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Advice to Biden: Don’t Push, Let Palin Bluff

September 30th, 2008
By TONY CAMPBELL, TMV Columnist

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Unlike other debates, the Vice Presidential Debate between Senator Joe Biden and Governor Sarah Palin is going to be more of a poker game than a chess match. Biden clearly has more experience than Palin but he has to be wary of forcing any type of confrontation. If he pushes Palin, he will be portrayed as sexist and his every word will be examined under that lens.

When you have flopped the best possible poker hand, you should never push your opponent out of the pot, instead let them overextend themselves (bluffing) while you figure out how many chips you can win from the encounter. Biden needs to do something that will be very difficult for him and that is to be patient. If he can’t control his need to respond immediately, Biden will essentially shoot himself in the proverbial foot and lose the debate. A Bentsen - Quayle type moment may feel good to say but will be the worst case scenario for Biden. Instead, when the Palin bluff happens, Biden should stay silent and allow the moderator to ask for clarification from Palin.

Thursday’s debate will be very telling for both candidates in how they respond to pressure situations. Will Biden be patient or shoot from the hip? Will four days in the desert help Palin to deliver a quality appearance for the Republican ticket? On Thursday, we will see which side pushes or bluffs first…



This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 at 9:08 am and is filed under Newsweek Blogitics, Vice President, Sarah Palin, Debates, Joe Biden, 2008 Elections, Columnists, At TMV, Politics. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Viewing 24 Comments

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    McCain and Obama were pretty gentle toward each other during their "Round One" cautious mutual probing (for weakness) session. The VP debate is being hyped too much on the airwaves, and some of you here on this site are guilty of excess as well. Let's just wait and see how they do. Everyone is anticipating (and many, such as the media, and Shaun Mullen, are hoping without any serious effort to conceal this) that Palin will self-destruct. Meanwhile, Dean-o (Joe Biden, with a faster grin at any and every camera than Bill "Quick-Draw" Clinton ever has had) has made many a smarter Democrat (IQ above room temperature, that is) concerned that he'll make one or more gaffes during the debate, which the media cannot quietly decline to broadcast. Dean-o and his gaffe potential really is the joker in the deck Thursday night. (I suspect part of the "homework" debate prep he is wisely doing includes one or more "stress test" shakedowns to make sure he doesn't say anything really stupid.) We should just wait and see how things go. Much of McCain's campaign is riding on Palin's performance, as we all know (and have been ... reminded ...).
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    DLS,

    For the record, I pointed out potential hazards for both candidates.
    T.
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    You are right about the minefield Biden is about to enter. But can I just say outloud that it is completely and utterly ridiculous, not to mention extraordinarily sexist, to believe that Biden has to pull his punches in order to avoid being seen as a mean nasty sexist guy. Palin's candidacy is a huge setback for women. It is the absolute worst of affirmative action: the nomination of someone who is clearly unqualified and a demand that her lack of qualification be downplayed because she's a woman. That we are playing by these rules without murmur reveals how far we are from taking women seriously.

    And that doesn't even get to the risk all of this poses to the nation -- since no rational person can imagine that Palin is ready to step in as president should the need arise.

    I am, quite simply, astonished that the public square continues to give McCain's candidacy standing. Sorry for ranting. But this whole episode makes a mockery of our polity. And since we are taking it seriously we deserve to be mocked.
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    right on Maggie! I'm with you. First, we're supposed to think of her as a 'pitbull with lipstick' and 'barracuda' and then the little lady to whom the media should show 'deference' and not be big bad bullies and ask her difficult questions. How pathetic.

    That just underscores the impression, true in my opinion, that she is not ready for the big leagues.
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    hear, hear Maggie! This constant double-standard "coddling" of Palin is getting really tiresome. If she cannot speak to the issues & answer questions that the public wants to hear, she needs to step down.
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    Another bit of advice I would given Biden would be that he should focus their debate on who is ready to lead (naturally), but in that who is ready to lead in these troubled times. I think a frank discussion of the role of VP, and stark, revealing discussions about the projected longevity of the two presidential candidates is called for. I think Biden should frankly discuss death, dying and how McCain's fourtime bouts with the most aggressive of malignant cancers, coupled with the stress of this next administration puts him at huge risk of dying or becoming unable to lead while in office.

    Biden is famous for shooting between the eyes. Don't tell him to curb that; use it. If he uses this opportunity to paint out McCain's potential mortality while in office he will gain more ground than facing off with Palin and, God forbid, come on her too aggressively and make himself look mean. Let's face it, with Caribou Barbie, that wouldn't be too hard to do. But then again if he made her cry, people would wonder what Putin could make her do? *shudder*

    If Biden accentuates that of the two of them, Palin is the one most likely to wind up in the Oval Office by happenstance, that alone will win the debate for him and the vote for he and Obama this Fall. Then he can go on to reassure voters that in the less likely event he winds up there, of the two, he is clearly the more qualified to lead in this decade of the 21st Century.

    Recently we've all gotten a fairly good look at the difficulties of the subtleties of the President trying to negotiate with Congress to get much needed change accomplished. Biden has been in Congress for many years and upon taking office he instantly would know how to approach the different personalities and how to appeal to their idiosyncracies without thinking almost. No matter what, with Palin we will be subjected to this same "waiting period" while we wonder how quickly it will take for her to assess the situation. Will she continue to be sequestered, unavailible at the crucial moment so she can get her act together?

    Just some ideas...

    Her perky dismissals of dire issues are disturbing. She waves aside important questions with the sweep of her hand as if people were silly for asking her. She really is Bush in a skirt...lol..
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    I agree that it is sexist to treat Palin like a hothouse flower- if she wants to play in the bigtime she needs to show us that she's tough.

    But I agree also with Tony that Biden should give short crisp answers, and let Palin talk for long periods of time. Empty space will make her nervous and she'll try to fill the vacuum with ideological mush.
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    Obama's candidacy is a huge setback for blacks. It is the absolute worst of affirmative action: the nomination of someone who is clearly unqualified and a demand that his lack of qualification be downplayed because he's an african american. That we are playing by these rules without murmur reveals how far we are from taking blacks seriously.
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    Palin was elected. How does 'affirmative aciton' work in that instance?
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    "Palin was elected"

    Uh, so was Obama--and------

    the voters did NOT choose Palin as the GOP VP nominee, McCain's political hacks did- and not on her qualifications. The only "qualifications" that mattered to them was gender and ideology as they were going after women and conservatives-- two demographic groups that McCain was not polling well with.