# Biden V. Palin watch-along thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 3, 2008, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-v-palin-watch-along-thread/466253 "2008-10-03T00:00:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 29
**Author:** ![bannerrefugee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c68b51/32.png) [@bannerrefugee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bannerrefugee)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-v-palin-watch-along-thread/466253/561 "2008-10-03T03:55:54Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > Glenlivet single malt 15 year old special reserve here…and a nice cigar… > > -XT That is some expensive shit ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-v-palin-watch-along-thread/466253/562 "2008-10-03T03:57:34Z")
> [@Gotterfunken](#): > > In substance and on specific issues, Biden was clearly superior. > > I have to say, though, that Palin came off a lot better than she did in her Gibson and Couric interviews. Of course, those interviews set the bar of expectations _reaaallly_ low, and the only way was up for her. > > I think she also did a lot better because of the format–it was a lot easier for her to duck the questions in the debate than when she was one-on-one with an interviewer. > > It struck me that she was advised to stick to the main talking points, no matter what the question was really about, e.g.: > > [ul] > [li]McCain is a maverick![/li][li]I’m just a working-class mom from Main Street, America![/li][li]We gotta reeeeeign in that government spending![/li][li]Gosh, that federal government has gotta get out of the way of us regular American folks![/li][li]McCain is a maverick![/li][li]We gotta clean up Wall Street and all its greed and corruption and stuff.[/li][li]Obama wants to raise your taxes! [/li][li]He also hates our troops![/li][li]Did I mention that McCain is a maverick?[/ul][/li] > Oh, and be sure to smile a lot, shake your head and wink a lot. People will be so amazed by how cutesy and folksy you are, they won’t even notice that you’re not answering the questions! > > Hate to admit it, but that formula probably went down very well with her targeted audience–those McCain supporters who were having second thoughts about her are probably thinking “Hm, maybe she’s not that bad. And, hey, her flag lapel was MUCH larger than Biden’s!” This was pretty much my impression, too. Instead of a debate they should have called it “Talking Points” or something. You could almost make a drinking game out of how often Palin ignored the actual question. Try this: take the transcript of her answers and give a multiple choice quiz about what question she was supposed to be answering. Take a drink if you’re wrong. You’ll be hammered before long. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-v-palin-watch-along-thread/466253/563 "2008-10-03T03:58:28Z")
> [@SmackFu](#): > > The question was “do you support same-sex marriage?” Woah! I apologized a few posts back, but the [transcript](http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/02/debate.transcript/?iref=mpstoryview) shows that you’re wrong. > [@](#): > > IFILL: The next round of – pardon me, the next round of questions starts with you, Sen. Biden. Do you support, as they do in Alaska, granting same-sex benefits to couples? So, my original statement stands stronger than ever. Biden answered clearly and forcefully; Palin turned it into a discussion about how she’s against same-sex marriage. The two do not agree on the issue. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-v-palin-watch-along-thread/466253/564 "2008-10-03T03:59:45Z")
Google image search for Frank Luntz [http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=frank%20luntz&gbv=2](http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=frank%20luntz&gbv=2) Is that the guy, Really Not All That Bright? He’s a political strategist whose thing is linguistics. He specializes in finding just the right buzz words or phraseology to sell an idea. [According to wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Luntz), he’s been reprimanded for dodgy poll-taking procedure by the American Association for Public Opinion Research and the National Council on Public Polls (and what a swinging bunch those two groups must be …) [Sam Stein](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/02/biden-dominates-debate-ac_n_131455.html) at HuffPo pointed out that although Luntz’s group unanimously thought she did great, only three people said they were more inclined to vote McCain-Palin. I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole thing was scripted but I didn’t see it myself though. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-v-palin-watch-along-thread/466253/565 "2008-10-03T03:59:47Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Folks saying that she was too folksy, I’m not sure that’s entirely true. Granted, a lot of people aren’t looking for folksy in their elected officials, but at least some are. And in any sort of competition, you have to play to your strengths. Folksiness is clearly Palin’s major strength, so that’s what she went with. It would have gone a lot more poorly for her if she were trying to stick to a style that she wasn’t as good with. Gotta agree. That folksy stuff plays really well in my area - people like to be comforted, and she’s comforting (to them). She’s not as much of a charmer as some of our politicians here, but she does O.K. for someone who Ain’t From Here. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-v-palin-watch-along-thread/466253/566 "2008-10-03T04:00:45Z")
I come from a country that has produced some of the most pathetic politicians in the planet. I am used to mediocre, but by Og I have never seen anyone as bad as Palin. That was painful to watch. Jay-sus! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-v-palin-watch-along-thread/466253/567 "2008-10-03T04:00:50Z")
After all the noise about Gwen Ifill’s book, I sure didn’t see any hint of bias. She was practically invisible in this debate. I haven’t heard any of the TV pundits mention her once. Not even on Fox. I guess that means she did her job. I think it’s pretty remarkable that she managed to be so fair and professional that everyone seems to have forgotten there was even an issue about it. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-v-palin-watch-along-thread/466253/568 "2008-10-03T04:01:07Z")
Listening to Sarah Palin reminds me of what H.L. Mencken said about listening to Warren G Harding: > [@](#): > > **“It reminds me of a string of wet sponges; it reminds me of tattered washing on the line; it reminds me of stale bean soup, of college yells, of dogs barking idiotically through endless nights. It is so bad that a sort of grandeur creeps into it. It drags itself out of the dark abysm of pish, and crawls insanely up the topmost pinnacle of posh. It is rumble and bumble. It is flap and doodle. It is balder and dash.”** The ultimate irony was when she waxed eloquent about the importance of education: > [@](#): > > Education credit in American has been in some sense in some of our states just accepted to be a little bit lax and we have got to increase the standards. No Child Left Behind was implemented. It’s not doing the job though. We need flexibility in No Child Left Behind. We need to put more of an emphasis on the profession of teaching. We need to make sure that education in either one of our agendas, I think, absolute top of the line. My kids as public school participants right now, it’s near and dear to my heart. I’m very, very concerned about where we’re going with education and we have got to ramp it up and put more attention in that arena. Her high school english teacher must be break dancing in her grave. Some reward. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-v-palin-watch-along-thread/466253/569 "2008-10-03T04:02:27Z")
Wow. Sarah Palin does a great imitation of Tina Fey doing Sarah Palin. ---
**Author:** ![bannerrefugee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c68b51/32.png) [@bannerrefugee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bannerrefugee)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-v-palin-watch-along-thread/466253/570 "2008-10-03T04:04:00Z")
> [@anu-la1979](#): > > I’m a smug east coast elitist. This pissed me of the most. Go back to Alaska, posted from north Texas. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-v-palin-watch-along-thread/466253/571 "2008-10-03T04:04:41Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I think it’s pretty remarkable that she managed to be so fair and professional that everyone seems to have forgotten there was even an issue about it. Although I thought she did an excellent job overall, she seemed to let Biden talk more at first. Her jacket was _delicious_. I love that color. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-v-palin-watch-along-thread/466253/572 "2008-10-03T04:05:45Z")
> [@bannerrefugee](#): > > This pissed me of the most. Go back to Alaska, posted from north Texas. I sorta did a double take when she referred to AK as “the heartland”. ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-v-palin-watch-along-thread/466253/573 "2008-10-03T04:14:32Z")
What really got me after all the scripted decency was this, a small thing, but wow telling: when Palin went to greet Ifill post debate, she said, to Ms Ifill: “Bless Your Heart…” Um, [that’s](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bless+your+heart) a really loaded “compliment” here in the South. Maybe it means something else in Alaska, but I was stunned by the immediate floor feed of her initial greeting, a bit garbled inthe post debate mish mash. Anyone else catch that? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-v-palin-watch-along-thread/466253/574 "2008-10-03T04:16:03Z")
Well, this was my first lengthy exposure to both Biden and Palin, and frankly, one debate for this crew was more than enough. I’ll admit favoring the Obama ticket, but even though I really want to be even-handed here, I can’t avoid saying it: Palin came off as spectacularly, ludicrously unqualified for her position. Except for perhaps a few responses on energy policy, she gave little impression that she any actual awareness of the world outside her little Alaskan fiefdom. Regardless of that, or the horribly mannered folksiness that made want to slap her silly, she gave off a whiff of megalomania that put me right off. She’ll just ignore direct questions and rattle on about whatever subject she pleases? Following eight years of Cheney, she wants an expanded role in the legislature for the VP? She wants to just be able to talk, without the ‘filter’ of the mainstream media? Well, fuck you too. I will agree that this wasn’ t the freak show that many seemed to expect, and that nothing much of substance said, and that in this sort of forum Palin makes a fairly arresting personal presentation, but I utterly fail to see how anyone could claim that she ‘won’ this so-called ‘debate’, unless the sole criterium was number of platitudes per minute. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-v-palin-watch-along-thread/466253/575 "2008-10-03T04:17:49Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > Google image search for Frank Luntz > [Google Search](http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=frank%20luntz&gbv=2) > > Is that the guy, Really Not All That Bright? That’s the guy. Well, kind of. I’m pretty sure the third image is Eddie Izzard (who, for the record, I would happily endorse as a Vice Presidential candidate \*or \*pollster :)) ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-v-palin-watch-along-thread/466253/576 "2008-10-03T04:21:13Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > I sorta did a double take when she referred to AK as “the heartland”. Everyone knows the heart is located in the right shoulder. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-v-palin-watch-along-thread/466253/577 "2008-10-03T04:21:59Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Everyone knows the heart is located in the right shoulder. That would be the cold shoulder? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-v-palin-watch-along-thread/466253/578 "2008-10-03T04:23:18Z")
Biden clearly won, but Palin did not disgrace herself. No doubt Biden is a better candidate, and he showed it. But those saying that Palin lost big are wrong. She \*almost \*held her own, and did better than I expected. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-v-palin-watch-along-thread/466253/579 "2008-10-03T04:25:41Z")
Fortunately for the McCain camp, they only have to deal with the fall out for this debate for the next week. Because on Oct 10, [the results of the Troopergate probe will be released!](http://kdka.com/businesswire/22.0.html?type=national&serviceLevel=a&category=p&filename=Palin-Troopergate.xml) Everybody will be so distracted, I’d wager, that they won’t even remember the debate happened. ---
**Author:** ![Sunrazor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sunrazor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunrazor)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-v-palin-watch-along-thread/466253/580 "2008-10-03T04:28:33Z")
Hmm … I missed the debates because I had to go to class tonght (last semester of classes! Woo hoo!) Here’s coincidence for you – it was a rhetoric class. And no, that’s not irony, just a coincidence. Anyway, one of my classmates suggested we retire to the department office to watch the debate as an exercise in “practical rhetoric”, whatever the hell that is. The prof smilled. “No, that’s not rhetoric.” We stayed and studied Augustine instead. I know, it adds nothing to this thread but, damnit, I only get to post once a week and I want to pretend I’m still relevant! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-v-palin-watch-along-thread/466253.md?page=28) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-v-palin-watch-along-thread/466253.md?page=30)