The McCain/Palin Debate Spin: We Won Because She Wasn't a Dithering Idiot

At the end of the veep debate, CNN showed a poll indicating 84% felt Sarah Palin did better than expectations. Had they polled me, I would have been one of them. After her interviews with Charles Gibson and Katie Couric how could she have sunk lower?

So, she wasn't a total fool and managed to exude a certain charm during the first half-hour. However, with the exception of those wanting their leaders to be just like they are -- read that to mean uninformed -- Sarah Palin in her match-up with six-term Senator Joe Biden proved woefully inept.

After that first, "Aw shucks," "Let's hear it for real people," barrage augmented by a winning smile and a hushed voice that's meant to convey sincerity to the 25th power, it was clear that what I indicated in an earlier HuffPost piece about her has become patently clear. What Gertrude Stein said about her hometown Oakland could also be said of Sarah Palin. "There is no there, there." Sarah Palin is simply without substance.

She was hard pressed to answer questions directly, preferring to restate her old standbys about energy, her love of country and that she is a real person, the latter apparently because her career wasn't based in Washington.

She even tried to humanize her image, saying that despite her views against same sex marriage she didn't judge people and had a diverse group of friends. However, when moderator Gwen Ifill asked Palin if she was in agreement with Senator Biden, who'd said he was against all forms of discrimination against same sex couples but did not support gay marriage, Palin would only repeat what Biden said about gay marriage. Perhaps because she realized that her key supporters -- the evangelical right wing -- might already be choking on their fried chicken wings because of her attempt to say something pleasant about a group of people they consider an abomination.

For his part, Senator Biden started off a little slow -- I thought he had a cold. His voice wasn't as animated as hers and I worried her style might trump his substance. However, he quickly got his stride just as her folksy persona was wearing thin. It became so clear in the last two thirds of the debate that his facts and figures, delivered with gravitas but without condescension, were hitting their marks.

I understand why his coaching team told him to treat Palin with kid gloves, to not appear cocky and exemplify the image of a Washington insider. There was also concern that since he was a man and a lot older it might appear he was bullying a likable opponent, who, in spite of her inexperience, was clearly trying. But I sure would love to have seen Biden get a couple of personal zingers in -- just as he masterfully did about McCain on a number of occasions. Especially when Palin callously smirked that his call for an end to the Iraq war was akin to waving the white flag of surrender.

How dare this incompetent twerpette use such insulting language to the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, who'd supported our interventions in Bosnia and Kosovo and argued for an international force to possibly stop the genocide in Darfur? What does this woman know about anything when she can't even get the name of the commander in Afghanistan right, even as she kept injecting the difficult to pronounce name of the Iranian president, which she'd clearly rehearsed. Pity she didn't know, as Biden pointed out, that, despite the Iranian leader's caustic and reprehensible comments about Israel, he was not the head honcho in Iran -- that it is a theocracy led by an Ayatollah.

But back to the "wave the white flag" crap spewed by Palin, more incendiary buzzwords that have nothing to do with fact, as we were never in danger from Iraq under Saddam Hussein. It is an unfortunate, though sometimes successful, tactic displayed by the GOP right wing when they have a lot to defend. They deflect problems created under their watch with emotional garbage, not unlike George Bush I's acceptance speech when he led the convention in the Pledge of Allegiance.

The GOP tries to make the case that they are the heroes, just as they besmirched a real Vietnam War hero, Senator John Kerry. This, even as he ran against a man who had it pretty easy as a stateside National Guard Member and a vice presidential candidate, Dick Cheney, who dodged the draft five times.

That's why I wished Joe Biden slammed her on that one, as if Democrats are cowards and the country needs to be rescued by the Republicans, a party which screwed up the past eight years on fronts domestic and foreign.

But it's probably best he didn't, because he kept his cool and had his best moment when he gently put the hockey mom down after one of her all too many "I'm just a mom sitting around a table with my family just like you" comments. He reminded people in a choked up, trembling voice that he'd raised two sons after the death of his wife and daughter and that fathers are no less capable of sitting around a table with their families, too. It was his finest moment, and I'll bet there were even some Republicans -- maybe not the most fanatical -- who had some tears in their eyes.

Okay, so Palin's not an idiot. How could she be, having become a governor, even of a tiny state? But did she match Biden or prove that she was qualified to be president? Not by a long shot.

Comments

[barkanomics]

She reminded me of the sound our smoke detectors make when the batteries are running out......chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp......My favorite line last night came from Newsweek's Howard Fineman who said that Palin was like a wolverine attaching itself to the pant leg of a ramdon passerby.....

[PioneerKing]

Not an idiot? ROTFLMAO lol lol lol

Palin kept refering to the leader of Iraq as Talibani

Palin said the commander in Afghanistan was Gen. McClellan (perhaps she was thinking about Scott McClellan)

Palin said that she was for solving global warming but did not want to admit that anything done by man was the cause of global warming and even said that "global warming may be due to weather changes in the climate"

Palin does not understand The Constitution and her role as Vice President -- she claimed that The Constitution would allow for her to have greater powers than Dick Cheney

Palin does not know the definition of achillies heel -- literal or figurative

Palin could not name one policy that would be different under a McCain administration that is different from the Bush/Cheney administration

Palin does not know any modern history of the middle east -- she would unilaterally viciate treaties and move our embassy to Jerusalem

[StillMadMatt]

Sarah Palin is a cheerleader for a losing team trying desperately to rally the team in the 4th quarter. After half the fans walked away. go back to the land where you "can see Russia" and wait for Putin to "rear his head". What a noob.

[GoldenRatio]

I wish the debate about the vice-presidental debate didn't hinge on how well Sarah Palin delivered her well-coaged lines. In the end It's not about words, its about who she IS. Our questions should be about her character, about her stranger than strange beliefs, her unconventional convictions, her lack of understanding of the enormity of environmental problems. More than ever, we can't afford to have another person of mediocre character, intellect and judgement in high office. Senator Biden, on the other hand, has all the experience, knowledge and characteristics that will make him a perfect Vice President. And in addition he is a true mensch with incredible heart and courage, not a puppet of the far right.

[kennyh]

This woman has no qualifications to be Vice President of the United States of America. She can parrot McCain's views only to a point. She doesn't seem to care that she contradicts her own candidate's views. Probably doesn't matter to her. She is all about Sarah and Sarah and Sarah. Can't wait for her to return to Alaska and disappear from the national scene. Ugh!

[BlackJAC]

It's the standard conservative championing of mediocrity, for excellence leads to the dreaded, hated elitism.

[Miravanguild]

She is a parrot, and I fail to see her charm... Sorry those winks do not make her charming.. Those I'm just like you Joe Six pack doesn't make her charming..

[clevelandchick]

All Palin did was string a lot of cliched GOP talking points together with a few 'aw shucks' and 'gollys' thrown in. She was a beauty pageant contestant and a sportscaster; of course knows how to fake a modicum of credibility. But when discussing the issues she can't go any deeper than the surface. And Biden was right, she spat out a lot of generalities but never once told us what McCain's plans were on anything...not healthcare or the economy or Iraq.

Palin not only got the US commander in Afghanistan's name wrong, she pronounced Ahmadinejad's name wrong...it's not "Ach-madinejad". She also pronounces nuclear just like George Bush...I nearly fell off the sofa the first time she said nukular and then she kept saying through the whole debate. When it was over I ran to my computer and sent Obama another $50. Palin really is George Bush in a skirt.

[lucca2004]

How could Sarah Palin have won the debate when she never actually answered any of the questions????

All her cutesy little words, folksy lingo and eye winks did nothing to help the debate either.

She never explained what her and McCain's plans were for Iraq, the economy, health insurance, social security etc.

Joe Biden won this debate hands down! He was knowledgable, informative and fully explained his view on the issues and the plans that he and Obama would implement after winning the election.