting to see how the polls move.
Footnote: I have no idea what the winking was about. Maybe their polling showed that undecided men dig it.
www.nickragone.com
October 2nd, 2008 at 9:34 pm
“I have no idea what the winking was about.”
I assumed that she was coming on to me. This wouldn’t lead me to vote for her as it only makes me doubt her judgment, but it was endearing in a Tina Fey sort of way.
October 3rd, 2008 at 7:10 am
Palin was awful. Biden clearly won. Sure, Palin did better than she did in the Couric interviews, but that’s because she refused to attempt to answer any of the questions posed to her. I’m tired of the mainstream media insisting it was a tie, or even the few saying that Palin clearly won. That’s ludicrous. They were wrong when they thought McCain won the last debate, and they’re wrong again. Americans are so absolutely fed up with politicians coming on stage and just reciting their slogans for two hours, and they’re hungry for a person to command that stage and tell the world real plans, tell them a real health care plan, a real tax plan, a real exit strategy from Iraq.
October 3rd, 2008 at 9:37 am
Senator Biden joined the Senate when Palin was 8 years old. He has a Doctorate in Law (a JD), as does Obama. Palin has a BA in journalism. McCain has a BA and finished in the bottom 1% of his class.
Who do you expect to be more qualified? We must not forget that McCain is 72 years old, and there is a reasonable chance that his Vice President will become the leader of the free world. This is a very important decision.
We do not need a President who is ‘like us.’ We need a President who is smarter, more knowledgeable, more even tempered, and better than we are in every way. Consider the complex perils which lie all around us-a failing Wall Street, an aggressive Putin, an aggressive Iran, chaos in Pakistan, North Korea is restarting their plutomium apparatus, Al Qaeda is plotting-think hard, my friends.