Well, the VP debate is over. Whew! I can breathe again. From where I sit, Palin came, she saw, and she conquered. Flat out, she rocked. Biden was able to avoid putting his foot in his mouth verbally, but he did set a record for smirking, and another for forced smiles. Advantage: Palin.
If we were to use the mainstream media standard, Palin made no mistakes (they would have judged her survival on the basis her not making more than one or two gaffes), and therefore “survived.” So if you’re a conservative, you’re going to say “Palin Won.” If you are a liberal, you’ll probably say something like “Palin acquitted herself adequately [sniff], but Biden enunciated his positions, where Palin made a base appeal to middle America.”
Newsflash, pundits: Middle America – you know…the “flyover states” ARE this country. We vote. We think. And Sarah Palin was speaking directly to US. While Biden revealed that he is (as everyone knew) the consumate Senate insider, Palin reveled in the fact that she is a proud outsider.
Palin spoke to us in our own language. She was genuine. She was real. She was articulate, She was on point. She didn’t just exceed expectations – she blew them away.
One lesson for the mainstream media – when you use the power of the edit bay to take two hours worth of raw footage and slant it in such a way as to make her look like an idiot. That can backfire, as it did here. The media blundered, by setting expectations so low for Palin, all she had to do was to not screw up, to look better than she’d come off with Gibson and Couric. When she hit one out of the park, it revealed the interviews as the hatchet jobs they were. Palin is no fool, and when she was able to break through the mainstream media’s prism of distortion and lies, she came across as knowledgeable and REAL.
I particularly liked the moment at which Palin, referring to the financial bailout mess, said that “it’s not the American people’s fault, but we can all learn some really good lessons from this. That’s right, Governor. It’s ultimately all about personal responsibility. She GETS IT. Biden doesn’t.
Listen, I know some of you reading this blog don’t agree with me. (And I appreciate that, and find that we can agree to disagree.) However, ask yourself this: Biden said it’s out “patriotic duty” to “step up” and “pay more taxes” for the good of the Nation. Can you honestly say that Biden gets it? I mean, if your household is anything like mine, if you don’t have enough money for something, you don’t say “well, we just have to make more money,” or “well, we’ll just have to spend more, and go into debt.” You say, we don’t have the money…if we need this (whatever this is) we’ll just have to cut something else in the budget to make up the difference.
This, people is the fundamental difference between McCain/Palin and Obama/Biden: Palin believes in personal responsibility. Biden believes we should look to government to save us. I’m with Palin. In fact, I can’t wait to pull the lever for McCain/Palin. This woman GETS IT. Let me say that again. SHE GETS IT. We need people like her running things.
So where do things go from here? I dunno. I’m sure Palin’s performance will give the McCain campaign a post-debate bounce. What will be interesting to see, is if her dynamic performance tonight is enough to overshadow the hatchet job the media’s been doing on her. I suspect it will. I have a sneaking suspicion that those of us in “flyover country” are going to stand up as one, and tell the media where to stick it. I think her performance in the debate will eliminate any doubts those on the right might have had, in listening to Couric and Gibson. Those in the middle with minds still open, will realize Palin is fully qualified. Those on the left will be afraid. Very afraid. The misinformation campaign has failed. Big time.
So it’s on to the next debate. I can’t wait.
I watched the debate and think Palin did a great job. I think she surprised everyone in the media, dems and even those in her own party. Biden did well, and also had more substance to his debate. And…. like I said before the debate, Ifill didn't favor Obama like you thought she would– exactly the opposite, I thought she could have asked many more direct questions…. but anyway, she was at least fair, even you could admit that.
Palin clearly had a game plan, and stuck to it– She said her talking points, and even directed the conversation at times to what she wanted to talk about, can't fault her for executing a good game plan…
Biden also must have had the plan to attack McCain, and not so much Palin(to attack) , he did a good job painting the picture that Bush and McCain's policies are no different than each others, and look what that's done the last eight years.
I'm enjoying going back and forth on this, and respect your views as I always have, and it's cool, that we can agree to disagree. See, McCain's camp loves to preach that Obama is going to raise taxes, over and over again that is their claim. He is… to people who make over $250,000 a year. If you make less, you're taxes are NOT going up PERIOD. Most small business owners don't even make that much after paying salaries, overhead, and getting creative w/ write offs, etc….Shoot, A business owner could hire one of his kids, or wife/husband to come in 2 or 3 days a week to take a $50,000 salary if that is what it takes to put him under 250K. Household income stays the same… but hey? Don't tell me that doesn't happen, cause it does.
So the whole “Obama's gonna raise your taxes” is becoming a stale argument for the right. The main problem I have is that no one has informed me or millions of other Americans specifically why and how McCains policies differ from Bushes– Truth is, I don't think they do… Foreign policy, economics, social, you name it. They simply don't differ, and I think that point , and that point alone is why McCain is behind at this point. I'm like you, when you said throw all the bums out of Washington, Dems and the GOP, but I do think Obama is genuinely a better option than McCain. I would have loved to see Huckabee on the ticket, but that is just not an option.
I don't think by “taking a chance” on a democrat is going to send our country to hell.
The top things on Obama's agenda are NOT:
supporting gay rights
opening abbortion clinics at your local walmart
creating as many useless governmental programs as he can
taking away your guns
or any other issue that scare republicans the most… here's the best…
WE ARE NOT GOING TO BE WAVING WHITE FLAGS IN IRAQ EITHER.
Democrats understand just as much as Republicans do that the Commander in Chief's primary objective is to protect the American people: We will still have the same people advising Obama as we would advising McCain. Obama has shown that he is willing to listen to advice, McCain is a “Maverick” remember? He does what He and ONLY he thinks.
There are many more important things to worry about in this country today and tomorrow. Who ever wins, I at least hope for what they both are preaching… REAL CHANGE in Washington.
—Justin K
I watched the debate and think Palin did a great job. I think she surprised everyone in the media, dems and even those in her own party. Biden did well, and also had more substance to his debate. And…. like I said before the debate, Ifill didn't favor Obama like you thought she would– exactly the opposite, I thought she could have asked many more direct questions…. but anyway, she was at least fair, even you could admit that.
Palin clearly had a game plan, and stuck to it– She said her talking points, and even directed the conversation at times to what she wanted to talk about, can't fault her for executing a good game plan…
Biden also must have had the plan to attack McCain, and not so much Palin(to attack) , he did a good job painting the picture that Bush and McCain's policies are no different than each others, and look what that's done the last eight years.
I'm enjoying going back and forth on this, and respect your views as I always have, and it's cool, that we can agree to disagree. See, McCain's camp loves to preach that Obama is going to raise taxes, over and over again that is their claim. He is… to people who make over $250,000 a year. If you make less, you're taxes are NOT going up PERIOD. Most small business owners don't even make that much after paying salaries, overhead, and getting creative w/ write offs, etc….Shoot, A business owner could hire one of his kids, or wife/husband to come in 2 or 3 days a week to take a $50,000 salary if that is what it takes to put him under 250K. Household income stays the same… but hey? Don't tell me that doesn't happen, cause it does.
So the whole “Obama's gonna raise your taxes” is becoming a stale argument for the right. The main problem I have is that no one has informed me or millions of other Americans specifically why and how McCains policies differ from Bushes– Truth is, I don't think they do… Foreign policy, economics, social, you name it. They simply don't differ, and I think that point , and that point alone is why McCain is behind at this point. I'm like you, when you said throw all the bums out of Washington, Dems and the GOP, but I do think Obama is genuinely a better option than McCain. I would have loved to see Huckabee on the ticket, but that is just not an option.
I don't think by “taking a chance” on a democrat is going to send our country to hell.
The top things on Obama's agenda are NOT:
supporting gay rights
opening abbortion clinics at your local walmart
creating as many useless governmental programs as he can
taking away your guns
or any other issue that scare republicans the most… here's the best…
WE ARE NOT GOING TO BE WAVING WHITE FLAGS IN IRAQ EITHER.
Democrats understand just as much as Republicans do that the Commander in Chief's primary objective is to protect the American people: We will still have the same people advising Obama as we would advising McCain. Obama has shown that he is willing to listen to advice, McCain is a “Maverick” remember? He does what He and ONLY he thinks.
There are many more important things to worry about in this country today and tomorrow. Who ever wins, I at least hope for what they both are preaching… REAL CHANGE in Washington.
—Justin K