Thursday, October 02, 2008
Palin, You've Got To Love Her
Expectations of Gov. Sarah Palin couldn't have been lower going into tonight's debate, but she held her own and managed to connect with average folks better than Sen. Joe Biden. Neither candidate made any major gaffes tonight and, arguably, both out-performed their running mates' debate performances. I thought Palin did a good job making the points she wanted to make, but I thought she should have stepped up and hit back hard at the claim McCain was soft on sub-prime lending. She should have been prepared to hit back with how much Obama pushed sub-prime lending and is attached at the hip with the King and Queen of sub-prime lending, Franklin Raines and Penny Pritzker. She should have also hit Biden on his and other Democrats' support of a lot of the deregulation changes which contributed to our current financial mess. An online Drudge Report poll shows Palin beating Biden by a 3-1 margin. Fox News' Frank Luntz's focus group of undecided Missouri voters in St. Louis reacted much more favorably to Palin than to Biden because they believed Palin did a better job connecting with them. Based upon the reaction of his focus group, Luntz predicted movement towards the McCain-Palin ticket in the coming days.
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Palin held her own, but undecided Ohio voters dialed up more for Biden than they did for the Governor. Whether this translates into "upper ticket" support is another question altogether.
www.ipopa.blogspot.com
Gary, good post and I also thought Governor Palin did a fine job. I also thought Senator Biden did well. I tracked with you right up till you went to Frank Luntz. I think the deciding factor for Franks groups: are you undecided? And do you listen to Sean Hannity everyday? But then again I would mess that up as I lean the other way but watch Sean every night. LoL. It's going to be an awesome election season.
Peace
Fox News just mentioned that 69% of their respondents thought Biden won. And a Fox analyst just said that Palin successfully showed a minimum level of competency for the position. Or more! Hahaha. :p And then there were the observations that Biden stuck to specifics while Palin used optimistic generalities and avoided answering some questions.
Not sure if that really means Palin, objectively, held her own.
Personally, I think you can at least say that she looked calm, in control, and confident. (I guess that goes toward that whole "minimum competency", ha.) And that, of course, will resonate with many voters.
Governor Palin committed a huge gaffe when she didn't divorce herself from the Vice President Cheney idea that the nation's second-highest executive office also is a fourth branch of government. Instead, she called for the VEEP to have much more power. This makes me think she's a lot like Dick Cheney...without the experience.
I guess if you like talking point after talking point mixed in with folksy humor...you probably liked Palin's performance.
I don't think Biden did any harm to the ticket, but I think Palin's choice to A.) answer this question when she had taken a pass on others and B.) not show any difference with the most unpopular Vice President in history's view on this "Fourth Branch" argument was a major gaffe.
And, the more liberal CBS poll showed that Biden won. Big surprise...right?
Palin and Biden both did well. Palin excelled at connecting with common ordinary voters. Biden was more substantive as was to be expected. In the end, they are only the VP candidates and rarely has there been a time in history in which people voted for the top of the ticket based on who the No. 2 was. I see no reason why this won't be true this time.
Jeff, It's interesting that Luntz' focus group last week in Nevada thought Obama won. I'm not sure how he picks his focus groups to find truly undecided voters.
Bork.
Biden actually dragged the old bones of Robert Bork out of the tar pit for the three people in America who still want to relive those heady hearings of yesteryear.
I have expected him to move on to the strong position he had in the Senate against the murder of Julius Caesar.
Palin's "white flag of surrender line" whacked him.
And with all of that grinning he was doing, I kept envisioning a word balloon over him saying, "Daaaammm! She IS hawt!"
And when Biden grinned, his recent Botox treatment became all the more apparent.
The argument that deregulation pushed by the Bush administration is to blame for this mess is a spurious and misleading. The poor supervision of the two GSEs are the cause, and the current administration pushed for tighter controls only to be stymied by both parties. The deregulation myth is an empty talking point used by the Dems to cause outrage and contempt for the Republican economic plan.
http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.28701,filter.all/pub_detail.asp
I am fascinated by Sarah Palin. When she was announced as VP candidate I could not stop reading about her and looking at pictures of her.
Here's my favorite photo of her. Patriot Paul originally sent it to me, I think.
http://hoosiersforfairtaxation.blogspot.com/2008/09/notice-to-beltway-here-comes-sarah.html
I think of the four candidates that the media recognizes in the race, she is more qualified than the other three to be president. Or maybe it is just that I think I could trust her more than the other three.
It's ironic that in the midst of lecturing Gov. Palin about the responsibilities of the VP office, he couldn't remember which section of the Constitution actually discussed it.
Biden did well, considering his standard is whether he stole someone else's speech during a debate.
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