I watched the vice presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin with a group of women in my hometown. Three of us are lawyers and one is a speech pathologist who detailed problems in unfunded mandates related to NCLB. The children of our host watched part of the debate, filling out the Palin and Biden Bingo cards (they got FULL!) and the husband of the host watched too.
In addition to watching with these friends, I also participated in two Ohio-based live-blogs and followed Twitter tweets.
What did we see? We saw a Palin who pushed the gendered envelope regularly (i.e, she could wink three times and utter with emphasis the word “raping” while there’s no way, no how that Biden could ever have done that), who refused to answer several questions, who had no idea what nuclear proliferation or arms control is about (and if you think that’s not frightening, you must be living in a state of catatonia, or Alaska maybe, despite its proximity to Russia), no idea what bankruptcy is, continued to repeat the words “maverick” and “Reformer” but not once distinguished her running mate, John McCain from George Bush.
We also saw a supremely controlled, confident and presidential Joe Biden. He answered every question, he responded to what Palin said and he not once crossed the line with ridiculous facial smirks or other distracting tactics that added nothing to the content of what was being said.
So, who won?
Let me posit this: In a VP debate, but maybe especially this one? That’s not the real question – because Biden and Palin are not running against each other. They’re trying to get their head of the ticket elected.
Given that, Biden did an excellent job working to get Obama support: he showed that Obama made a good decision in choosing Biden. That supports Obama as a good decision-maker.
As for Palin, she met the basement level expectations set by her own party and ticket that’s treated her with nothing but sexism since they anointed her. And that, people like Pat Buchanan and Kit Bond, are calling a slam-dunk against Biden.
‘Cept they got that wrong – she isn’t up against Biden. She needs to show that McCain’s choice of her shows that he has good decision-making abilities.
The key demographic: Independents and moderates – what do they think? How do they feel about the top of the ticket, after seeing this debate?
That’s really all that matters. And my speculation is that Palin did what she did at the very beginning: solidifies the base from feeling freaked out, and that’s about it. Biden’s showing, on the other hand, will solidify the moderates and independents who’ve been questioning McCain himself and now can see the overall strength in the Obama/Biden ticket.
Palin alone cannot carry the burden of what McCain has to accomplish in the next 30 days. I could be wrong – I have been before, but tonight was how she did after four days of constant prep in seclusion with handlers. Now what? Where’s she go next? Who interviews her next?
Neither the press nor the public is going to let up. And they shouldn’t. The question is, what will McCain and Obama do? They really are, in the end, the only ones that matter.