ATLANTA— Like other John McCain supporters, I admit that I have been secretly cowed into submission by the vicious onslaught of the political left. I half expected Sarah Palin to blow this debate and kill John McCain’s already dying chances of victory. The title of this missive may be misleading. I do not think Sarah Palin body slammed Joe Biden in the debate last night. But my perception is that while she did not overwhelm, she at least performed competently and displayed once again her unique talent for communication. And frankly, this far exceeded the expectation that the political left has built for us of Mrs. Palin. For example, my liberal friends from college had developed a Sarah Palin bingo game prior to the debate, replete with “pre-packaged” talking points that they anticipated Mrs. Palin would use throughout. They were eagerly (and ruthlessly) looking forward to a gaffe-filled, rollicking good time of failure for Mrs. Palin. She did use talking points, but exhibited a little more substance than they give her credit for having. And she did not fail or make the serious gaffes they expected of her.
I’m not sure she won on the basis of not failing. But she performed very well! My opinion of Mrs. Palin and the Palin pick in general has fluctuated greatly throughout the campaign. But with this, her final big challenge, my opinion is solidifying. She is not experienced enough to be president at this point, though I do not have a problem with her as a vice president. And I’ll confess there were probably better choices McCain could have made for vice-president this year. But Mrs. Palin demonstrated last night that she has a natural ability and competence that I think could carry her to a long, impactful political career after this campaign. Should McCain lose, she would do well to spend serious time over the next few years serving Alaska well as governor and significantly deepening her knowledge of national policy issues. She has the potential to be a force in American politics in the future, once she is armed with more experience and a more comprehensive understanding of national policy.
If she survives the ruthlessness of the left in this election, she will have accomplished something tremendous in itself. I think they know the force she could be and they are trying to stamp her out now. My hope is she does survive.
As for the debate, I think Joe Biden likely won on the basis of his experience and collectedness. He was well composed throughout, which is unusual for him. And he avoided the major gaffes that have come to define him.
What are your opinions? Did Mrs. Palin exceed your expectations? Did Joe Biden win?
TennesseePaul
Stephen VanNuys
Brooklyn Daniel
The Freedom Thinker
Its easy for Palin to exceed expectations, because everyone thought she would do horrible. I thought she would break down and cry, but she proved me wrong. I think it says something that she had to go to 2 weeks of training before they would let her back on TV. Her talking like a 10 year old “Gee golly I don’t know much about the Supreme Court” doesn’t sound very stately. I don’t think thats going to help the US earn respect from other countries. Next we’ll be making the white house a reality show. I don’t think she meets the qualificaions for a Vice President.
Palin met my expectations completely. She handled Biden in the same way that she successfully handled opponents in previous debates when running for Governor.
There were no Palin-centric surprises for me in the debate and I believe she did very well in fulfilling her duties as a VP candidate.
* The GOP base is now more confident in her abilities and positions.
* The undecided have a generally better opinion of her according to polls.
* The Dems have had to admit that she did better than they expected.
* The Left – subset of Dems – have been reduced to attacking her idiom and accent, which is an attack doomed to harm them with many voters – including those in some key swing states.
Overall Palin has done very well indeed in furthering the campaign.
You must be crazy. She will go back to Alaska after the election and sink into obscurity, only remembered when her name is brought up on Jeopardy. She has no clue about her own parties policies and can’t think for herself. She will be the primary cause of Obama’s victory turning into a landslide. I weep for the Republican Party that once made a contribution to improving American government but has now brought us to this new low.
Thanks for the posts, guys. Good conversation. I want to emphasize the “coulds” in my comments above. I’m not going so far as to say Mrs. Palin “will” be a force in American politics. But she definitely has some core natural talents to possibly be one. (I understand disagreement here).
But I will say, this presidential race is now significantly favoring Barack Obama and so the spotlight should be squarely on him in October. So far, his primary qualifications for presdient seem to be his cool detachment, his eloquence, his intelligence, his international popularity, and the fact that he is not associated with the party of George W Bush. All except for the first and last of those qualifications seem ok to me. But not numbered among them are: 1) an ability to take strong, principled positions on difficult policy matters (he’s a waffler who doesn’t yet know who he is politically is my perception); and 2) significant prior demonstrations of strong executive leadership (let’s face it, he’s never led anything significant and now he could be the leader of the free world). I think these final 2 issues significantly outweigh the other items. Plus, he’s got a very liberal background that I think will make him a divider rather than a uniter of this country. And I think his economic policies may be harmful if he doesn’t attack the budget deficit (for my views on his policy, click the following link: http://americanmissive.com/2008/10/02/hurray-for-barack-obama-hes-got-the-right-plan-to-save-the-us-economy-doesnt-he/)
But that is my opinion. What are yours?
Why not just say Sarah mud wrestles Joe Biden?
Tried that one. It didn’t seem to get any attention.
Exceptionally well executed blog post!!!
Cracking piece of writing.