Although Sarah Palin's ratings are tanking, Senator Biden still has to survive an anything can happen debate with her in a few weeks. Given his ability to trip over himself and given that we've never seen her in this format before, Kossacks shouldn't take anything for granted. If Biden does will, it should seal the deal for this election. If he screws it up, it could give McCain/Palin new life.
Go below the fold for an idiot-proof strategy Biden could follow and win the night.
Rather than actually debate Governor Palin and risk a misadventure, Senator Biden should simply hold up a mirror, so to speak, and let the Governor debate herself and her running partner, Senator McCain. At this point, Senator McCain has reversed himself so many times, on so many issues, that Biden should have an easy time responding to Palin attacks by pointing to John McCain's own positions that rebut whatever attacks she chooses to make.
McCain and Palin are fond of charging that Obama wants to raise taxes. And she likes to follow up by ridiculing Biden's recent statements that it is patriotic to pay taxes. To respond Biden has to note that McCain himself said the rich didn't want the Bush tax cuts, they didn't need them and it would be immoral (or something like that) to accept them. Then Biden only has to pivot and point out that the real Obama/Biden position is to cut taxes for 95 percent of the country and keep the tax rate on the remaining 5 percent below the tax rate they had under Ronald Reagan.
Biden can also undermine Palin's key talking points with the same tactic. Should Palin decide to call herself and her running mate 'the Mavericks,' Biden only has to recite the real "Bridge to Nowhere" record and talk about the many lobbyists running their campaign.
The big idea is to avoid any kind of one-on-one confrontation with her because that is a lose-lose proposition. If he 'beats her up' he is a male bully. If she beats him up, she is the giant killer.
Getting her to get into debates with her running mate, John McCain, or better yet, debates with herself, solves the problem.
Biden can also do gratuitous references to Hillary Clinton, pointing out the ways Clinton disagrees with Palin.
Finally, each time Biden parries a Palin thrust with a response about McCain, he has to remember to pivot back to a key Obama/Biden talking point.
If he can do this, and stay away from the ad-libs, he might just have a good night for himself and the rest of us.