Spotty live-blogging of the vice presidential debate to follow...9:41 p.m. (Eastern Time): This is my first time watching a debate on CNN. They have a goofy biofeedback box on the bottom of the screen, measuring the instantaneous reactions of a group of “uncommitted Ohio voters.”
Whenever Sarah Palin starts talking, that graph takes a dip.
9:54 p.m.: How many times does Palin say the word “also”? She just said it five times in one answer – the one about Israel.
Wish I had started counting from the beginning. She’ll probably say “also” a hundred times tonight.
10:14 p.m.: “Say it ain’t so, Joe.” Sarah’s been waiting to uncork that one all night... and it showed. She doesn’t understand, evidently, that the devastating effect of Ronald Reagan’s “There you go again” line was that it seemed spontaneous.
10:25 p.m.: Palin on McCain: “He is the man we need to leave...” She meant to say “lead.” Heh.
She did a good job tonight, though... compared to expectations. But I don’t think I heard an original thought out of her. It was an exercise in talking points.
Sarah Palin may not be an albatross around McCain’s neck after tonight... but no longer is she the wind beneath his wings also.
Yep, she winked. And worse she keeps staring at the camera, it's wierd.
ReplyDeleteGood grief she talks fast.
I saw that wink too. She didn't impress me either.
ReplyDeleteI hope Prez. Obama does a good job.
9:54 p.m.: How many times does Palin say the word “also”? She just said it five times in one answer – the one about Israel.
ReplyDeleteI didn't notice until you mentioned it. Now that I'm paying attention, you are so right. (Is that a "word whisker?")
How many flippin' times does she have to say "maverick"? Okay, not as many times as "also" but it's becoming a cliché (if it isn't already).
Good grief she talks fast.
ReplyDeleteEarlier on Palin said: "Barack Obama and Senator OBiden."
I'm glad Biden addressed that "maverick" thing.
Whew. I got lost in a blizzard of words.
ReplyDeletethe weird thing about her is that i don't think she said anything that wasn't scripted. i'm not impressed by her but hey...she set the bar pretty low.
ReplyDeleteThe word is NUCLEAR, not NUKULAR. AAARRRRRRGGGGHHH!
ReplyDeleteI think she exceeded expectations, inasmuch as she didn’t vomit on the podium.
ReplyDelete.
That being said, she showed two “tells”. Whenever she was trying to work out an answer in her head, she started that down-home cutzie bit. Then, when she was reading the talking points she had been taught, she did the deer in the headlights stare into the camera.
.
Overall she did better than I expected. But I don’t think it will make a difference. McCain might get a bump, but he’s still going to get spanked on election day.
I thought Ifill's questions were too open-ended, basically tossing words like "Iraq", "Wall Street" and "Energy" into the air and allowing Palin to respond with her memorized talking points. Ifill needed to ask more probing questions and to demand more specificity. Palin answered the question she wanted to answer and Ifill rarely followed up.
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree, what's with the winking and the "you betchas"? She behaved like a candidate for City Council. It wasn't the disaster for her as some predicted, but she simply lacks Biden's gravitas.
I seriously doubt this will reverse McCain's slide.
I decided to digest the debate on my own without watching any talking heads do it on TV. Although now I really wish I knew what the focus groups did with their sliders when she winked at them.
ReplyDeleteAnd worse she keeps staring at the camera, it's wierd.
ReplyDeleteThat's called "talking directly to the American public", and most viewers will eat it right up. Meanwhile Biden spent most of his time looking at Gwen Ifill, sounding a little too wonk-y. I'm afraid this will be scored a Palin victory.
So the question is: Did she "Hoodwink" America?
ReplyDeleteShe clearly did better than I expected- The Cram paid off- She got off to a good start but Biden managed to get her on the ropes and punch away pretty often. I was surprised at how well she danced around the questions though. Exactly how many questions did she not answer?
Biden beat her up on the issues and did a fine job of making it about McCain and not about Palin. He presented his positions well. Stumbled over some words at times but not too bad.
But will "middle america" fall for the sweet innocent routine? Will the smile pay off? Will they be duped, hoodwinked and bamboozled? I think not. I think Palin wins for herself (she didn't fall on her face) But McCain loses this debate.
^ Yep, IntrepidIdeas. I wonder how different the landscape would look right now if there hadn't been a financial crisis?
ReplyDeleteOnce the economic stakes got high, Palin's repetoire of smiles, flirts, eye-dancing and word salads became a total sideshow.
Exactly how many questions did she not answer?
ReplyDelete"She's a master of the nonanswer."
Once the economic stakes got high, Palin's repetoire of smiles, flirts, eye-dancing and word salads became a total sideshow.
ReplyDeleteYeah, she's all folksy and charming. If she is ever a heartbeat away from being president it'll probably look a little like this.
UBM, you noticed that too huh? I also noticed how you stuck that "also" after wind beneath his wings. That's funny.... You're a genius!
ReplyDeleteLOL, liked how you ended with the word "also" - you caught the bug. But let's admit, if she got through alive she would've exceeded expectations, does that make her the winner - no. It makes her simply a survivor. But still a loser. Canned statements will not get her into the white house.
ReplyDeleteFor the record, if she would've mentioned how diverse and tolerant she is one more time to the black moderator, my head would've exploded.
And I agree, what's with the winking and the "you betchas"?
ReplyDeleteI was waiting for her to stuff Biden in the woodchipper. Also, maverick.
My fave part of the debate was Biden hammering the similarities between McCain and Bush to where it almost sounded like he was saying "McCainbush."
Isn't it a shame that exceeding low expectations is considered a good thing for Palin. After all she's running for the second most powerful office in the world.
ReplyDelete(Canada is looking better and better every day)
Every poli has a "Home Depot" or two stored away....but are people dumb enough to believe that "turn it on - turn it off" folksiness was sincere? Straight Talk? Stratford on Avon or Stepford on Fargo?
ReplyDeletealso,
Mes deux cents....the bus be startin, u betcha.
The HuffPo called it an eye lash problem. I cannot believe that I woke at 3:00 a.m. to watch it. I'm gonna pay for this.
ReplyDeleteI know it's traditional to have the kids around for the photo op, but having an infant and seven year old at the debate was ridiculous. Doesn't that girl have home school in the morning? And if you're going to have a baby out late, let him sleep in the infant seat. I know she's a lousy mom, but watching it on display is painful.
I laughed at the "leave" slip too. I thought Ifill did a good job in that she just lobbed questions, but Sarah rarely answered the questions. When asked what she thought her true achilles heel was she launched into her speech about her great record as mayor and governor.
ReplyDeleteShe didn't answer the question asked so many times I wondered if I was stoned and missing something.
I watched Fox News for the recap and 85% of those viewers felt she'd won and the coverage was like viewing some alternate reality.
The whole thing just makes me go "huh?"
"Once the economic stakes got high, Palin's repetoire of smiles, flirts, eye-dancing and word salads became a total sideshow."
ReplyDelete"WORD SALADS." looooooooooool
PALIN: "One thing that Americans do at this time, also, though, is let's commit ourselves just every day American people, Joe Six Pack, hockey moms across the nation, I think we need to band together and say never again"...
ReplyDeleteevery day American people
Joe Six Pack
hockey moms
across the nation
we need to band together
say never again
don't live outside of our means
we need to create jobs
heat up our economy
...
There was a speech that Grahame Coats gave, before he fired someone. He was very proud of his speech.
"Into each life," he began, "a little rain must fall. There's no cloud without a silver lining."
"It's an ill wind," offered Spider, "that blows no one good."
"Ah. Yes. Yes indeed. Well. As we pass through this vale of tears, we must pause to reflect that-"
"The first cut," said Spider, "is the deepest."
"What? Oh." Grahame Coats scrabbled to remember what came next. "Happiness," he pronounced," is like a butterfly." ...
from Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
Let us not forget that she gave a SHOUT OUT! WTF
ReplyDeleteShe said John McCain knows how to win a war. She does know that Vietnam is not in our "W" column, right?
ReplyDeleteY'all catch it at the end where she told Gwen Ifill,
ReplyDelete"Bless your heart!"
When my Alabama born mom and her sorority sisters use that expression, it's not entirely benevolent.
^She also did the "bless your heart" thing a couple of times. I reckon most people didn't get it, doggone it.
ReplyDelete'That's Entertainment'
ReplyDeleteListen to her....she's a female version of Fire Marshall Bill from In Living Color.
ReplyDeleteMan I watched it, but I really had a hard time. If Palin said the word "Maverick" (pronounced Meyyaaavverik) one more time I would've jumped out a window.
ReplyDeleteI agree that everything must have been certainly drilled into her head because of last week's Couric fiasco. The woman is not queen of originality in the least.
Stopping by, googled something and there you were.
^ Hope you come again, Aunt Jackie.
ReplyDeletedez said...
ReplyDeleteThe word is NUCLEAR, not NUKULAR. AAARRRRRRGGGGHHH!
dez said...
She also did the "bless your heart" thing a couple of times. I reckon most people didn't get it, doggone it.
Dez, maybe you never noticed people from different parts of the country speak somewhat differently than those in other parts. Also, occasionally, people from different ethnic origins pronounce the same word differently from others. I don't know about you, but every time I speak in front of 100,000,000 people, even I mispronounce some words. Obviously you and the preponderance of people writing on this blog must be blessed with impeccable diction, plus an unparalleled vocabulary. I bet you also made fun of kids with glasses in school.
That's rich, you making fun of how other people talk...
Dez is not just making fun of "how other people talk" Vince Spence. He's calling into question the possibility of having a Vice President incapable of pronouncing the word nuclear. This after having a President for 8 years who couldn't pronounce the word either. That's not a dialect, that's a mispronounciation - plain and simple. Moreover, we should have higher standards for people running on a presidential ticker.
ReplyDeleteVince....try this:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3h2mOgCaiQ
She blew nucular (maybe that was a shout out to dubya....but she sure as heck nailed:
Iblevehisdikishard
3 times in a row.
Nobody with half a brain buys that folksy accent B.S.
oooops...I meant, anybody.
also....go on and laff.
^ That cracka stole his "bless their heart" routine from Henry Cho!
ReplyDeleteI hate to break up a bash-Bush/Palin party, but we once had a Democratic president who served on a nucular submarine, and he pronounced the word nucular as well. (That would be Jimmy Carter.) It's a regionalism.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Russ. BTW, I'm a chick :-)
ReplyDeleteRegionalism, shmegionalism. She doesn't know how to say the word and it makes her sound ignorant (well, that, and the whole not-knowing-what-branch-the-Veep's-in thing).
Oh, and David, you have got to watch Bill Maher tonight. Alec Baldwin's Palin impression is almost as good as Tina Fey's! Bill Maher's wasn't half bad, either. And they both called out Clinton on his tepid support of Obama.
ReplyDelete^ Dangit. I'm on the East Coast... away from a cable hookup. I'll have to wait a few days for the bootleg YouTube version.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the heads-up, though, dez. Maher has been building up steam in recent weeks.
Yes, she winked and my problem is if Michelle Obama decided to give a "shout out" to her girls on the south side she'd be taken to task for it! But Palin does it and she's just "folksy".
ReplyDeleteThis is a bunch of "you betcha" B.S.
It's actually really interesting that people aren't noticing how Sarah Palin gets away with this and the media stays silent because they seem scared to point out that it's simply unprofessional. This has nothing to do with the Washington elite. I'm from California and I don't want to hear my Congressional reps pepper their speech with "ohmygod" or "like, you know".
So the question is: Did she "Hoodwink" America?
Yes. She's hoodwinked America because the whole concept of thinking critically has been thrown out the window in the USA. I keep hearing people say she did well. Of course, she did well! She was in debate boot camp for days. She didn't do badly on her gubernatorial debate either. She held her own in that. If briefed and coached, she'd hold her own against Biden. All this woman had to do was show up, answer the questions and not make a huge error because expectations were low.
People seem to forget she's running for the second highest office in the USA. McCain picked her to replace him as president should he win and the unthinkable happens.
What's next? Will the next election be a "Who Wants to be President of the USA?" reality TV show? How low can our standards go?
russ said...
ReplyDeleteDez is not just making fun of "how other people talk" Vince Spence. ... we should have higher standards for people running on a presidential ticker.
Gotcha. And if they win, we should have a 'ticket' parade...
It amuses me to no end seeing you guys concentrate on Palin and rarely bash McCain. Since he chose her, the unintended consequences of his decision might be to deflect age and health issues about him. Sure worked on this site...
http://www.youtube.com/Lisanova
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSince he chose her, the unintended consequences of his decision might be to deflect age and health issues about him.
ReplyDeleteThat's kinda backwards. It's McCain age and health issues that make the Palin decision so consequential, and illustrative of McCain's bad judgment. This ignoramus really could be a heartbeat away from the Presidency.
By the way, she was winking at me...
ReplyDeleteOh Vince, nice refutation of my point by finding a typo. Well done. You must be so proud of yourself!
ReplyDeleteAnd, btw, focusing on Palin is part of focusing on McCain. His first major decision and he picks a featherweight for the heavyweight division. Way to put country first JackAss McCain.
Yes, she sure did. And that Aww shucks attitude is offensive, like she needs to "dumb down" to talk to voters. But I think hearing McCain say "friends" about 10 times in the debate was wayyyyyyyy worse. He's no friend of mine and if he is wheres my damn bailout check?
ReplyDeleteAnd if I hear the word "Maverick" one more time, I might need bail money.
Yes, she sure did. And that Aww shucks attitude is offensive, like she needs to "dumb down" to talk to voters. But I think hearing McCain say "friends" about 10 times in the debate was wayyyyyyyy worse. He's no friend of mine and if he is wheres my damn bailout check?
ReplyDeleteAnd if I hear the word "Maverick" one more time, I might need bail money.