Pitching softballs
Did you notice? Sarah Palin received NOT ONE tough question from moderator Gwen Ifill in the vice presidential debate tonight.
Nothing about the Bridge to Nowhere. Nothing about, "I can see Russia from my house." Nothing about her vehement opposition to abortion and stem cell research. Nothing about her demand that "Intelligent Design" be taught alongside evolution in high school biology classes. Nothing about firing the director of the Alaska State Police because he wouldn't fire her ex-brother-in-law, then involved in a bitter child custody dispute with her sister. Nothing but softball questions.
Ifill, a former New York Times reporter who now works for PBS, appears to have been thoroughly cowed by the rightwing attacks on her credibility that preceded the debate. Her "sin" in their eyes was to have a book coming out in January that included Sen. Barack Obama as one of four "breakthrough" black politicians. Which, win or lose, he is.
Ifill failed to keep Palin on topic, admittedly a tough task. Palin simply didn't answer questions she didn't like or couldn't answer, and at one point boasted that she wasn't going to be bound by the questions asked but would instead "tell my story to the American people." Palin showed that when she is coached for several weeks she can sound competent on stage. Why can't she do the same in an interview with Katie Couric?
Biden generally did well, better than I hoped. He smiled too much, though, and should have denounced Palin for accusing Obama of "waving the white flag of surrender" by wanting to set a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. That was despicable. I think she knew Biden was going easy on her and decided to chance taking a few cheap shots to please her handlers. It was gratifying to see that CBS's audience of undecideds showed (via their Nielsen meters) a sharp negative reaction to Palin's slur.
And Palin's voice. The "Fargo" voice. The dropped 'g's and the "betcha's." My younger daughter, age 11, finally announced that Palin's voice was quite annoying. She stuck out the entire debate, though, and I'm proud of her for that.
Comments
As the debate progressed, and Palin realized she hadn't covered all of the sound bites on the list provided by her handlers, she quite blatantly ignored the questions to get to her talking points. At least she didn't refer to the pope as the spawn of Satan, or tell us that some of her best friends are colored people. But doggoneit, why did she have to go and say that President Bush spent the last eight years screwing up everything that he touched? The American workers on the sidelines of the soccer game are going to be gosh darned upset about that line, you betcha!
Posted by: Jim Harris | October 3, 2008 06:40 AM
I didn't watch the "VP debate". Did the dog or the pony win? And which was which? They really have to stop calling these shows "debates".
And as far as annoying voices go, nothing tops Hillary Clinton mid-speech. Whenever she spoke during the primaries I found myself searching in vain for a chalkboard so I could drag my fingernails across it to get some aural relief.
It is indeed unfortunate that the McCain/Palin team didn't learn from Bush Sr.'s being bushwhacked by Ms. Couric. She's become the master of "gotcha" interviews.
Posted by: oh_really | October 3, 2008 11:16 PM
Seems to me Ifill's role was to ask questions that were to be answered by both candidates, not to interview either one. Thus none of the questions you would have liked to see. It is also my understanding that the rules for this debate limited the give and take between the candidates, which did not allow Biden to push Palin to answer the questions instead of just going off on her preprogrammed soundbites.
Perhaps the best explanation of her strategy can be found
Ironically, from what I understand, the Democrats agreed to the restrictive format in an effort to protect Biden from the greater potential for gaffes that might have come from a more free-flowing style of debate.
But I think you are spot on in noting the public seemed to grasp what went on.
Keep in mind, at this point, it is all about swaying the undecideds. The choirs on both sides require no preaching. They are believers.
Those undecided voters are likely to be voters who are viewing things with a critical eye and less likely to be swayed by Palin's efforts to preach to her own choir. They are likely to see a candidate who did not have answers for questions they were looking for answers to. They are also likely in many cases to be smart enough to understand that when Palin said she was going to talk straight to the American people and would bypass media filters, what she really meant was "no more thinking on my feet, because I screew up even trying to answer Katie Couric's softball questions like which newspapers do you read.
Undecideds are looking for answers, and as long as the McCain campaign continues to chant its "maverick, maverick" mantra while attacking Obama, they are unlikely to be swayed. Those folks are looking for reasons to vote for someone, and all McCain/Palin seem to want to give them are reasons to vote against Obama.
Posted by: No Name | October 5, 2008 11:16 AM
Debate recap for those who missed it:
Posted by: No Name | October 5, 2008 11:34 AM