While Biden was picked for many reasons, one major reason was his ability to "rip into" his opponents in a debate. Now, with the nomination of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Biden will have a formidable terrain to navigate if he wants to attack his rival without coming off as sexist. This is slightly exacerbated by his penchant for speaking off the cuff and occasionally flubbing up. To counter this, the Obama campaign will want to prep Biden with on-issue, non-personal attacks on Palin. However as the New York Times reports:
Mr. Obama’s advisers said that compared with the mountains of data they had gathered on Mr. Pawlenty and Mr. Romney, they had far less information on Ms. Palin. Their dossier consisted of a thin document based mainly on her run for governor and newspaper clips.
Now, some issues like Palin's militant opposition to Abortion and such like are well known, but unfortunately it may largely be the case that due to the paucity of good YouTube videos or other established lines of attack, Gov. Sarah Palin could prove to be a very malleable and slippery opponent. By and large, her public image, especially on a policy level, is an unformed hunk of clay that McCain and Co. will shape to fit their needs at the moment.
Biden will likely not be able to fall back on ridiculing previous policy positions or quotes of Palin's as there are very few on the record. And for the most part whatever is on the record she can easily and without appearing to flip-flop pivot out of by saying "I am McCain's Vice-president and as such I will follow his lead on this issue, which is...".
Conversely, for issues that McCain is wedded to but which his campaign wants to reach out to other voters on (either Base or Swing voters) she can easily, and probably without contradicting any of her previous statements say something like "While I respect Sen. McCains position on this issue, my position is... <insert focus tested answer here>"
If Palin does develop in this way, shifting around to dodge attacks, then a line Biden can use in the debate might be something like this:
"With all due respect Governor... Who are you?"
This does not insult her as a woman but does call into question her established core, like a "where's the beef line".
Another likely rhetorical position Palin and McCain are likely to steak out, if they are serious about going after the Clinton vote, is comparing her to Hillary.
This leads itself to a very simple riposte for Biden in the debate:
"I know Hilliary Clinton. I serve with Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton is a friend of mine. You, madam, are NO Hillary Clinton"
Finally the most important issue will be confronting her for being a foreign policy light weight, without seeming to be confrontational or condescending.
One important tactic, especially in the debate, will be to have Biden have very impressive but concise summaries of his detailed policy positions to stand in comparison to her. Instead of confronting her, make Biden look vastly qualified (which won't be hard because he IS) and let her fight and struggle to fix the imbalance.
But, the moment will likely come where the moderator will ask Biden to comment on her lack of experience on some issue. One response I feel would be effective is something like the following:
"Moderator: Some have said that Gov. Palin lacks the foreign policy experience to be Vice-President, let alone president. What is your Opinion on that?"
"Biden: Well look, McCain says that he puts Country First, and as such I am sure he would not leave the country in the hands of a neophyte, as you suggest Gov. Palin is. I'm not that familiar with her past accomplishments or positions on Foreign policy issues, and I'll let her speak for herself, but I am sure she has detailed positions on vital issues like Nuclear Proliferation where Obama and I [insert detailed policy] or Darfur where Obama and I will work towards [insert detailed policy] or Russia where I [insert experience] or Port Security where [insert detailed policy]."
Basically attack her by defending yourself. Don't ever say flat out "she is inexperienced" just say, "I'm sure she has detailed positions on these vital issues, I just don't know what they are... but here is my position and my experience".
It should be an interesting season. Biden will not be able to sink his teeth into his opponents as he otherwise might of, but with a little forethought and strategy, Obama Biden should be able to destroy McCain Palin without stepping on the land-mines that McCain has put out there with his VP pick. It will be fun to watch