What I Saw Inside The Debate Hall
I was seated on the floor for the debate. It was very interesting to watch Palin when the camera was on Biden. On topics where it was clear she knew the talking points, she kept looking into the camera with a big smile. On foreign policy and other points where she gave light answers, she was intently reviewing her notes on the podium.
I'm not sure how much things came across on camera, but each time that Palin made a cute move -- twice winking at the camera, giving a 'shout out', claiming to be a maverick or painting herself as outside the beltway -- there was a visceral reaction from the people in the room. Even from the Republicans seated next to me. The Republicans I spoke with immediately afterwards felt very somber about her performance. The first hour she came across strong, but the last half hour did her in.
The imagery was very interesting when we walked out of the Field House. There were these massive McCain/Palin signs that were deployed everywhere around any media. These along with homemade signs declaring Palin the winner were all a part of the spin -- and surprising to see because we were told not to bring in signs.
Biden gave direct answers to nearly all of the questions (except the first one, if I recall correctly). Palin was charming but stuck to talking points or patented responses if she was in deep waters. Clearly Biden won.
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She answered by not answering and Achilles heel question.
Her Achilles heel: She doesn't know/ won't tell.
Oh, and the comment she made about "expanding the powers" of the VP, gave me visions of A Handmaid's Tale.
I am fairly sure she doesn't know what an Achilles Heel is and couldn't even figure it out in the context of the question.
I don't think she knew what an "Achilles heel" is.
I thought the same thing!
That book terrified me as a kid, and it's shocking to me that the issues presented there are so relevant today. I remember telling myself "that could never happen to me". Whoops! I guess I better start getting used to answering to "Ofryan"
Maybe she doesn't even know what "Achilles heel"means
As an independent voter, I believe America's standing in the world is the key issue facing the next president. Our nation's ability to effectively control and manage world events flows from the respect of our nation and it's leaders not just it's military power. Men like Colin Powell and Anthony Zinni understand this.
Whether its eyeball to eyeball with Vladimir Putin or a world economic summit, command of facts and insight into the motives and political imperatives of opponents are vital to shaping and controlling events.
Cue cards clearly show the lack of knowledge and certainly the lack of insight. In last night's debate, Sarah Palin needed Cliff Notes, Joe Biden did not.
Game, Set, Match.
I posted a few days ago on another Huffington story, re Palin using cards. I asked if notes could be used. It was not approved to post.
My question arose as I had read and set out reference to her use of cards and provided link to LA Times story of interview of person who prepped Palin for governor debate. Your reference to notes confirms link was truthful. Story like you referred to, camera on Biden, same in Alaska.
Made me raise question re sound devices as I then distrusted her.
Story set out that Ms. Palin while prepping for Governor debate, had short attention span. I've always called that for years the attention span of a knat. Proves truthful too - some questions asked, she never answering.
Campaign's been prepping her while travelling and at McCain's ranch for days.
This 'job' is not applying for your BFF or hunting buddy. It does't appear that Palin understands seriousness or complexity of position. I don't want my best bud in the White House. I want someone that treats the job professionally, with knowledge and intelligence -- not with a wink and a nod like the punchline of a joke as if "the jokes is on me". NOT. No time for dress rehearsals. As fileclerk, more room for on the job training which she does require a substantial amount of.
Did anyone hear that they were going to check in both canidates ears for small microphones? I heard it on one of the major news lines. I noticed she was writing furiously while Biden was speaking. Makes me wonder.......................? I did feel sadness for Sarah Palin as she obviously is not experienced enough even for her own governership of the state of Alaska. Biden carried himself very well, and he showed what a gentleman he really is.
Sometimes I wondered if she was responding to an outside source as well.
to the neocons being qualified for VP means lying with a straight face,sticking to the talking points and never answering the question you're asked.if this were a driving test then Palin blew thru every redlight and stop sign but didn't manage to kill anyone or crash head-on into a brick wall.
Trotting out the baby that late at night was the real bomb for me.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who was appalled at that. I know it's supposed to be part of her "folksy, home spun, not from Washington" image, but as a mother all I saw was an infant out way too late at night, surrounded by total strangers carrying who knows what kinds of germs.
And yet he's so sweet, so agreeable. We've never seen him pitch a fit, not once. Bless his sweet heart.
As a mother, I too can't help but look at the clock and think "what is she thinking bringing him up there so late?" Every "soccer mom" in the audience, even her supporters, must be thinking "we get it, Sarah, you love your kids now PUT THEM TO BED."
It wasn't late on Alaska time. I'm no fan of Palin, but I didn't have the same reaction, because there's a several hour time-shift, so it was only 6 pm from the baby's perspective.
What got me was the fact she was clearly treating it as cheerleading tryouts. And the fake cutsie, gosh, golly, gee thing totally reminded me of the evil mayor in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Plus, behaving as the worst stereotype of the weak, "don't worry your pretty head, little lady" defenseless woman was utterly insulting.
Right, but that family isn't on Alaska time this week. They've been in Arizona training for this debate. Prior to that they were in NYC and all over the place. Even if jetlag is over for them, the mere fact that they keep going from place to place screams for extra rest for the children.
I made this comment myself. It was 11:00!
I had the oddest experience watching Palin. There were times when her responses made me think "Tina Fey"!! She's a caricature of herself. When a politician appears to be performing parody, when in fact they're just being themselves, it's got to be a problem.
She WAS a parody - of herself.
She went WAY too far over a "folksy" line, all the way to caricature. She needed to tone down the "folksie charm" and sound intelligent, and instead she winked constantly in a wildly inappropriate manner and cranked it up until we had a Clampet up there running for VP.
Not only is she faux-folksy, she is not well-spoken. She can't say "nuclear," the names of the countries are not pronounced Eye-rack and Eye-ran, and "you betcha" does not sound presidential.
Yeah . . I saw her frantically flipping papers from time to time. But no one is surprised. The whole world knows she is the McCain Parrot, being taught to say whatever the GOP wants.
The only clue to who she really is - - - is as Governor, she hired all her high school chums
to work for her (like pointy-head George did), her governorship is a CO-GOVERNORSHIP since
her husband works half her job, and she left little Wasilla with a $20 MILLION DEBT that was not
there before she became mayor. We should judge her by her work in Alaska not by that cute little
wink she sends out to the cameras.
She brought along a copy of "McCain for Dummies".
"Darned right! I'm gunnin' to be winnin'!"
That's who they're aiming at !!
You thought it was it was cute? For me, it was an annoying distraction.
Palin has this habit of modulating her voice that sounds like a "kindergarten teacher".
I kept flashing back to kindergarten, being yelled at by a nice lady because I was making a mess with my milk and cookies.
Or because you wrote on the wall with your crayon
"Now, you KNOW you shouldn't have done that, dontcha?"
When you say that the people in the hall had a "visceral reaction" to her folksy nonsense, what was the reaction? Discomfort or appreciation? Both? Because I noticed she got a laugh from her "extra credit" comment. Yuck.
I had this same question. A.J. can you describe what you mean by this? I have a feeling I know the answer, but would love to hear your first-hand observations. I found her to be so grating and so overly-folksy and cute. It was a turn off. And the "winks" , well that was just unprofessional and inappropriate (not to mention that if she trys that with a foreign leader, he can look forward to coming home to a fatwa)
People were shaking their head in annoyance at her responses. Lots of sighs from both Democrats and Republicans. It was a clear discomfort with the folksy bit.
She did get a few laughs with the extra credit as well as the statement "how long have I been doing this, like 5 weeks?" - although I am not sure those were laughs in support of Palin.
If their strategy was to differentiate themselves from Bush and the last 8 years, they failed miserably. It's like Palin went to the George W. Bush school of politics, in their shared mannerisms and approach. Bush cranks up the accent too during his campaigns, giving that wink and calling anyone who opposes him cut and runners or waving the white flag. I live in a small town. One that's smaller than Wasilla. That kind of shtick is seen for what it truly is, an act. Her talk of Joe six pack and hockey moms diminishes her as a credible leader of subtance. We've already seen 8 years of one dumb leader. America doesn't want another. Her inability to grasp the most basic of issues is palpable and alarming. It doesn't make her more personable. It makes people more worried.
Biden on the other hand came across as both informed and genuine. A man who can truly lead the country as president if needed. He didn't need to lean on a crutch of hammy mannerisms, cloying phrases and a pile of scripted notes to successfully make it through the debate. Biden by far came out as the winner. The McCain camp should be awfully worried at this point. My guess is that Palin won't be doing any more interviews with actual journalists and will be confined to scripted rallies and interviews with right wing sympathizers.
How I wish you were right. But the truth is she is still a much bigger draw than McCain himself. Her audiences are 20x larger than McDisdain's. And she's bringing in the money.
Reasonable, rational people are turned off by her -- for VP and Pres. But the zealots still love her, more with each criticism. She raises their self-esteem and gives them hope that there is a place in this society for stupid people like them, "the least of us." And her performance proved to them that she is not as stupid as the media is portraying her, the media they don't trust and believe is in love with Obama.
I held a debate party last night and I've been out registering voters. And I'm telling you, for too many people, the only time they've voted was for American Idol contestants. I'm not kidding. They don't trust politicians -- "they're all crooks" -- but they like her. "Look how far she's gotten. She can't be stupid."
Hopefully, those who are thinking like this are a very very miniscule minority.
I keep wondering what the Repubs have planned for her between now & 2012.
That whole winking thing was weird and creepy, like when your friend's mom is hitting on you.
Yes, Palin is a bit past the age when winking is considered flirtatious.
I think it should all be shown split screen - we got some of that but not enough. Yes - you could see her looking at her notes during some of this on the network I watched.
I hate to say it but I thought Gwen did a terrible job - might as well had the questions appear on a tv screen with no moderator. I understand she was under pressure but the format was pitiful and she caved.
I AGREE! FINALLY someone said it. She allowed them or mostly Sarah to run the debate. Sarah avoided answering. Gwen did not follow up so WE the American people can see if she knows what she is spewing. Sarah went back to taxes and energy (the only issues she is comfortable with as we know) several times and Gwen just said "sure". Sarah made it clear in the beginning that she "may not answer the way that the moderator or you (Joe) would like but she will talk to the American people." That was not the format. I could have done better than her. I could not believe that was a professional journalist. I guess the pressure was too much for her and her book coming out.
The format and moderator made it perfect for Palin to "slide by"
this was not a "town hall" format!!!
I thought the same thing, but then I looked at all the veiled threats made by the McCain camp guys before the debate about Gwen's "objectivity" given her book in progress and I figured that that was the explanation for 2 things:
1) No in depth follow up questions to the weak answers of Palin and
2) Her blatant disregard for not answering the real questions and keep going back to the only thing she could say semi-coherently: energy
As I understand it, the McCain camp managed to get an "agreement" in advance that there would be no follow-up questions by the moderator. This was part of prepping the whole thing for a candidate who can't compete under "real" rules. I wonder if that tactic works when negotiating with Putin?
I sometimes wonder if I saw the same debate as many in the mainstream media? Are they defending Palin because she keeps insisting they are picking on her? I didn't think the debate was even close. I don't think that "not falling on your face" constitutes a good performance. Since when are standards that low? She stuck to memorized points, (whether or not they made sense to the question that moderator had asked). It was like If Biden said something over her head, she said, "I don't agree. But let me get back to a point that I do have memorized points for....She is a good memorizer if anything. Biden was brilliant. I also was mortified when he poured his heart out about his first wife and daughter being killed, and his sons stuggling for life, and Palin doesn't say a word about it, and moves on to her "Maverick" talk. How insensitive and downright rude. Biden is being insulted by people calling the debate even close.
Mmorning2, I too thought it highly insensitive of Palin to neglect the acknowledgement of Biden's painful experience befoe continuing her "maverick" jibberish. I wondered if anyone else had noticed how unfeeling that was.
That was odd. I wonder if any journalist will pick up on the fact that she couldn't go off script...even for that moment. It shows she's good at one thing...memorization.
it was most DEFINITELY noticed, A.J.
I noticed too but thought no way, they can't possibly allow "cheat sheets" at a debate! Guess I'm wrong, and yes it was very much noticed. I watched some archived vid. of her in previous debates, in AK. She was reading off note cards then as well. Sad. Will she be bringing them to her press conferences should she become president!?!
They are allowed some notes and definitely a pen and pad to keep up with responses. Both debates showed all of them writing stuff down.
I know they can take notes to keep track of the points they want to make. But -at times- it looked and sounded more like she was reading from a prepared statement.
She won't be having press conferences. Maverick's don't need press conferences. If you need information she'll "try to find some and bring 'em to ya."
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