Watched the vice presidential debate tonight, and I have just a few (completely immaterial) observations.
1) I'd much rather watch Obama debate McCain again. This was a debate with three very fast talkers (including Gwen Ifil), and I'm not certain I could watch another with my heart exploding. Say what you will about McCain, but the man can pause. Sometimes even inexplicably.
2) Cutest moment of the debate? I'd have to say when Palin mistakenly called Biden "O'Biden," and then continued talking, slowly realizing what she'd done as Biden grinned from ear to ear. It was a really nice, human moment for both of them. (Not that she's the only one who flubbed words. I think Biden at one point referred to Israel as "Obama." Maybe I misheard.)
3) Filthiest talking point? Hands down, it was when Palin said, "In that arena, John McCain has already tapped me."
4) Sarah Palin's debating style seemed to be all about dodging questions and saying her talking points over and over again in all of her answers. It reminded me of the "death blossom" maneuver in The Last Starfighter, in which Alex Rogan (Lance Guest) initiates the special attack, in which his spaceship spins around and discharges all its weapons at the same time. Maverick, Small Town, Washington Outsider, Maverick, Lower Taxes, Maverick, Surge. It should be awesome:
But it's not. Maybe it was more impressive back in 1984 when Reagan did it.
Still, Palin kept it together and avoided any of the ridiculous moments she's been plagued with these past two weeks. Only one of her answers seemed laughable to me -- when she talked about global warming she threw so many disparate elements into one sentence that parts of my poor copy-editor brain nearly shot out my left eye.
Judged as a debate, with arguments backed up by logic and fact, Biden blew Palin out of the sky. But that's not how these things go, and overall, Palin easily stepped over the low bar that was set for her. I'd be surprised if it moved a lot of votes, though.
Rob
Friday, October 03, 2008
Veep Debate
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3 comments:
I thought she did better than expected, if only for her being coached. I thought that
she was throwing out answers left and right just to see what would
stick - even if they had little to do with the question at hand.
From a presentation perspective: At the beginning I noticed her voice
wavering and cracking. She had this constant beauty queen smile on,
which to me was very disingenuous. Smiling like that makes me not
trust her, and the little eye winks and "you betcha"s were like a used
car salesman. "Oh yah...this car gets 50 MPG and will make you the
envy of your friends, you betcha!" *eye wink* It's like she's trying
to charm the bejeezus off Americans. Some will buy it, and some
won't.
Also - why was she constantly looking down at the podium? Crib notes?
She didn't come prepared with facts she knew from experience,
only facts that had been fed to her. Biden on the other hand came
with 30 years of experience, and so was very comfortable and at ease
with spouting off facts and staying to the topic at hand most of the
time. He also was able to come off as a more "real" person, he didn't
need to smile all the time and had a nice flow going.
--*Rob
Oh, certainly Palin came off as chirpy and plastic and pretty one-note. But considering the alternative (that we all tuned in to see), she did pretty well. Like I said, it was a bar low enough to step over, and she did it without tripping.
I've seen plastic that was more genuine than Palin appeared, even if it was only genuine plastic. And I've seen blow-up dolls that exuded more humanity. Either one would be more trustworthy.
Maybe it's just as you say, that the bar had been set so low, but I'm astonished at the "journalists" who've said she performed well. Huh? Okay, compared to her previous embarrassments, this could be seen as an improvement. But that doesn't mean that she performed well. By any criteria other than comparison to herself, Palin's performance was at best superficial and at times inept. Most significantly, it was obviously a performance.
I've more or less resigned myself to the sad fact that these debates don't involve any real debating. But watching Palin smile and feign charisma made me feel like I was watching an infomercial.
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