This was pretty much what I expected. I’ve been saying on Twitter (you’re following me, right?) that this is all Biden’s to lose. If she didn’t sound like a moron, she would win. She didn’t sound like a moron, so I stand by what I said: she wins.
I think her strategy worked well for her, by only staying with her talking points no matter the question she was given. I think if you didn’t know about the index card strategy, she probably came off pretty well. Regardless, it was a smart approach to the rules of the debate. She would just ignore the question and ask her own. As they’re saying on MSNBC, she asked to respond to topics that hadn’t even come up yet. The format worked well for her in that way. She was able to control the format, which kept her from having to, well, “think” on the fly. Well executed, quite frankly.
I wonder what the Couric interviews would’ve been like if she would’ve been able to bring her index cards?
Of course, it was an entirely substance free debate from Palin, and she repeated the same lies that McCain got called out for during the last debate. One wonders if non-political junkies know about the lies enough to dismiss them. I can only hope.
On FriendFeed, this post was liked by 0 people and commented on 0 times
October 3rd, 2008 at 4:39 pm
I agree completely. One of the things I found interesting last night was that the pundits were wondering what she would have said had she been pressed on just one question to answer deeper than her notecards gave her responses for. Would she have been able to give a response that contained just a little bit more than a sound bite. I liked some of her comments from an entertainment perspective, but not intellectually. Biden, on the other hand, got bit for answering some of the questions he was asked. Not kidding. We’re finally at the point where people are no longer getting mocked/derided for NOT answering questions any more, its the reverse. Sure, he wasn’t perfect, but he definitely added things to the conversations that I didn’t already know.
One other thing I found interesting, I had said before the night started that unless Sarah Palin made a complete idiot of herself, she would receive “beat expectations” marks, and Biden most certainly would not. This morning on MSNBC:
Beat expectations:
Palin: 84%
This was no shock whatsoever. For Biden, it was though.
Biden: 64% (!!!!)
I was amazed. Thoughts on that?
October 3rd, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Because people think he’s a blowhard that is gaffe-prone. It’s a bit ridiculous, but there you have it. He definitely like to talk, which is here those things come up.
October 4th, 2008 at 12:23 am
Well, we were watching CNN and they had six pundits scoring the candidates (with pluses and minuses) live. So, you got to see a score increase or decrease instantaneously every time they heard something they liked or disliked. The funny thing is when Palin and Biden came out (BEFORE the debate started), TWO pundits gave Palin a +1 for greeting Biden. Before a word was spoken, two people that get paid for their opinions on politics thought it was worth noting that Palin was doing something good within 10 seconds of walking onto the stage, before getting to her podium. All I can think is, that she didn’t trip and that was enough to grant her a point.
So, I agree that Palin would beat everyone’s expectations if that was the standard.
Biden’s numbers don’t surprise me either. I would think most people (outside of Washington) don’t know much about Biden. The Joe-six-packs (as Palin so eloquently put it) tuned in (probably to see Palin more) and saw/heard from Biden for the first time. If there was not a lot thought about him, then his debate would come across as impressive which could give him a higher expectation value.