Tonight's VP debate

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Okay fellow Hampsters,

What's your prediction for tonight's debate? Will Palin perform? Can she help McCain's floundering campaign? Will she make a huge gaffe? Will Biden make a huge gaffe? Better question, how many gaffes will Biden make?

Here's Marc Ambinder talking about the debate -

Quote:

The Weight Of The World On Gov. Palin

02 Oct 2008 01:40 pm

Going into this debate, Gov. Sarah Palin is the story. Every look, glance, gesture, utterance, sentence, every alveolar sound will be dissected and compared to her resonant convention speech in September.

Headed out of the debate, the McCain campaign wants Sen. Joe Biden, and, by proxy, Sen. Obama, to be the story.

There is no single expectation level for Palin to meet tonight. There are, quite obviously, a half dozen different levels corresponding to the difference audiences.

The American public wants to know whether Gov. Palin has the stature to stand on the world stage with Biden, Obama and McCain, that she is not manifestly different; that she is exceptional.

Unengaged liberal Democrats are waiting for her to drag her knuckles across the stage.

Engaged liberal Democrats expect her to emote and preen, to be folksy and rural, to avoid substance.

In the McCain campaign: frankly, expectations are high -- perhaps nowhere higher. The weight of the world is on Gov. Palin; she needs to avoid mistakes, challenge Sen. Biden, help to turn the narrative of the race back to Barack Obama, and to recapture her public image.

The media -- well, various different elements are watching for different things. Some, let's be honest, expect a knuckle-dragger too, but others will give her the win if she avoids major errors and finds a way to rise above her talking points.

The Obama campaign believes that the expectations game is absurd. Joe Biden cannot be mean, but he can't be nice, because that would be sexist too. He can't be too senatorial, but he can't be too regular, etc. Aides expect Joe Biden to do just fine.

Professional conservatives hope that Palin comes off as minimally competent.

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/the_weight_of_the_world_on_gov.php#more

What are you looking for?

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@Cycloptichorn,

I don't think I can watch it live and it's killing me!

(9PM EST + school night + over-sensitive hearing-ear kid. I tried to watch the Obama acceptance speech after I put her to bed for the night and she woke up. Just kept her up and had her watch it too and brought her to school late the next day. Can't do that tomorrow.) (Matters more than usual because she gets sick at the drop of a hat this time of year, and lack of sleep is a major risk factor.)

ANYWAY, I think Palin will do better than expected.

I think she will make gaffes, but I'm not sure if she'll make any gaffes that she is immediately called on. Take the "right to privacy" thing from the Couric interview. It's a gaffe because it undercuts a lot of the opposition to Roe vs. Wade -- but that's a bit too esoteric for most people.

If she makes that kind of gaffe -- the kind that the pundit class bemoans but nobody else really cares about -- I think she'll come out OK.

What I'll be looking for is the outright, no-spin gaffe -- like one of those incredibly ungrammatical, nonsensical sentences, hopefully ending with some stammering and then a blank look. Or just an instant whopper, one that she can be called on immediately rather than the next day, after the fact-checkers have done their thing. The "can you name an example of...?" ones seem to be a good way to stump her, too.

Just, something that your average voter would watch and realize that Palin is in waaaaaaaaaay over her head, not something that makes them think "whatever, she seems like a nice person..."

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@Cycloptichorn,

I usually get a big laugh out of watching Palin talk. I was hoping that she would provide similar entertainment tonight. However, she will probably be glued to specific talking points.

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@Cycloptichorn,

Palin would not be able to speak to the issues of domestic and international as in depth as Biden. Palin will mostly skim over with her answers without going into much detail, because she just doesn't know as much as Biden.

It's for Biden to lose.

Palin can't say, "I'll get back to ya."

1 Reply

@Cycloptichorn,

I predict at the end of the debate the audience will be shocked at how well Palin has done... But then she'll suddenly say, "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!" and everyone will realize that it's been Tina Fey all along and it's all a big joke.

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PArt of me wants her to do real well because, should she fail, Obama will slide in and not be forced to work hard in his campaign , nor to listen to the people 's requests.. Obama and Biden need to hear and formulate plans as to how to get this country out of the morass its in.
I think, as important as the economy, I feel that Obama should schedule a sit down with Uhlmert to let him know that --Should Isreal attack Irans nook facilities, well just stand back and not come to their aid. "At least thats what Id ask him to do ".If he had the courage to pull it off or not , I dont know.

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@farmerman,

farmerman, I've written to Senator Feinstein on every important issue facing our country, and she's apposed my recommendations 100% of the time.

On the current financial crisis, I told her that bailing out banks and finance companies who have essentially put themselves in this position should not be bailed out with taxpayer money. Also, that this one-dimensional bailout to only help the finance industry will not help our country dig out of this crisis; that we need are jobs. I recommended the Public Works program, because that puts people to work which in turn creates more demand for consumer goods that creates more jobs, and that also has the benefit of increasing the tax base.

I'm totally discouraged with how the Senate voted with their added pork with no expansion of the program beyond the "bailouts."

Congress can relieve this crisis by providing cash to the banks and finance companies to provide cash to small businesses and consumers who have good credit. They can then work on that "other" stuff.

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@cicerone imposter,

I think she'll do well. They trained her for this event, just like they do with
the "American Idol" contestants. She is not dumb just ignorant on may issues,
and they had enough time to coach her on important subjects.

I can't wait for Saturday Night Live to recapture the most memorable moments
of tonight. Laughing

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@CalamityJane,

She'll "appear" very well, but she won't have the depth of knowledge of Biden. You can't learn that in one week, no matter who it is. Especially someone cloistered in a state that's surrounded by "foreign countries."

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Turns out you can play along at home.

http://www.palinbingo.com/Palinbingo.jpg.jpg

printable cards at the link.

http://www.palinbingo.com/

Cycloptichorn

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@cicerone imposter,

I expect it to be a boring 90 minutes. The format allows for little interaction between them. So each will stick to scripts that have written at the top: "Stick to the script."
A lot of folks will be watching. Not meaning to be cynical, but a lot of folks will be watching hoping to see a train wreck.

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Frankly, I don't think it matters how well or how awful Palin does tonight. Most people know about the agonizing hours that her handlers had to endure to prepare her. I hope that preparation pays off so she doesn't embarrass herself or our nation. Even if she makes it through the debate without evoking too many cringes--and we can all breathe a sigh of relief--she's still unfit to be vice president.

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@realjohnboy,

rjb, Unless she really pulls a boner, she will do just fine if we base tonight's debate to the one they've been shown on tv when she ran for governor.

The only difference tonite is that over 50-million Americans will be watching, and all will give their .02c worth on who won.

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@realjohnboy,

I think she'll do well and I don't think there will be much substance. I don't plan on watching and if I end up missing a train wreck it will all over the media for days/weeks to come.

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@JPB,

JPB wrote: ". . . I don't plan on watching. . . ."

I'm going to "force" myself to watch because I enjoy Biden; but the thought of listening to "Fingernails-on-a-Chalkboard" Palin for such an extended period of time is not pleasing.

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@JPB,

Clarification: train wreck = EITHER one of them crashes. I should have said that better.

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@JPB,

i may watch it or i may wash my hair, i haven't decided.

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@Cycloptichorn,

I don't think I will be able stand to watch it. More than likely she will do well enough for everyone to say she did great forgetting just how clueless she has been in her interviews just last week. (Before anyone says it, I might be just as clueless but then I am not running for VP with a man who does not seem to be in the best of health making her a heartbeat away from being president.)

Read this on yahoo just a few minutes ago.

Quote:

Palin’s new plan: Go after Biden

ST. LOUIS " Sarah Palin plans to go on the attack in tonight’s debate, hitting Joe Biden for what she will call his foreign policy blunders and penchant for adopting liberal positions on taxes and other issues, according to campaign officials involved in prepping her for tonight’s showdown.

The Palin camp is projecting surprising self-confidence in the pre-debate hours, despite the vice presidential nominee’s uneven " and, at some points, peculiar " performances in recent television interviews, the officials say. Top advisers to John McCain privately say Palin’s recent CBS interview was a borderline disaster, especially since it played out in several segments over several days. Tonight will be different, they say.

“This is going to finally put her back into a position where we see her like we saw her the first couple weeks,” a McCain official said. “She was herself. She was authentic, and people related to that. ... Tonight, she’ll get into a rhythm. You’re going to see her in a way that you haven’t seen her yet.”

By contrast, Biden plans what an aide calls "a just-the-facts, prosecutorial approach laying out the case against McCain and defending Obama." The aide said Biden will be "keeping the eye on the target, which is McCain."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/14220;_ylt=AmpV_l0lU8ibkcny9Tdt9Jkb.3QA

It might work, be too depressing for words.

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If its a debate about issues, she should do pretty well.
If it becomes a trivia contest, about the names of third world dictators that mean nothing to the US or about who has passed the most legislation in the last 30+ years, she will probably lose.

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@mysteryman,

Quote:

If its a debate about issues, she should do pretty well.

Indeed, she has been given 10 good solid answers and if any of them should connect to any of the questions she is asked she should do well.

1 Reply

Tonight's VP debate

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