Debate Debrief
I can sum up my reaction to last night's vice presidential debate in St. Louis, Mo. with the following few words:
Governor Sarah Palin was supposed to implode. She did not. I am surprised.
That said, she did get her clock cleaned but, she wasn't utterly destroyed -- which many were expecting Joe Biden to do. Now, don't mistake my comments for praise for the governor. They are not; I'm simply noting that Palin survived the maelstrom.
As to the performance of both candidates, Senator Joe Biden (D-De.) was all he was billed up to be and not what people expected, at the same time. And both sides of that statement are net pluses for him and the top of the ticket, Barack Obama.
Biden was, as expected, the seasoned policy wonk and consumate Senator with bearing, as a result of years in the Well of the Senate, and cloakroom deal-making expertise. Pluses. He wasn't condescending, obtuse, or rambling; nor did he put his foot in his mouth, not once that I could discern. Those are takeaways from his normal persona. Minuses. But, they were pluses in a paradoxical sense. Confusing, I know.
And he was also human, visibly choking up when discussing the near-death experience of his son, after the horrible car accident that killed his wife and daughter some 30 years ago. A huge plus for him, personally.
Palin was...well, she was there. She didn't fumble too much, and for the most part she gave nothing new to the public. You saw a woman who was obvious coached, and forced to go the rote memorization route with her responses. You saw a woman whose folksy demeanor is at once disarming and off-putting, attacking with a smile, while speaking with a voice sounding like a sad imitation of Frances McDormand's character Marge Gunderson in Fargo, but without the impressive toughness and intelligence.
Aside blatantly ignoring several questions Gwen Ifill posited, and committing a few verbal gaffes -- she misnamed the commanding general in Afghanistan, calling him General McClelland (he's actually General David McKiernan), she was mistaken about the troop levels in Iraq being below pre-surge levels (they are still above pre-surge levels), and she said the surge strategy in Iraq should be applied in Afghanistan (General McKiernan says not) -- she did better than expected.
Oh, except for her comment that the constitutional powers of the Vice President should be increased. That was a huge mistake. Huge.
After 8 years of Dick Cheney's secretive management of both the war on terror and the energy un-policy of the United States, and his ridiculous assertion that his office is actually part of the legislative branch -- rather than its righful place in the executive -- the last thing we need is another Veep that thinks their power reaches beyond the billet given them by the president.
I won't blast Mrs. Palin here, there will be plenty of time for that in the days to come. But I will say that she is a good memorizer, if not very solid on her knowledge about the weighty issues of the day.
At the end of the day, if you're a partisan, you left feeling better about your guy's VP choice, on both sides. If you're an independent or undecided, you probably leaned left to Biden. And all of us -- the left and right alike -- are happy that Mrs. Palin didn't embarass the nation collectively with a laughably bad performance.
Governor Sarah Palin was supposed to implode. She did not. I am surprised.
That said, she did get her clock cleaned but, she wasn't utterly destroyed -- which many were expecting Joe Biden to do. Now, don't mistake my comments for praise for the governor. They are not; I'm simply noting that Palin survived the maelstrom.
As to the performance of both candidates, Senator Joe Biden (D-De.) was all he was billed up to be and not what people expected, at the same time. And both sides of that statement are net pluses for him and the top of the ticket, Barack Obama.
Biden was, as expected, the seasoned policy wonk and consumate Senator with bearing, as a result of years in the Well of the Senate, and cloakroom deal-making expertise. Pluses. He wasn't condescending, obtuse, or rambling; nor did he put his foot in his mouth, not once that I could discern. Those are takeaways from his normal persona. Minuses. But, they were pluses in a paradoxical sense. Confusing, I know.
And he was also human, visibly choking up when discussing the near-death experience of his son, after the horrible car accident that killed his wife and daughter some 30 years ago. A huge plus for him, personally.
Palin was...well, she was there. She didn't fumble too much, and for the most part she gave nothing new to the public. You saw a woman who was obvious coached, and forced to go the rote memorization route with her responses. You saw a woman whose folksy demeanor is at once disarming and off-putting, attacking with a smile, while speaking with a voice sounding like a sad imitation of Frances McDormand's character Marge Gunderson in Fargo, but without the impressive toughness and intelligence.
Aside blatantly ignoring several questions Gwen Ifill posited, and committing a few verbal gaffes -- she misnamed the commanding general in Afghanistan, calling him General McClelland (he's actually General David McKiernan), she was mistaken about the troop levels in Iraq being below pre-surge levels (they are still above pre-surge levels), and she said the surge strategy in Iraq should be applied in Afghanistan (General McKiernan says not) -- she did better than expected.
Oh, except for her comment that the constitutional powers of the Vice President should be increased. That was a huge mistake. Huge.
After 8 years of Dick Cheney's secretive management of both the war on terror and the energy un-policy of the United States, and his ridiculous assertion that his office is actually part of the legislative branch -- rather than its righful place in the executive -- the last thing we need is another Veep that thinks their power reaches beyond the billet given them by the president.
I won't blast Mrs. Palin here, there will be plenty of time for that in the days to come. But I will say that she is a good memorizer, if not very solid on her knowledge about the weighty issues of the day.
At the end of the day, if you're a partisan, you left feeling better about your guy's VP choice, on both sides. If you're an independent or undecided, you probably leaned left to Biden. And all of us -- the left and right alike -- are happy that Mrs. Palin didn't embarass the nation collectively with a laughably bad performance.
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Job Vacancy
Vice-president of the United States
Skills and qualifications
1. Demonstrated ability to memorize and misstate key facts, names, dates and party positions.
2. Must possess and wear stylish eyeglasses, causing people to flock in droves to the local LensCrafters or Pearle for similar frames.
3. Must have good TV hair, preferably a wig, hairpiece or beehive.
4. Must be able to wink and smile at the same time, especially on-camera and on-demand.
5. Must be there, but not really there. Signifies ability to be in two places at once, namely outer and space.
6. Must be folksy and able to disarm millions of Joe Six-Packs and hockey moms with charisma, winks and smiles.
7. Must be quick to disrespect and/or ignore moderators during televised debate seen all over the world.
8. Must be able to make verbal gaffes naturally, with little or no effort. See #1
9. Successful completion of 4-year college degree in 5-7 years. Graduate training optional, but not really necessary. We will be willing to accept your statement of hearing a Senator speak since you were like in second grade as a evidence of prior education and training.
10. If necessary, we will accept prior experience as small-town mayor and governor of Alaska (the "who wants goes there, it's dark and cold most of the year??" state) for real executive experience.
11. And if we really push it, "your fresh ideas" rant will be an acceptable substitute.
12. Prior executive experience optional, especially if you have demonstrated experience wearing high heels and a skirt as a beauty queen and sportscaster. See #s 9-11 above.
11. Must be able to sit at and clean the kitchen table, if you're gonna talk about it all the damn time.
12. Must be able to exploit and humiliate family members incessantly, especially the biological children. We are looking for candidates who gave their offspring strange names and constantly paraded them in public like show dogs.
13. Must be able to annoy the hell outta folks with that nasal voice like the woman from Fargo.
LOL!! This is a fantastic job description. For a call-girl.
Perhaps that's her real career?!