Didn’t the whole “fourth branch” thing come out of him trying to stonewall one investigation or another? “didn’t go anywhere,” indeed.
I think people are still suing for his documents.
Regardless of any of the legalities, I was happy that she tied herself to Cheney. I think that’s possibly the only thing more poisonous than being tied to Bush in this election.
Palin did better than expected, which isn’t saying much.
But I don’t think she knows what an “Achilles heel” is. I was hoping, after her rambling answer reiterating the strengths of McCain - Palin, that Gwen Ifill would turn to Biden and say: “Senator, do you wish to discuss your Achilles heel? Or, in fairness, would you like to answer the way Gov Palin did?”
The contrasting answers to the Cheney question were the highpoint of the night.
Palin must’ve had “say it ain’t so, Joe” and “there you go again” on her checklist, and started panicking that time was running out and she hadn’t used them yet. So she had to cram them into the same sentence.
Yes. And I agree completely with your point.
It really irks me when people conflate non-prestige dialects with ignorance, stupidity, or other negative characteristics. There are multiple dialects in our country. When you mock a person because of their dialect, you are displaying your own bigotry.
And from a political stand point, you open you and your party to charges of elitism and cultural snobbery. Attack Palin’s politics and lack of substance, but not her dialect.
The Vice President cannot be fired, only impeached.
And here I always thought that women loved it when an underqualified woman tried to charm and flirt her way to success. Who could have guessed that wouldn’t fly? Huh.
I also noticed that Palin doesn’t use the word “attributed” correctly. I’m completely biased against Palin anyway, but that just grated on me.
So if Biden wants to say that the Constitution says the Vice-President is in the Executive Branch, he should be making that argument on Article II grounds, right? Just like you said.
That’s pretty basic stuff - especially for a lawyer and Senator, and Biden is both. Not a big deal, really, but I said that he didn’t hit the answer out of the park - and this is part of the reason why.
While this is true, it isn’t true because the Constitution says so. The President of the Senate has power over procedural matters that could affect the passage legislation - this is placed in the hands of the president pro tempore as a procedural matter. It is considered improper for the Vice-President to get involved in legislative procedural activity in this way with the exception of the tiebreaking vote - but there is absolutely nothing in the Constitution preventing that, and for Biden to assert that the Constitution is explicit on this matter is again false.
Not a big deal in practice, again, but he took his argument too far and weakened it by doing so.
I buy my beer by the case.
Ditto “redistribution of wealth,” which came up somewhat nonsensically:
I was watching the debate with my middle brother, who is an actual Communist, and you can imagine his response to that. 
I thought this morning, on the way to work, about the Achilles heel bit. It’s one thing to be in a job interview, and get that question: “What’s your greatest weakness?” and say something like, “My greatest weakness is I lack a college degree in this field. However, I make up for that by having years of experience. For example, I worked for 4 years in A B and C departments, then transferred and worked 7 years in X Y and Z departments. So while I may not have the degree, I have the qualifications where it counts.”
Instead, she just flipping ignored the whole thing and talked about her strengths, without addressing the point, which went with the “I’ll answer the way I want to” theme. I didn’t find it endearing.
I also know a few people who say “ax” rather than “ask” that are quite intelligent and hold positions of authority. I don’t believe it would be in my best interest to tell a county attorney or a court magistrate to enunciate. I’d never see an order written the way I want again.
Palins’ proclivity for folksiness as an “out” to her lack of knowledge bothers me. It’s akin to a Shirley Temple dimple poke gesture. “I really don’t know what I’m saying, but don’t I look cute saying it!”
I watched the first 40 minutes of the debate, then SDMB Poker called. I waited for Biden ramble, and he did a bit. I didn’t expect much from Palin, and wasn’t disappointed in what I saw. When Gwen asked about the sub prime mortgage issues and she said she wanted to discuss energy - even TheKid yelled at the screen. Her comment to the effect of “I know you and the media people want me to talk about this, but I ain’t gonna do it” rankled.
I do wish, though, that Ifill kept them on question.
…
Read Mr. Moto’s excellent, and correct, post. Constitutionally, the Vice-President is the presiding officer of the Senate. Always. At all times. If he is not exercising that duty, it falls by rule to the president pro tem of the Senate. But if the VP wishes to preside every day the Senate is in session, he certainly can. He cannot vote unless to break a tie, but he does preside.
Joe Biden: 8, Tape Recorder: 1
Technically yeah, but remember Spiro T. Agnew (Nixon’s veep) when he was asked to step down by the president so he could face criminal charges in New Jersey? He was not exactly fired, but for all practical purposes, that’s what it came down to.
Who cares if he can “preside?” That’s just a ceremonial role, it’s not a power, and it doesn’t make the VP a part of the Legislative branch. It just means that a memebr of the Executive branch can play a ceremonial role in the Legislature if he feels like it (which practically none of them do since they can’t make arguments or vote).
Biden’s point was that Dick Cheney was absolutely full of shit when he tried to claim that the VP is part of the Legislature…ESPECIALLY when he simultaneously tries to claim Executive privlege to avoid subpoenas.
I disagree. Biden should have said implicit instead of explicit and that his only duties in the Senate are to vote in the case of a tie and a largely unused power to preside, but I don’t think you’d find too many constitutional scholars on either the left or the right that would agree that Palin’s defense of Cheney was on the whole more logical than Biden’s condemnation. Cheney’s position was that he occupies a constitutional “nether region;” he doesn’t have to comply with executive orders because he’s a part of the legislative branch, but doesn’t have to comply with congressional subpoeneas either because he has executive privilege. It’s an untenable position, and Palin’s vague defense was only more correct in the sense that it was completely insubstantial.
On CNN.com, they are running a quick vote with the question “Who fared better in the Vice Presidential debate?”
with 497295 votes so far, the responses are…
Neither 5%
Sarah Palin 28%
Joe Biden 66%
Rich elitist.
Hell no. You’ll go broke buying it by the six-pack. Every good drunkard knows that.
I don’t know if your analysis is correct, but the way she acts with the baby has been bothering me, too. (I haven’t seen the debate…I was too busy watching the Cubs implode, but this is my observation from other televised appearances.) Speaking as someone who fairly recently had a baby, I do not recognize my natural mothering instincts as being reflected in her actions. For instance, when I pick up one of the kids, I tend to give them a quick kiss or squeeze, or look at them and babble some baby talk or some such…and this was especially true when they were infants. I have not seen her do that ever, I don’t think, and it seems odd. I don’t know if she is too distracted, or if she isn’t relating well to him because of his disability (he doesn’t react or hold himself like most babies do, either). But I don’t like it.
That’s nice, but those online push-button polls are scientifically worthless. The samples are self-selected and skewed by the nature of the website. There’s a push-button poll on Drudge showing it 70%-28% in favor of Palin. The Fox News text-in poll showed it at like 86%-12% for Palin. All that shows is that close to 90% of Sean Hannity’s audience is conservative.
The only meaningful polls are the polls of scientificaly valid samples – particularly those which poll independent or undecided voters. The good news is that those polls do show Biden winning by a large margin (whoever wins the undecideds wins the debate), but those online polls aren’t really even polls and shoud be given no credence at all.