I agree with Kyle. Palin seems to be stumbling a bit into the close. She surely could have pointed to many examples of McCain being able to reach across the aisle-it is not just Lieberman.
Joe Biden admits to using ideology for his judiciary choices. At least he is honest.
Now that it's over, I think Palin undid some of the damage from the interview gotchas. This may show up in the polls. Gwen Ifill did a good job, though her disgrace in not revealing her conflict of interest remains.
C. Edmund Wright:
It was Biden on points. His responses were sharper and his attacks were cleaner.
But trying to paint Palin as stupid or slow witted will never sell. Palin showed a lot out there, she showed she belonged on the same playing field as Biden and scored some good zingers.
And Biden did himself no favors by smirking throughout the entire debate. Don't know how that will play but I suspect we'll find out before too long.
All in all - she stopped the bleeding and may have begun to win back some indies and working class women.
Marc Sheppard:
Overall Sarah was composed and spoke to Americans while Joe appeared uptight and mostly addressed the moderator. While wise to avoid attacking Palin directly, Joe continued to make a batter case – though still a weak one – against those presently in the White House than against his ticket’s opponents. When Sarah did attack, it was Obama she targeted, and mostly in response to a Biden whopper.
This was the Sarah that caught America’s hearts and imagination at the convention. She presented herself as genuine, personable, informed, responsive and decisive.
On the other hand, this was the Joe the Dems didn’t want to show. He seemed tense, repetitive, cold and programmed.
Funny how the MSM spent the last few days demeaning the abilities Sarah excelled at tonight and trying to convince us she needed to be trained for this appearance as she lacks spontaneity. And yet, when show-time came, it was Biden, not Palin that appeared scripted.
Palin on points. Polls should pop tomorrow, MSM whining notwithstanding.
And you must admit -- Gwen did a pretty good job of keeping the opinions confined to the stage
Ed Lasky:
I hope John McCain focuses on Barack Obama's history in Chicago and signal lack of accomplishments-as well as his refusal to release records of his past-transcripts,etc. I hope McCain tries to educate people about the Democrats role in the housing/finance debacle. He has to fight for this election-raise legitimate doubts about Barack Obama: his experience, his record, and-yes-his judgment.
Palin made no noticeable gaffes-which is what people were focused upon. She did fine-she could have done better.
Biden did give a good debate performace, overall. He did show a command of facts.
Thanks to everyone. The blog is now closed. Except for Richard Baehr:
If you were listening on radio the other night, you likely thought McCain won. If you listened on radio tonight, you might have thought Biden won (or might not- close call). As a former debater, my experience is that judges in college debates just look at arguments. That is much more like listening to a radio debate.
McCain the other night, Biden tonight, clearly much less so in Biden's case, had a bit the better of the factual argument . In Biden's case, it was mostly negative about McCain and Bush, almost nothing about Obama. But if you watched the debates, Obama was judged the winner the other night, because he was less formal- and seemed nicer, and passed the threshold test that he looks Presidential. . McCain seemed a bit dismissive of his opponent , and more formal.
Tonight you had a real charmer, with a common man or woman touch, against a pretty wooden performance by Biden- with little charm or personality at all. So in the TV debate, Palin cleaned his clock. She held her own and knew her stuff. But she related to people (the instant polls of undecideds seem to show she won decisively). Biden with all his facts and legislative history, did not relate well at all. The good news for McCain is that I suspect many more people saw this debate than Friday night's. Friday night is a bad night for TV viewing - it is a date night. Thursday is second only to Sunday for TV viewing numbers. So this is a plus for McCain, who is bleeding badly in the polls. If the House passes the financial bailout bill tomorrow, and the market comes back a bit, he will have a little wind at his back over the weekend. Maybe Obama's 6 point national lead drops to 4.
Now McCain needs to go on offense against Obama- before the next
debate- on Obama's singular lack of accomplishment, and inexperience- on how he has spent most of the last ten years running for higher office. A few references to Reverend Wright and Bill Ayers would not hurt either, since it emphasizes Obama's history of radicalism, which few people know about. McCain also needs to follow up on Palin's ability to simplify the major themes of the election choice-higher taxes versus lower taxes in terms of impact on job expansion, massive new spending versus lower government spending, government solutions for everything versus more personal responsibility.
Make hay of Obama being most liberal, Biden 3rd most liberal member of US Senate, and how that makes bipartisanship impossible. it is telling how little time Biden spent talking about Obama.
