I posted this in Fatty's thread but I think in terms of substance Biden won going away but in terms of presentation and poise Palin narrowly won. As a lot of you have mentioned I think Palin benefitted from low expectations and all she needed to do was to appear competant. One thing that I think benefitted her was sticking to areas that she is stronger in even to the point of ignoring completely some of the moderators questions. That kept her from appearing lost as she did in the one on one interviews. I think the difference was the debate format that having Biden there the moderator couldn't focus constantly on Palin and press her.
I think the whole likable, he/she is one of us, reaching out to us thing is overblown. Look, I have a friend and I like him but I also realize there are things he cannot quite do or should not be able to do. Who cares if you like them, show me how they will be good at the position you want to put them in.
In your opinion, that's looking competent? IMO that's incompetence. If you can't answer a question, you shouldn't be running for the nation's second highest office and a heartbeat away from the presidency. I only watched 1 hour and that's all I needed to confirm Sarah Palin makes GWB look like Einstein.
Anybody that thinks Palin would be a good VP is already in McCain's corner. Very few independents and swing voters will swing to McCain based on that debate while I'm sure many decided they cannot vote for McCain because she can't be made one heartbeat away from the presidency. When people are saying Palin "won" because she didn't come across as stupid as expected, that is a good thing for the Dems. When not seeming stupid is viewed as a victory, it is no victory at all. Last night helped Obama/Biden. The GOP "base" that loves Palin no matter what will not decide this election. They have found a new hero. Good for them.
I talked to some co-workers and they said they think Palin won. I asked why? They said she connected with the audience. To me that is nothing new. Palin is more likely to be my neighbor than Biden but would I want her to be VP? No. I am judging the debate on answers...not looking into the camera, smiling, and giving canned responses while ignoring the moderators questions. I want my representatives in DC to be smarter than me!
It really isn't so uncommon for candidates to ignore questions in presidential debates. I think it's easier for some to call out Palin on that tactic because of the existing questions about her readiness and her screw-ups in interviews. She's getting the Quayle feeding-frenzy. That's not to suggest it is illegitimate, but other candidates were able to bluff their way through with the same tactic.
On winning: I think Palin was, to an historic degree, bleeding McCain's campaign to death. The idea that McCain is quite old and that Palin is quite unprepared makes people quite uncomfortable. The campaign has done a decent job of making sure McCain looks hearty, but they can't make him younger. So, they need to keep Palin from looking incompetent. So, Palin may have stopped the bleeding a bit with a decent showing in the debate. People who want to vote for McCain can be slightly less frightened of doing so. I'm not sure if somewhat staving off complete disaster counts as winning.
Polls like this suck because the posters in this forum lean so far left. Conservatives are going to say Palin won, and Liberals are going to say Biden won for the most part. The truth is that they both did incredibly well, and both parties walked away happy with the perfomance of their candidate. Palin was exciting and performed well, even though I could hear her nervousness at the beginning. She gained confidence throughout the debate, and altough I agree she is not ready to be president I could really see myself wanting her for the position in the future. Biden didn't do anything stupid, which was really the only thing he had to do. He came off very impressive to me as well. I've been against Biden more so than Obama, but I really liked the way he handled himself during the debate. I'm just feeling more comfortable with either VP being President than I was 24hrs ago.
Purely objective standpoint, Biden won. Palin didn't reverse the fears that she's a horrendous pick for VP, but she did show that she could be competent in a reduced role given time and considerable help. My wife put it best by describing her last night as a kid that crammed well for an exam. Where she may have won, aside from the beating expectations angle, was courting the small town voter. Educated urban voters are decidely against her, and generally siding with Obama.....but these are the same voters that detested GWB and he still got reelected without much issue. The polar demographic can be much more influential than given credit for. Maybe they aren't voting for the "right" guys, but they can push an election. I have no clue if Palin is going to have any real impact there - but if you are a person who detests career politicians...she does stand out against the other 3. Don't take any of the above as a personal approval or fondness towards her. Just speculating if she could successfully court Jack & Diane. Evan
Difference between saying Palin won the debate and Palin scored "a" win with the debate. It is "a" win for Palin that she debated well last night, but Biden won the debate. I think most would agree with that. Maybe some feel the debate was a draw since neither really convinced a large number of undecided voters and certainly no one would be compelled to reverse a previous backing of either candidate. Evan
The only reason people say palin won is because she didnt totally collapse like she did in her other public unscripted interviews. Really i'd like to see a poll of how many posters are left or right to go along with this poll.
Compared to her interview with Couric, yes. I don't fault her for not answering all of the questions as that is a common tactic in debates. Heck Biden didn't even answer all of the questions directed at him. While substantively she left a lot to be desired she didn't come off as a dumb@ss.
and what did they win? votes? popularity? confidence? I didn't see anyone hand out a trophy. I think there are more democratic voters than republican going to the polls in Nov. and more independents leaning towards Obama's speeches. So I'm picking him to win. Palin is more qualified in my mind to be in office because she doesn't have politcal experience. That makes her my favorite candidate so far. It doesn't take political experience to run a country well, it takes high moral character, good judgment, intelligence, policy that adds value and a good team around you. I don't know if she has all that, but she is lacking in politics- which is a big plus. Didn't you all watch "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" ?
