Sarah Palin was clearly awful last night. Problem is she wasn't awful in the way we all wanted her to be.She didn't crash and burn. She wasn't a parody of herself. She didn't make your hair stand up. There was no Putin flying over St. Louis airspace. Frankly she did not embarrass herself.
But she was awful in the way it ultimately matters - she is clearly unqualified to be in the second highest office of this country. This is not a person you want with her hands on the buttons. I will say she would probably would make a great Perle Mesta.
She was programmed, robotic and nothing was going to stop her from reciting her rehearsed answers. It almost didn't matter what questions Gwen Ifill tossed out - she had an agenda from the McCain prep team and by gosh, Sarah was going to stick to it. Sarah performed well - she makes trained seals proud.
On substance it wasn't close, Biden was clearly ahead. On style - the trailer trash persona of Sarah Six Pack (more like 3.2 piss water then Heineken) came shining through. If you want another President/VP you can have a beer with - you got what you wished for last night. Of course we all know having an incurious, brain-damaged, folksy twit in the White House has worked out so well for the past eight years, therefore we should all want at least another four years of it.
She kept going back to energy as an answer. She clearly finds drilling for oil an aphrodisiac. She contorted the question about meeting with "evil" world leaders. She had a good meeting with Henry Kissinger. She wanted us to really, really know that she is really, really tolerant about those with same sex partners. She is, by golly, just a regular gal.
Her handlers clearly blew it by not briefing her about Biden's story, when she insinuated he didn't know anything about raising a family. Her reaction and lack of appropriate response to Biden's comment (and choke up) about his late wife was very insensitive AND noticeable - they surely didn't program her for that one. Bad training on Scheuneman's part - he gets a demerit.
As hard as she tried to channel him, she is NO Ronald Reagan. But she did manage to funnel Dick Cheney from that vacuous brain - she wants the VP to have even more power and says she will avoid the press going forward. You could practically hear Cheney's big "O".
As an important side note - Biden clearly helped himself and proved he is ready and capable of handling the job.
I don't think this changed anyone's mind. What this debate did was stop the Palin hemorrhage. The only memorable moments came from Biden (the hammering of the maverick John McCain) - Palin didnt have any of those. She just had her Fargo voice and super cute-MILF like haircut. And someone should tell Sarah that General McClellan was from the Civil War, not Afghanistan. But at least she could name a General - that is much better than her knowledge of the Supreme Court.Don't bother listening to the pundits - the opinions will fall right along ideological lines. Almost all Republicans and right wingnuts will laud her - the second coming of Sarah - and of course add Lieberman.
The left and sane people will realize last night showed the world the Sarah Palin is the secret love child of Mortimer Snerd and Nanook of the North.
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That's it and more. They knew the questions and for her particuarly had plenty of time to prepare.
I really wanted worse. I wanted a complete breakdown. I wanted wailing and gnashing of teeth!
Damn...
agreed. - your ex-morning therapy patient
Aw darn it all to heck. Say it ain't so, Joe. God bless America!
Yeah, I know. She wasn't as bad as I had hoped she'd be. But on the bright side, I think Joe Biden did great.
And when people actually think about what she said they'll realize it was all just practiced and she wasn't even answering many of the questions - which she admitted herself she might not do!
Awww come on dc, she's a beauty queeeeeeeeeen.
Ok, twist my arm, she's a bitch.
She was terrible and who the fawk is General McClellan???
Maybe I'm just reaching the burnout point with this election but, I felt the VP debate was a big 'so what?'
Biden is a decent guy, smart and informed, with a compelling life story and solid senate career.
Palin is an ambitious lightweight, who has her eye on the top job and intends to use the number 2 job as a stepping stone to get there.
All I can say is, if McCain really wanted to be a maverick and select a woman to be his veep, he sure passed over a ton of more qualified women by selecting Palin.
You summed it up just fine D-Cap.
I was at a party and ended up drinking wine in the kitchen with a judge.
i think biden grabbed princess sarah's joe 6-pack shtick and ran with it. he's the one who came off like your next-door neighbor or your favorite uncle. she was snide and displayed not one drop of gravitas. i would have enjoyed seeing her decimated on tv, but that might have backfired. i think biden handled her exactly the right way. nobody can accuse him of being sexist or a bully. she kept trying to bait him, and she failed.
p.s. princess sounds like marge from fargo, but not exactly. when i was driving home from the store last night, i realized that she actually sounds like marge, but with a bit of lucky the leprechaun from lucky charms mixed in.
What a great assessment - I think I may have to link to this as my own words lacked your impact.
That said, I am no Sarah Palin... am I???
I watched the debate last night wit a beer in hand, and took a swig of my Heineken (Light) each time she said "Maverick", "Joe 6-Pack" or "You Betcha." I emptied my bottle half way through it.
The pundit who really burned me up was Pat Buchanan. When does he not, right? His declared Palin the clear winner because Biden was boring. Rachel Maddow shut his ass up in a jiffy. She nailed the fact that Palin answered few of the questions posed and asked Buchanan incredulously (I paraphrase here..) "So you would rather have exciting and ignorant than boring and smart?" It was a delicious moment because I can't ever recall a moment where Buchanan was so humbled. My heroine.
//Don't bother listening to the pundits//
I waited till this morning to read your sum-up. I like your punditry, punditriousness, aw, whatever, more than the talking heads.
I kinda resented the Joe Six-Pack remark. It soundded like a reference to cheap beer. I feel like she called me a cheap beer.
At least she didn't call anyone a cheap doughnut.
Domo erigato, Mrs. Roboto. I think your last paragraph sums it up nicely.
Have you seen the prices of ingredients these days? Donuts ain't cheap!
I wondered about the General McClellan thing too. If that is the name of the guy in Afghanastan I hope he isn't a decendant.
To the person that asked who he was. McClellan was a Union General that lead at the battle of Antietam. While that battle is generally considered a draw, the Confederate army was in taters and full retreat. McClellan had the troops but failed to pursue the retreating army. Many believe that if he had he could have ended the war right there. Instead, the Civil war went on for 3 more years.
Soon after, McClellan was relieved of command for his decision not to act. I believe he was replaced by Grant but I'm not sure.
Peace.
Matt
www.idealcrap.com
Hey! Now I'm really confused. Republicans don't like actors, right? And isn't that pretty much all Palin is? She memorized a script and recited it. She played a role. An actress. Should't the Republicans be up in arms about that?
Am I missing something? Did the Republicans start supporting gay marriage and a woman's right to choose, too?
The morning line polls show she did give the ticket a boost among undecideds.
This sucks, but should be expected since as you so eloquently note...she didn't fall on her face or stand in stupefying silence.
Joe and Jill Sixpack don't read many newspapers outside their local rag. They don't watch indepth political shows. They get their news from soundbites on the CBS, NBC or ABC evening news HALF hour.
She scored with them and that was to be expected since the expectations were so fucking low.
Of course if I had a shot of hard liquor every time she said "team of Mavericks" I would have one helluva hangover this morning.
Excellent analysis. Biden was great, and you are exactly right that she performed nicely, but that she was truly awful in the way that matters; she's dead wrong on everything, and doesn't really understand most things. No one in the press is going to get anywhere near her now until the election; they'll make sure that this was the last impression that people will have.
Dead on, DCap. I hope everyone noticed that she only answered one question asked: NO FUCKING GAY MARRIAGE, DAMMIT! And I sure hope everyone saw her, as you say, channel Dick Cheney and call the Constitution "flexible" in giving power to the VP. She's a psycho.
Oh, excellent, Dcap. You nailed it.
I kept swigging beer, which led me to two beers, which is way over my (cheap date, I know) usual beer capacity.
Jon Stewart had some good lines and images about rehearsing and training.
FranIAm said above That said, I am no Sarah Palin... am I???
Good Godde no, honey, you have a brain with more than 15 thoughts! Also your accent is way more compelling.
In two days, we'll be talking about something completely different than the VP debate.
And that's probably the best we could have expected. I didn't think she'd come out and make major gaffes. I though it'd be something along the lines of what we saw.
That woman is terrifying. Plain and fucking simple
I wonder how much we could get on eBay if we could get hold of her index cards from the debate.
Well, there is nothing else to say. Dcap, you have an excellent panel of experts. I loved this post. So right, so well written, such smart readers. I took a toke every times she said, maverick, by the end of the debate, I was wacked. Today I'm a little slow. Notice how late I got to this particular party. Nice job everyone.
Excellent, DCup. Fran said go. When Fran says go, I go. I came, I read, I liked - quite a lot. My sentiments exactly, but better expressed by you.
Brilliant takedown.
It was boilerplate GOP base stuff dressed up in a cupie doll cover.
Did you know some of her very bestest friends are gay?
Puhleeze.
SNL has recruited Queen Latifa for tomorrow night's broadcast. Pairing up with Tina Fey. Hmmmm, I wonder what that skit could be about :)
Thanks for bringing up that scary thing about the vice presidential powers. I was beginning to wonder if anyone was going to latch on it.
She is a terrifying woman with a plastic personality.
Your analysis is very crisp and stylish as usual, D-CAP. I merely disagree on one small point. Sarah Palin was awful in exactly the way I'd hoped she'd be. Completely clueless, snide and disrespectful but made no silly gaffes (other than resurrecting a Civil War general and -- oh -- promoting a more severe version of Cheney's "unitary executive" model). Had she talked about her great meeting with President Uribe of Spain and how much she loves Taco Bell, McCain would have had to face facts and boot her in favor of Mitt Romney with the agreement that Romney would be the boss and McCain would serve the Chimpy function.
I think that Obama would still win but it would make me nervous because you can laugh at Romney's religion or his appearance but you cannot laugh at his economic expertise or his pragmatism when the chips are down.
I actually think Obama beat McCain on the "beer" question. While I was no Biden fan during the Democratic primaries because he really was tweaked-out, I thought he was magnificent last night. Of course, I'm still glad that Obama is the Presidential nominee because I like his priorities and CALM quite a bit more than I do Biden's but they make a formidable team.
Great post, DCap! I hadn't thought of the name Mortimer Snerd in ages, but I do know that every time I think of it or hear it, I laugh out loud, as I did when reading your post!
I don't know about Palin's her index cards, Robert. She might have had all of what, maybe three of them? She just kept saying the same things over and over and over.
DCup, the Republicans will do and/or say whatever it takes to score points, especially when they are behind... and desperate! So they like actors and actresses now... good for them! 8-)>
The part about VP powers WAS scary. It was like she was endorsing Cheney's abuses while not really having a clue about things. Very odd, very creepy.
All the smiling, all the zombie-like fixing of her eyes on the camera, all the endles spouting of sound bites... it was excruciating to watch. Also excruciating to listen to, as I noticed her voice peeling the paint off the walls in my living room and causing my entire head to hurt after a while.
She came across to me as some happy, excited 15-or-16-year-old kid from a high school debate club debating someone with far more knowledge and experience.
I don't think this was a game-changer at all, and I think Comrade Kevin is right... we will all be (thankfully) talking about something else in a few days. Glad we get to see Obama and McCain again in a few days!
Congress had better pass a bill preventing the next President and VP, regardless who gets in, from using the Constitution for toilet paper as the current President has done.
McCain and Palin would abuse the Presidency as did Bush.
of course, you do realize that you are disrespecting a perfectly good wooden dummy and a proud ethnic American culture when you make that comparison.
Jus' takin' amoment to point out the politcal incorrectness&shit...
gotta be nice to eveyone&stuff
wow
all of you are way to smart for me!
LOL
thanks so much for the lively discussion and comments
the more i watch the Sarah comments and answers - the sicker i get -- she lies with such impugnity -- her demeanor is one of a high school kid and she almost seems like she aint taking this too seriously. she is like the big High School cock tease at lunch.
she is a scary chick - she is NOT smart - she is a good memorizer. this debate was not about spewing facts from cliff notes -- it is about seeing how people think and react on the spot
she refused to take the test, made her own rules -- and the right wing loved it.
i will say that think sarah palin may be the one of the most unqualified and insane persons to ever hold an office. i wish she was bush with tits. that would be a step up.
Lookit, the bar was set so low all Mooselini had to do was NOT hike up her skirt and scratch her snatch and pick her nose on camera, and everyone would declare her the winner.
She was much more likeable than I liked, she said very little of substance but she said it with style.
If, like so much of American politics, this turns out to be an election of style over substance, then we have a problem. If - after 8 years of unending raping and pillaging of the constitution - the populace realizes that this is oh so much more of the same, we might see a change in the tides.
Regards,
Tengrain
I missed the debate, but will watch it.
I was curious about the McClellan reference. It wasn't just at Antietam that he disregarded Lincoln's orders to pursue and destroy the Confederate army. He did it repeatedly, and was eventually relieved of command. I think there was an interim general who was nearly as ineffective and then Grant.
I remember years ago reading "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and Hemingway made reference to "this war (the Spanish Civil War) having many McClellans." It wasn't complimentary.
I knew that they would rehearse Palin to at least look like she wasn't a complete idiot. They clearly realize that she's a complete liability.
One of the things nobody seems to be talking about is that like many purported "reformers," she was really all about replacing their "old boy" system with her own "old boy" system.
Palin is a fake and avoids any question that she does not understand. She is somewhat scary and I for one think that America would be making a big mistake to elect her and McCain to run this country for the next four years.
All that said and I agree, I wanna see her on Meet the Press.
Her handlers would NEVER let her NEAR Meet the Press.
The bitch is basically calling Obama a terrorist because he came into contact with Professor Bill Ayers who had a questionable past some 30 plus years ago but is reportedly teaching for the University of Illinois.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/04/palin.obama/index.html
This is pathetic and CNN is no better for allowing this garbage in the manner it is presented.
I personally would've liked it much much more if she had hiked her skirt and scratched her snatch.
I am a sucker for politicians who go straight for the ballotbox (nudge nudge wink wink) and as for psychopathic airheads with Twinkies for graymatter and consciences smaller than a quark, if their tits are larger than their wits they're highly electable in JerrySpringerAmerica.
Then we have the Cheney types: closest thing to demonstrable evidence of demonic possession-----the man's a national treasure.
He died years ago.
He should be encapsulated in Lucite and sent to the Smithsonian.
Please. Do it now
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