It's Official: The American People say Joe Biden wiped the mat with Sarah Palin - and for good reason.
Democratic Party Vice Presidential Candidate Joe Biden (D-Delaware) scored a resounding victory over Republican Party Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) last night at the sole debate between the two this election season.
The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. said 51 percent of those polled thought Biden did the best job, while 36 percent thought Palin did the best job. Uncommitted voters who watched the vice presidential debate thought Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden did the best job by a margin of more than two to one, according to a CBS News/Knowledge Networks poll taken immediately following the debate. Forty-six percent of these uncommitted viewers said Biden won the debate Thursday night, while 21 percent said Palin won.
Those are the facts as stated by the ultimate judges of who won the debate - the American people. Now, for the analysis from The Democratic Tribune:
This debate was the quintessential "style versus substance" match-up. On one side, you had a Republican standing very much in league with current President George W. Bush with regards to grasp of knowledge and a willingness to gloss over what was actually being asked in an effort to spout continuous talking points. On the other side, you had an intelligent, articulate candidate who answered each question with passion and detail while simultaneously successfully linking the Republican incumbents to that party's president of the present - George W. Bush.
It was obvious from the start that Palin had been coached to parrot a few lines her campaign believed were winners - regardless of what question was being asked. When she actually did answer a question, her answers were astoundingly suspect. She falsely claimed that both Biden and Obama voted for the "largest tax increase in American history". She botched the name of the U.S General on the ground in Afghanistan and failed to recognize a direct quote from that General regarding the incongruence of the surge in Iraq and a potential surge in Afghanistan - then was schooled on who actually holds power in Iran i.e. the theocracy.
Among the list of questions Palin failed to answer were McCain's health care plan, McCain's record of supporting deregulation, bankruptcy reform, thresholds for nuclear weapon use and proliferation policies, and her strategy for Darfur. She even openly admitted during the debate that she would not answer the questions posed to her during the course of the debate - a statement that was responded to very negatively by the focus group voters on CNN.
I thought that Sarah Palin made several telling statements regarding the true nature of the McCain campaign and its congruence with the Bush administration that the Obama campaign will pick up on and run with in the days to come. Palin's assertion that "Iraq is the central front in the war on terror" will not be received very well by a voting public that ran Republicans out of power in the congress in 2006 over that very issue. She also suggested that under a McCain-Palin administration, she would like to see the powers of the Vice Presidency expanded beyond those presently held by Dick Cheney - which should go over really well with those undecided voters who already hold the Bush administration accountable for the abuse of power of this government and the accompanying unpopular War in Iraq. Even her own party's senators scoffed at the notion that she would receive expanded powers that reach into the senate after the debate.
Joe Biden, on the other hand, was concise and articulate in his detailed answers to the questions regarding the issues of our day. Several times he answered the questions that Palin refused to address - and his successful attacks on McCain's record and attachment to Bush resonated with voters of all parties who watched the debate. He successfully dispelled the myth that McCain is some sort of 'Maverick' by pointing out important instances where McCain sided with Bush on public policy areas. He hammered McCain on his record of supporting deregulation in the financial markets - another point that received rave reviews from the viewing audience.
To the Scorecard for this debate:
Sarah Palin
In the respect that she did not stumble when delivering answers, Palin exceeded expectations for one reason: The bar had been set so low that even the most ardent limbo expert could not have walked underneath it. She delivered short-speech responses that did not address crucial public policy issues facing this country. She did not demonstrate the grasp of domestic and foreign policy issues that a president of vice president must have to govern this nation in an effective manner. In the end, she did not qualify herself for the office of Vice President, let alone President of the United States.
Grade = C
Joe Biden
Biden had a sky-high expectation level for this debate - and he exceeded that threshold via his ability to connect with the working class on economic and foreign policy matters and his command of the issues of our time. Not only did he answer each question with expertise and clarity, but he even took the opportunity to answer the many questions that Palin refused to address. His personal story regarding losing his wife and raising his children as a single dad was moving, and the very real emotion he showed when giving his testimony touched many viewers of all parties. He was the expert and she was the novice - a fact that was not lost on the American voting public that saw Biden as the clear debate winner.
Grade = A
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