How did Palin do in the debate, in which the bar was set lower than ever before?
Who won the debate, based on the polls?
How bad is the economy looking compared to two weeks ago?
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A peculiar hybrid of personal journal, dilettantish punditry, pseudo-philosophy and much more, from an Accidental Expat who has made his way from Hong Kong to Beijing to Taipei and finally back to Beijing for reasons that are still not entirely clear to him…
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1
By Joe
Who cares? You make this shit sound like it’s interesting…or important.
It doesn’t matter who gets elected ….they are all the same on the inside…..green.
Why waste time writing and talking about this crap.
Go to a bar and watch girls…it makes more sense.
October 3, 2008 @ 7:29 pm | Comment
2
By Richard
Even more relevant a question is, why are you reading “this shit” and commenting on it? 🙂
I’ve been interested in politics from the day I remember being alive. Seriously – politics, music, oranges and poetry. Everything else about me is an extension of those basics.
October 3, 2008 @ 8:36 pm | Comment
3
By Matt
Biden did very well, and Palin far exceeded (low) expectations. No glaring gaffes on either side, and no good shots (like Lloyd Bentsen did in 1988 with Quayle, saying “you’re no John Kennedy”.
So, in the end, it will be forgotten. These last two presidential debates will tell more of the story. But with the economic crisis, there may not be much McCain can do.
October 3, 2008 @ 8:56 pm | Comment
4
By Richard
It was a highly insignificant debate, the way nearly all VP debates are. Palin was perky and charismatic. Biden was superb, and so far it appears if the debate had any swing effect, it was to push more undecideds to the Dems. Palin’s golden week in the sun immediately following the RNC can never be duplicated. McCain probably would have lost anyway, but she was a major nail in the coffin.
October 3, 2008 @ 9:34 pm | Comment
5
By Raj
I agree with Matt. Palin did “well enough” even with such deliberately low expectations, and Biden did very well. The anticipation for the debate was pretty much misplaced.
With the focus on the economy McCain can’t sell his foreign policy, even if he has two good debates – Obama to win for sure. I guess the old trend of the poll leader going into the first debate and going to to win will continue.
October 3, 2008 @ 10:32 pm | Comment
6
By Dan
Palin proved that one can be from Alaska, be an attractive, conservative woman, and not be an idiot — something which the media would like us to believe impossible. She didn’t do much beyond that though and Biden clearly won on content. I really loved Biden’s comment about how he doesn’t try to figure out other people’s motives. I can see why Biden is so popular among his peers in the Senate and he really came across as a likable guy, who perhaps could actually unify this country, rather than divide it. What I liked (and maybe I am reading too much into this) is how Biden and Palin seemed to actually like each other, and they were not fake about it either. That is how it should be. I preferred their debate to the McCain Obama debate, where both were stiff and cold. Now I know there will be people out there who will say so what to stiff and cold, but if you compare our Presidents who got things done (Reagan and Clinton, for instance), with those who didn’t (Carter and Bush II) for instance, there is something to warmness and an ability to “cross over the aisle.”
October 3, 2008 @ 11:40 pm | Comment
7
By Lindel
Biden and Ifil were definitely trying to make Palin comfortable. Obama attempted to connect with McCain, but McCain was incapable of hiding his anger and personal animosity for obama.
When Palin was talking I switched to the Spanish language channel to watch her talk with the Spanish translation overdubbed. She is easier to take when a spanish woman talks in her place. Biden was not so appealing in spanish so I watched the regular english broadcast when he or gwen ifil was speaking.
I don’t remember anything about the 1968 or 1972 debates, have some fuzzy recollection of 1976. More memory of Reagan “there you go again” and Carter in 1980. Definitely remember Ronald “Where’s the Beef?” and not holding the youth of opponent against him in 1984. I thought this was definitely the most underwhelming debate in a presidential election I remember watching. Think Ifil and Biden were restraining themselves to defuse any aquizations of beating up on Palin unfairly. After all their reputations where at stake also. I’m sure they did not want to suffer the embarrassment of being onstage with a disfunctioning Palin so restrained from taking advantage or pressing her when they obviously could have.
I can understand having issues with Obama, Biden, or McCain, but cannot fathom why anyone would be wildly enthusiastic about palin or thrilled by her performance last night. By giving Palin a pass and declaring her “debate” performance a success has permanently lowered the bar for being a presidential candidate.
In 2012 why not take it a step further? The RNC can start a marketing/demographic study now to identify the characterists of the person that would be most appealing to the base and independent voters. We need a veteran, hunter, pentacostal hispanic-scotsman who is part american indian who grew up on a farm in nebraska and worked on an oil rig to pay for college. yeah that fits all the critical microtrends and hot buttons. They can travel the country and find a person who fits that profile and then train them to repeat the party platform verbatim in response to key words in questions then have them run for mayor in a city where a republican already has an advantage to win easily.
Whoever wins the republican nomination in 2012 can then pick this secret weapon at the last minute to be the VP candidate.
October 4, 2008 @ 5:14 am | Comment
8
By Richard
Dan, Palin proved she can “hold her own” but I don’t think she can ever convince a huge block of the public she is not an idiot. It’s all there on the videotape. What she did show America is that she has a strong presence, a lot of energy and charisma (both hugely important traits in politics) and at times cleverness. She also showed a lack of gravitas and was clearly out of her depth alongside Biden, which is why he won.
The media was incredibly good to Palin at and after the convention. Amazingly good, if you go back and look. By sealing her off and raising huge doubts about her competence – unprecedent in US campaigning history – McCain himself raised the doubts and practically forced the media to see what was underneath the wrapping paper. The media in general were quite fair with her; even the conservative writers had to tell the truth, that she came across as a birdbrain in her videotaped interviews. It was a rare moment when the conservative and liberal media were oddly in synch, because there was no “fair and balanced” way to report Palin’s answers – her performance was downright scary, and no self-respecting journalist could say otherwise and maintain credibility. And none did. A rare moment indeed.
October 4, 2008 @ 7:30 am | Comment
9
By Bao
Palin is just a very clever decoy to fool you into the Obama option. If you still believe that both parties are not working together, than I am sorry to say you are a fool. She’s the ultimate decoy of all times, the mother of all. The most obvious farce in the US political history.
We’ve reached a point where subtlety is not even necessary anymore, because people expect the most shocking options to show up in front of their face. She’s a vulgar aggression to your well minded person. It goes beyond B movies scenarios. Matt Deamon expressed it very well in a popular fashion.
October 6, 2008 @ 1:22 am | Comment
10
By Bao
We saw the true Palin at the beginning, and now that she is cleverly memorizing speeches we will all change our mind and say she’s not so bad ? Common, what the hell is that reasoning. This is the reasoning of the blind mass. Fucking joke.
October 6, 2008 @ 1:24 am | Comment