Considering the fact that only around 50% of the population votes, I find this dubious to say the least.
You’re assuming it’s that smart half that votes. I suspect that single-issue voters are well-represented among them.
As I heard it, that wasn’t folsky charm. She kept calling him “O’Biden”, apparantly having conflated “Biden” with “Obama”, and just couldn’t break the habit. Hence her handlers gave up, told her to ask to call him “Joe” instead.
So Obama can try to make frequent references to him: “As I was saying to Vice-President Biden the other day, you remember Vice-President Biden, Governor Palin? Anyway, Vice-President Biden had some good ideas about the budget, which I was happy to put to Congress. What do you think of Vice-President Biden, Governor Palin?”
I think we’re forgetting how easy Palin’s job would be in a debate. Remember - she’s not constrained by actual facts - so she just has to keep repeating a couple talking points (whether they address the question or not).
- Obama raised taxes and raised the deficit.
- Obama weakened our standing with other countries - remember the apology tour anyone?
- Obama is a socialist.
- Obama’s healthcare is unconstitutional.
- Obama wants to take away our guns.
- Did I mention our taxes are too high? Obama’s fault!
- Also - socialist.
I’m pretty confident even Palin can remember these 7 talking points. Then it’s merely a matter of mixing and matching with whatever question is asked - even if it doesn’t answer the question.
I think it’s clear that Palin has a great deal of political talent, so she certainly shouldn’t be underestimated in a political context. At the same time, though, I think it’s a mistake to assume that political talent implies intelligence, as it’s usually thought of. It’s possible for Palin to be both an idiot and a serious threat.
She’s not just “stupid, for a politician”, either. Sure, folks can be pretty stupid, but I still think that more than half of Americans could come up with a good answer to “what newspapers do you read”. Just say you read whatever the Wasilla daily paper is, whatever the Anchorage daily paper is, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal.
Don’t forget that Obama also legalized abortion and killed Bambi’s mother. Actually, that last one would probably not have the desired effect on the Palin crowd.
You think so? She had to write “Tax Cuts” on her hand to remind herself that Republicans were for tax cuts.
That’s a good point. If I cut out one of the tax points - she’s down to only 6. And on further reflection, I can probably eliminate the apology tour - since most people don’t care about foreign policy. So how about:
- Socialist
- Taxes
- Healthcare
- Socialist
- Guns
That should get her through a 90 minute debate with just about anyone.
She would need five more hands.
She could wear a low cut top and use her boobs for writing space.
Probably easier to just park her children in cute poses in front of the lectern and shave the messages into the backs of their heads.
You mean her followers would be attracted and stand close enough for her to write on them?
Obama cut taxes for over 95 percent of the people. I think Palin is rich enough now that she would no longer qualify for one.
Well, if she’s going to use her boobs, does that mean Todd could also be used as a writing surface?
I don’t think it will be a slam dunk as people think it would be. Biden did very well with his strategy because Sarah can’t be seen as too negative back then and Sarah was just too ignorant that she wouldn’t want to attack and get countered. Now, people almost expect Sarah to attack Obama all throughout the debate. And when Obama gets flustered as he invariably does, either he counter-attacks (which is a balancing act in itself) or he gets snippy - either way, it’s harder now than it was before. And how exactly should Obama counter? That is the part of the strategy that needs to be ironed out well- how to expose Sarah as the idiot that she is without appearing elitist or too much of an intellectual.
The 2012 Palin debate is going to only have 1 point debated:
“Are you better off than you were 4 years ago”?
When has Obama ever been visibly flustered? It seems to me that his greatest strength as a speaker/debater is that he always seems calm.
Nope!!
There was one time when obama’s teleprompter was not working, or it was not set up in the correct room - and obama just “lost it”.
Which, like any single sentence which purports to emcompass a complex situation, is a huge oversimplification.
Assuming things proceed more or less as they have, most Americans will be of the opinion that while they are worse off than they were four years ago, they’re headed in the right direction.
If your car is heading towards a cliff and you slam on the brakes, you are not going to come to an immediate stop. Do you then say,“Since I am still moving forward(albeit at a much rate), I think I’ll abandon using the brakes.”?