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Re: Vice Presidential Debate
The goal for Palin last night was to repair her own tattered image. I think she managed to do that a bit. She certainly did nothing more than recite the talking points she had memorized. That is a pretty safe bet considering she flatly refused to answer questions as asked and instead spoke about what she wanted to talk about. It was the best move for her to make because she did not have to admit that she did not know the answers but at the same time was at least able to sound coherent.
One pundit put it this way, "Joe Biden had the goal of attacking McCain and he succeeded, Sarah Palin had the goal of fixing the image of Sara Palin and succeeded." That is a very important distinction because Palin was not able to use the opportunity to take aim at Obama, which is what she should have been doing. She had to spend that valuable time fixing the mess that was created because she agreed to interviews with out actually understanding the issues.
I also think that people will start realizing that it is pretty scary to have a VP, to arguably the most likely president to die in office ever, who has the objective of not screwing up more. If that is your ultimate goal, and we know they didn't expect her to wallop Biden, then that is a very serious problem.
I personally think that she tried to push the folksy words and small town image entirely too much. It is one thing for a pundit to say "joe six pack" but for a candidate to do so is a very big no no. No man wants his entire existence boiled down to a six pack of beer. It makes him look stupid and completely redneck. The only people who might find that endearing would not be watching the debate, they would have already finished their six pack. Her folksy small town image stuff was pushed too much and seemed forced at times as well. "Say it aint so Joe"... it was so clearly prepared and completely out of place.
Overall, I would say Palin helped herself out, those who wanted to like her will push aside that voice in their head that says "don't vote for this ditz", but she did not win any new votes, and probably lost some independents. This race is basically over for McCain now. Her previous debacles drew way too much attention away from their issues and gave the other camp a pass on any scrutiny. At this point the only chance McCain has is a hail mary (both the play and the prayer).
On a side note, the partisan lines are clearly drawn. I have a colleague who used to be a GOP staffer on the hill and she was raving about how Sarah Palin knocked it out of the park and that she destroyed Biden. It was pretty clear that she was seeing through her GOP glasses and a little out of touch with reality.
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