More debate notes below.
Before the debate, I thought that Gov. Palin was almost guaranteed to exceed expectations because the expectations were so low. I felt a mediocre performance would be enough to help her fortunes because even mediocrity would be better than what we’ve seen of her on SNL and her interviews with Katie Couric.
I suspect I’m wrong. In her first response, all I could hear was the voice of Tina Fey. And while I can’t know the thoughts of independent and undecided voters, if they heard Tina Fey’s voice too, then it means it wasn’t enough for Palin to have a mediocre performance. It means she needed to directly strike at the heart of the image of her as a blathering lightweight by providing detailed, specific responses that would reassure the public: “Those past interviews were one-time flubs. This is the real me.” I don’t she did that anytime during the debate.
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Live blogging (sorry I don’t have many direct quotes):
9:02 Here we go. Why am I nervous?
9:03 Palin (shaking Biden’s hand): “Can I call you Joe?” Nice. Came off classy.
9:04 Joe is talking fast in his first response.
(AXELROD: “Hey Joe, do you think you could, I don’t know how to put this…be on the “concise” side in the debate.”
BIDEN: “Nope.”
AXELROD: “Okay, how about you talk faster so you finish earlier and it at least appears concise.”
BIDEN” I will literally do that.”)
9:06 Uh oh. Palin is talking and all I can hear is Tina Fey...
9:09 Palin makes the case for youth, energy, reform...um, Governor? You know who your running mate is?
9:10 PALIN: “Never will we be exploited and taken advantage of again.” Her feelings towards McCain?
9:11 Shorter Biden: Here are some facts about McCain that you probably don’t know since you just met him last month.
9:12 Joe is solid. This is going better than I thought it would.
9:13 Palin is going to ignore every subject thing she doesn’t know about.
9:14 Oh shit. Biden is on FIRE! (Note: Sorry, didn’t write down what he was saying. But it was fire-ous!)
9:15 Shorter Palin: I’m not going to fall into your trap and answer the questions that the moderator asks.
9:17 Joe is going to have to try mighty hard not to seem condescending. I mean, she’s asking for it.
9:18 Ifill follow-up to Palin: “Are you interested in answering the question I asked?”
9:21 Ifill asks Biden what parts of their plan will have to be curtailed because of the financial crisis + recession. Biden: Helping brown people. (foreign assistance) Very political.
9:26 Biden is doing a good job tying things back to McCain.
9:27 I was afraid Palin would come off looking smart. I’ll take her not looking dumb.
9:29 Palin strategy: I hope people’s memories don’t last longer than 2 minutes. Cause I’m not answering the questions I was asked.
9:36 Biden stands up for same-sex equality.
9:39 But not gay marriage.
9:39 Ifill is doing a good job. I don’t see how anyone will be able to complain about her performance.
9:40 Palin turns Biden’s past statement about Obama against him. I expect to see this a few more times.
9:41 Biden has a great response about ending the war in Iraw. He points out that Maliki and Bush has come around to Obama’s position, and coaches the withdrawal from Iraq in terms of responsibility (Iraqis taking responsibility of their own country).
9:43 I think Palin is sounding like an idiot, but I’m biased.
9:50 I love that Biden and Obama are still bringing up McCain’s comment about not knowing if he’ll meet with the President of Spain. We need to meet immediately with any country that has tapas.
9:55 Shorter Biden: Where’s the beef, Palin?
9:57 PALIN TALKING POINT OVERLOAD.
9:58 I feel like Biden is wiping the floor in his follow-up responses to Palin.
10:00 Palin’s first specific response of the night (about Afghanistan).
10:02 Biden’s first so-so response of the night. Rambling answer about Bosnia, Darfour, and Iraq. You know how some people subconsciously adopt the speech patterns of those around them? Well, he’d been debating Palin for the past hour.
10:05 I can’t tell whether I’m starting to lose interest because of the content or because I’m getting sober. Better drink some more beer and makes this a single-variable study.
10:07 If you watch Palin in slow motion, you can see the exact moment where she switches from a rambling, improvised response to a rehearsed speech.
10:09 Shorter Palin: Yeah, it would be a real shame if McCain died. (Watch your back, McCain!)
10:14 Palin on her potential responsibilities: If I’m V.P. John McCain said I could have energy independence and retarded children.
10:16 You have to rewatch this moment. Ifill sneaks in a question Palin didn’t prepare for, and she has a flash of panic.
10:18 I think for Palin, this is going to end up being a rally-the-base performance, not a convince-independents performance
10:20 Biden chokes up talking about his family. It was a nice moment.
10:22 Direct quote on Palin: “[McCain] is the man we need to leave..uh. Lead!”
10:23 Biden sinks his teeth into the maverick image and tears it apart like a steak. I like it.
10:26 Palin will never do a press conference. She can’t answer most questions directly and has dodged almost every follow-up question.
10:28 Question: how is Palin’s family diverse? Not snide, just curious. She mentioned it twice. I don’t know anything about her family.
10:29 Biden was gaffe-free as far as I can tell. I suspect there will be some people disappointed that he didn’t eviscerate Palin, just as people were disappointed Obama wasn’t more aggressive in his first debate with McCain. I think those people are wrong in both cases. Biden did a great job. Being more aggressive would have been a mistake.
Palin closing statement: “I like talking to people without the mainstream media filter.” How does that filter work? Is it like a screen door? A red-tinted sheet? Hugh Hewitt, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity: here she comes!