Can I call you Vladamir?
Sarah Palin exceeds expectations and still loses to Biden
People watching this vice-presidential debate hoping for an on-air implosion by Palin were disappointed. To be sure, Palin made some errors, but she did not start talking in tongues or burst into flames in her folksy performance that included lots of winks, even more smiles, three Ronald Reagan quotes, and one First-Amendment-phobic warning that she would not necessarily answer the questions asked.
She did get the name of a general wrong, and while that may be easily attributed to thinking under pressure; much more telling of her lack of fundamental understanding is when Palin was speaking about America’s gargantuan financial crisis, she said, “It’s a toxic mess, really, on Main Street that’s affecting Wall Street.” Well, it was a good try at appearing to comprehend the issue, but the guilt is the other way around.
However, these word choice gaffes, and even her lack of comprehension of what is perhaps the biggest issue of our time, paled in comparison to the terror in my heart when I heard her request for even more power than Cheney.
I had to ask myself “Is Palin running for Vice President 2008 or President 2012?” She missed many opportunities to defend McCain, yet left no “glory” of her own unsung, and it seemed clear that Sarah has issues obeying authority, as she often referred to the problems of "the federal government" as if “they” were in opposition to her agenda. In classic Rovian/Schmidt style, Palin misrepresented Obama on a number of subjects but Biden clearly and politely pointed out the inaccuracies each time.
I am sure that intelligent Republicans are breathing a collective sigh of relief that this charade of a candidate was able to make it through 90 minutes without doing something disastrous or say something on which they could not backpedal. I am quite certain that the working poor and middle class voters that support them McCain ticket on knee-jerk reactions of guns, God and glory, were thrilled. If you were interested in having a beer with Bush, Sarah must look like a rocket scientist.
"She spoke to her base and shoring up that base was the purpose of her nomination,'' said Jack Citrin, political science professor at the University of California-Berkeley. "She also spoke to that strand of American political culture that is anti-establishment and anti-politician. I don't think many will be swayed by her to join McCain, but I don't think others will flee the ticket."
While I am sure that Saturday Night Live will have a great time spoofing her inability to pronounce "nuke-you-lar" and her cringe-tastic shout out to third graders, I’m not sure what was broadcast tonight is what you would actually call a debate. At best, it was uneven, with the Joe doing the most of the serious discussion. Even Gwen Ifill was very weak on follow through to both candidates.
Those who expected Biden to rant and rave and slip up and call her “Honey” got no satisfaction.
This is not to say that Biden didn’t have his own set of challenges. Pundits had been calling on him to be restrained and not too heavy handed or overly soft. Known for his occasional bouts of foot-in-mouth-disease, he was also being coached to not do or say anything stupid.
For his part, Biden spent most of his time scaring us with the three-headed hydra -- Palin, McCain, Bush. He essentially spared the impression of lambasting Palin by saving his big guns for McCain, frequently stating that a McCain administration would be a continuation of President Bush's policies, reciting lots of details regarding McCain's votes on issues from war to tax cuts to health care.
To her credit, Sarah Palin had a few snappy comebacks. Her best may have been when she queried Biden to explain why he voted to authorize going to war in Iraq. She said many Americans are confused by Washington politicians. With a smile, she said, "Americans voted for the war and now you're against it"... “ and Americans are craving that straight talk."
Beyond a few shining moments, her performance was often far-reaching, and at times completely contradictory. She seems to experience no shame from randomly pairing soundbites, much like those books from our childhood, where you could flip the top and bottom of a fireman or the tooth fairy or a police hand. A Sarah Palin classic : “you build up infrastructure and rein in government spending.”
“I want more power… and here are the special rules for me.”
"Tonight, a debate between candidates for the most powerful office in the land: Dick Cheney's," said Stephen Colbert on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report."
Gwen Ifill asked what was perhaps the most telling an important question of the evening; "Do you believe as Vice President Cheney does, that the executive branch does not hold complete sway over the office of the vice presidency, that it is also a member of the legislative branch?"
Apparently, Palin was too high in her ego maniacal bid to be Debra with the dog whistle, that she did not understand that the loaded question was a dig at Cheney's practice that he not need comply with national disclosure rules required of other executive branch agencies. More frightening that her inability to discern sarcasm, is that it turns out that Dick Cheney’s methodology is too soft for Sarah Barracuda. Palin had no qualms - flatly stating that she wants more power than Cheney; this coming from a candidate with vastly less experience, and a more extreme right wing stance. Tonight, right in front of the largest television audience for a presidential or vice presidential debate, she made a bid for nothing less than elimination of US constitutional checks and balances, enabling the Executive Branch to manipulate the Legislative.
Viewers who thought this was just a poor choice of words are seriously misjudging and underestimating Sarah Palin. What she lacks in depth or genuine executive skills, she makes up tenfold in blind dominionist ambition. This was not a sentence she occurred by coincidence; it is the goal of the Council for national policy, which put her where she is today and a statement of intent which they will no doubt sees that she fulfills, should America sleep through another election and let her ticket win or steal another victory.
Special Rules for The Great Decider II
To her credit, Palin did give us fair warning in advance that she would be the one to decide what questions she would answer - showing an amazing lack of awareness of her continual threatening of the first amendment to near extinction. It only took her a few minutes to lay down the law: she had no intention of responding to the moderator’s inquiries as requested, unless *she* chose to.
Again, Palin must've been so high on her perceived success that she completely missed it Gwen Ifill’s ability to underscore that appalling request without needing to say so - by asking Palin: ``Are you interested in defending Senator McCain's health care plan?'' (Sarah said yes, but did not, instead talking about energy)
Continuing on in her amazing ability to alienate and polarize everyone involved, Sarah acknowledged the criticism she had endured over the past few weeks because of her inadequate answers in interviews, but implied it was because she had been victim of a media conspiracy.
She once again let us know, in no uncertain terms, that she will control how you get your information: "I like being able to answer the tough questions without the filter of the media." (If Palin’s continual violation of First Amendment rights concerns you, please check out www.PalinTrojanhorse.com)
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