Couldn’t agree more. It’s like somebody walking around saying “I’m cool” all the time. Guess what, dillweed? If you have to say it, you’re not cool.
Palin largely stuck to populist statements without substance. When she tried to offer substance, Biden deconstructed her arguments brilliantly, if not always completely truthfully.
As for her Alaska nonsense, there is no gas pipeline in the offing. There is no contract, no contractor, and no guarantee there ever will be. All she has done is offer an incentive to oil companies to possibly participate. If it happens at all, it’s probably 20 years in the future.
On her mayorship in Wasilla: her statements about doing away with property taxes and small business (there’s no other kind of business in Wasilla) taxes translate to “did away with nearly all revenue sources and left the town in debt”.
Permanent Fund investment in Sudan: This was a bill sponsored by Democrats, and was opposed by Palin and the fund manager. The party line was that investment of the fund should not be determined by political agenda. It died in committee. We’re still participating in funding the genocide.
What can McCain do? He’s got to try to convince folks that he’s not Bush the third.
Instead of using that one word over and over again, he could do it by hammering home a couple of specific issues where he strongly disagreed with the administration. It shouldn’t be that hard. He could say “I opposed the administration on torture and Guantanamo because they compromised America’s moral standing in the world, and I told them they should’ve sent more troops to Iraq sooner, and if they had, we could have already secured the country and perhaps been in the process of winding down the war.” There may be better examples - although torture is a good one - but that’s what came to mind. He could try “deregulation” too, since that seems rather important.
The problem, of course, is that he’s crossed himself up on a lot of these issues. But I’m sure specifics, even refutable ones, would be more effective than shoehorning the word “maverick” into every other sentence.
Dunno if anyone has already posted it, but I thought this was pretty funny:
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/images/2008/10/03/palinflow.jpg
I think I read that Wasilla has a sales tax. Is that correct?
I didn’t say his strategy was effective for all times, I merely offered an explanation for why he is doing it.
Your suggestions are ok, but admittedly, all of the politicians attempt to find a short & sweet word or phrase that can be played in the short (10 second?) sound segments of modern TV news. Some of the more memorable statements are those that can be quickly fired off by the ditto-heads of both sides on the political discussion shows.
Some voters want a “bottom line” answer, and not get bogged down in “minutia” (especially in areas of policy that the voter in question is indifferent or unknowledgable about).
McCain appears to be trying very hard here:
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/10/mccain_spot_say.html
The first of the McCain ads regarding the debate. This ad is beyond pathetic. I especially like the “sigh” Biden gets accused of doing at the end.
There is a lightspeed cut after Obama talks and no context at all on the rope line.
Good gravy, THAT’S why she creeps me out so much! (Not that Frances McDormand isn’t awesome, but it’s Linda Litsky for Veep)
I don’t have much else of substance to say. Palin did not fall on her face like people suspected, but I’d have been surprised if she’d really fumbled. She wants to come across as the earthy, wise, insightful outsider who’s really Just Like Everyone Else and not like those Washington Fat Cats whose Inspiring Story plays out when she’s pitted against her opponent.
Unfortunately for her, Joe Biden does not come off as the Lying Sleazy Conniving Politician, instead sounding more like the Experienced Fatherly Statesman more convincingly than McCain himself. He managed to come off as superior in intelligence and experience without sounding condescending. I think his experience might actually make Obama seem like a less scary prospect to some thinking independents.
I think the power of the VP bit was a dangerous problem for Palin, especially the way she answered it. What she said there was this: “You think Cheney was bad? Cheney showed us how powerful we could be if we could convince people to allow it! I’m not like him, don’t worry… you’ll all know what I’m about. This, what you see? It’s my agenda. And I’m going to make sure I have the power as VP to put it into action.”
Now there’s a thought to keep me up nights.
I know; I understand why he’s doing it. I’m saying it would be more effective if he could explain his maverickosity better instead of just asserting it.
I just suggested one that he could pull off in probably 10 seconds, with some tweaking. “Maverick” takes a fraction of a second and its effectiveness decreases with overuse.
Quite possibly, and that may be the only thing keeping the place from collapsing. The town is one giant strip mall that gets a lot of rubber traffic in the short summer season from people buying gas, fast food and fishing supplies. So you’re right, if they have a sales tax they’re not completely without revenue. However, sales tax revenues aren’t sufficient to repair school buildings or roads, etc., so they rely on the largess of the state legislature (which is not always forthcoming under conservative governors like, say, Sarah Palin). Additionally, regressive taxes like a sales tax are proportionally unfair to lower income folks.
Absolutely. When the media calls you a maverick (and with McCain, they do it 134 times per day), that’s a win. When you have to call yourself a maverick, that’s lame.
Just like “POW,” “Maverick” is quickly becoming that pop song that has a good beat and you kind of liked the first 50 times you heard it, but now is starting to grate on your nerves because you hear it every 10 minutes.
Anything can get old with overuse. I guess McCain’s handlers haven’t reached the conclusion that the term has become self defeating yet. (They could be wrong. I will know they’re wrong when SNL lampoons it. 
)
It hasn’t reached the level of “annoying” for me yet.
And the press stopped doing it sometime between the time he became the frontrunner and the time he was nominated, since that is a clear indication you’ve become part of the party establishment - either because the establishment has changed or you have, or both. And that’s been one of McCain’s problems this whole campaign: he was defined as an opposition figure, and as a mainstream figure it’s just not as clear who he is.
Here’s a relevant LA Timesarticle from August about this very issue.
From the previous debate thread:
I agree. Hopefully, the “team of mavericks” only made this one appearance because IT MAKES NO SENSE!
Also, Palin also said “also” 48 times to Biden’s 3 times. She also said it twice in one sentence more than once:
There’s no point to this other than: teehee! 
The most memorable phrase for me though was this:
Well, that settles it. Evil is as evil does.
In other words, her answer was a [url=]complete and total fabrication:
Of course, the likelihood on anyone in the press being able to ask her a follow-up on the assertion? Virtually zero.
Perhaps Obama will bring it up in his Town Meeting with McCain. It’s a legitimate concern and Palin lied about it.
Even if she’d been behind it, being the 33rd state to divest doesn’t exactly merit a cookie.
People get paid to say this stuff, folks, and I’m giving it away for free. Just another perk of hanging around on this board. 