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September 17, 2008
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The audience was already growing weary. Sarah
One-Note's sarcasm, which had seemed kind of stronger at first than
recent images of her, had become both grating and an obvious ploy to
divert attention from the fact she simply wouldn't, and apparently
couldn't, answer any particular question with any detail - if at
all. Repeatedly she ignored the question asked to repeat
talking points, about energy, about The Surge.
Biden started off a little flat. He gave his
answers. Nothing really broke one way or the other.
By midway through the debate, the tide had begun to
turn. Enough with the sarcasm. Enough with the snide
comments. Enough with the lack of substance. All the
while Joe grew not only stronger, but warmer and more confident.
Sarah Palin's biggest mistake always has been that she attacks and
snarls rather than using her beauty and potential charm to woo.
None but core, nasty Bush/Limbaugh-types can connect to such
negativity.
So there America was, liking Biden more and more,
moved by both his depth of knowledge and his clear decency, growing
more and more tired of Palin's nastiness and clearly empty
recitation. And then Palin tried to play the, "I'm a woman so
I know families" card. Asked about her Achilles heel, lack of
experience, she started on about her being governor of "a huge
state." Nice. Not having anywhere to go after trying to
assert misleading importance due to excess unpopulated land, she
switched to: (see
transcript):
PALIN:
...But it wasn't just that experience tapped into, it was my
connection to the heartland of America. Being a mom, one very
concerned about a son in the war, about a special needs child,
about kids heading off to college, how are we going to pay
those tuition bills? About times and Todd and our marriage in
our past where we didn't have health insurance and we know
what other Americans are going through as they sit around the
kitchen table and try to figure out how are they going to pay
out-of-pocket for health care? We've been there also so that
connection was important.
All
night Biden had been restrained. He had been strong,
confident, but not, well, truly Joe. But her attempt to claim
that, because she is a mother, she understands family concerns
better than Joe was something he wasn't about to let go by.
And his response was the moment that officially finished off the
McCain-Palin ticket.
He
started off making some policy points, about Bosnia, about the
Violence Against Women Act. But then he stopped:
BIDEN:
Look, I understand what it's like to be a single parent. When
my wife and daughter died and my two sons were gravely
injured, I understand what it's like as a parent to wonder
what it's like if your kid's going to make it.
I understand what it's like to sit around the
kitchen table with a father who says, "I've got to leave,
champ, because there's no jobs here. I got to head down to
Wilmington. And when we get enough money, honey, we'll bring
you down."
I understand what it's like. I'm much better
off than almost all Americans now. I get a good salary with
the United States Senate. I live in a beautiful house that's
my total investment that I have. So I -- I am much better off
now.
But the notion that somehow, because I'm a
man, I don't know what it's like to raise two kids alone, I
don't know what it's like to have a child you're not sure is
going to... is going to make it...
And at the moment, the Tears That Changed
America welled up in his eyes. True tears, a moment so
genuine it left the entire nation wanting to hug him; and it left
Palin's attempt to assert that just because she's a woman she
understands families better looking crass and entirely off the
mark. Joe continued, tears in his eyes, finishing the story
of almost losing his son in that accident that took his wife:
But the notion that somehow, because I'm a man,
I don't know what it's like to raise two kids alone, I don't
know what it's like to have a child you're not sure is going
to -- is going to make it -- I understand.
I understand, as well as, with all due respect,
the governor or anybody else, what it's like for those people
sitting around that kitchen table. And guess what? They're
looking for help. They're looking for help. They're not
looking for more of the same.
Now you would think if there were a genuine, caring
bone in Governor Palin's body, she might respond to something like
that with, "Senator Biden went through something incredible, and I'm
sure he understands families as well," or something gracious like
that.
Instead, she was dazed, lost. Her only
gimmicks, the snyde snarl and saracastic snap, couldn't be used.
Unable to utter anything actual, other than talking points, she
simply droned on looking like a boxer taking a standing eight:
PALIN:
People aren't looking for more of the same. They are looking
for change. And John McCain has been the consummate maverick
in the Senate over all these years.
He's taken shots left and right from the other party and from
within his own party, because he's had to take on his own
party when the time was right, when he recognized it was time
to put partisanship aside and just do what was right for the
American people. That's what I've done as governor, also, take
on my own party, when I had to, and work with both sides of
the aisle, in my cabinet, appointing those who would serve
regardless of party, Democrats, independents, Republicans,
whatever it took to get the job done.
Also, John McCain's maverick position that
he's in, that's really prompt up to and indicated by the
supporters that he has. Look at Lieberman, and Giuliani, and
Romney, and Lingle...
Lingle? I guess it makes sense, she's from
the only other non-contiguous state in the union, Hawaii.
But come on, Lingle? Someone who no one knows at all is all
you have to prove John's a maverick?
But, as luck would have it, Biden wasn't done.
Now, no one in the nation heard a word Palin said in her response.
All they were thinking, men and women, were that they wanted to
give the man a hug. They already knew he was smart.
They already knew he seemed nice. They already knew he had a
great depth of knowledge and experience, and was likeable.
But this both showed a toughness that turned Palin's attacks on
their ear and a softness that said he was more woman than she.
Yet still, after Palin rambled the "maverick"
talking point again, Biden wasn't going to let that go anymore.
His fight had been stirred, and he had one more follow-up blow
that would finish off John along with the now beaten and bloodied
Palin. Moderator Gwen Ifill started to move to a new topic,
but Biden stopped her:
BIDEN:
I'll be very brief. Can I respond to that?
Look, the maverick -- let's talk about the
maverick John McCain is. And, again, I love him. He's been a
maverick on some issues, but he has been no maverick on the
things that matter to people's lives.
He voted four out of five times for George
Bush's budget, which put us a half a trillion dollars in debt
this year and over $3 trillion in debt since he's got there.
He has not been a maverick in providing
health care for people. He has voted against -- he voted
against including another 3.6 million children in coverage of
the existing health care plan, when he voted in the United
States Senate.
He's not been a maverick when it comes to
education. He has not supported tax cuts and significant
changes for people being able to send their kids to college.
He's not been a maverick on the war. He's
not been a maverick on virtually anything that genuinely
affects the things that people really talk about around their
kitchen table.
Can we send -- can we get Mom's MRI? Can we
send Mary back to school next semester? We can't -- we can't
make it. How are we going to heat the -- heat the house this
winter?
He voted against even providing for what
they call LIHEAP, for assistance to people, with oil prices
going through the roof in the winter.
So maverick he is not on the important,
critical issues that affect people at that kitchen table.
The networks and pundits were on crack. To all
cognizant beings, in no way did Sarah Palin correct her image as
someone not even remotely ready for the Presidency. Yes, she
can recite talking points, always with the same rhythm: start
out sarcastic, smirk a little, but then after about thirty seconds
look purely like a deer in the headlights as she utters on words
unrelated to the question asked.
And she had a number of clear moments where it was
plain she could not answer the question, the scariest of those
moments being when she completely looked lost when asked about what
should be the response if nuclear weapons are used. That's a
pretty darned important question. And, yes, unfortunately for
Sarah, not one she had talking points on. Ifill asked:
IFILL:
Governor, on another issue, interventionism, nuclear weapons.
What should be the trigger, or should there be a trigger, when
nuclear weapons use is ever put into play?
Now I
want you to remember before you read her response, that pundits all
over the networks claim she accomplished what she had to, that she
showed she is good enough to be President. Her answer:
PALIN:
Nuclear weaponry, of course, would be the be all, end all of
just too many people in too many parts of our planet, so those
dangerous regimes, again, cannot be allowed to acquire nuclear
weapons, period.Our nuclear weaponry
here in the U.S. is used as a deterrent. And that's a safe,
stable way to use nuclear weaponry.
But for those countries -- North Korea,
also, under Kim Jong-il -- we have got to make sure that we're
putting the economic sanctions on these countries and that we
have friends and allies supporting us in this to make sure
that leaders like Kim Jong-il and Ahmadinejad are not allowed
to acquire, to proliferate, or to use those nuclear weapons.
It is that important.
Can we talk about Afghanistan real quick,
also, though?
Yes, she had no answer whatsoever. And again,
as she did a number of times, she clearly showed she couldn't even
talk around an answer, but instead flat out asked to switch to
answering a question she had talking points on. "What should
be the trigger, should there be a trigger, when nuclear weapon use
is ever put into play?" Look at that response. The
pundits should be ashamed.
And she even had a cringe moment beyond any she had
had thus far, if you can imagine. Responding to Biden taking
on McCain's energy policy as, "...drill, drill, drill," Palin
responded, to the offense of all women watching, "The chant is
"drill, baby, drill."
Let's just put that out there all by itself.
"The chant is "drill, baby, drill."
Very Presidential indeed.
There were still other great moments for Biden, such
as when Palin, if you can imagine, embraced the Vice Presidential
legacy of Dick Cheney. Not only did she agree with the
direction Cheney took with the position, she said, but she asserted
that the Vice President, according the Constitution, held
potentially even more sway over the legislative branch than Cheney
asserted.
There's only one thing a candidate could do worse
than associating with George Bush, and that is align with Dick
Cheney. Biden jumped into the opening, not just attacking
Cheney's legacy, but pointing out that what she said had nothing to
do with the Constitution, at least not the Constitution of the
United States of America. Ifill asked Biden for a response:
BIDEN:
Vice President Cheney has been the most dangerous vice
president we've had probably in American history. The idea he
doesn't realize that Article I of the Constitution defines the
role of the vice president of the United States, that's the
Executive Branch. He works in the Executive Branch. He should
understand that. Everyone should understand that.
Yes,
even you, Sarah Cheney. He continued:
...The Constitution is explicit.... The
only authority the vice president has from the legislative
standpoint is the vote, only when there is a tie vote. He has
no authority relative to the Congress. The idea he's part of
the Legislative Branch is a bizarre notion invented by Cheney
to aggrandize the power of a unitary executive and look where
it has gotten us. It has been very dangerous.
There is no one in these troubled times in either
party who actually would feel safe with Sarah Palin in the White
House. Yes, she technically didn't drool, but honestly, she
did far worse. She sputtered, she had to dodge and dive, and
she flat out got dusted and dropped. And the one thing she at
no point ever did is answer a single question with authority or
knowledge. Not one. To the rest of the media, that
somehow is her accomplishing her mission. At M/I, that is an
abysmal insult to America and a clear reflection of John McCain's
complete lack of judgment.
So on this night, not only did Sarah show she has
nothing more than she showed to Gibson or Couric, but Senator Joseph
Biden gave a miraculous outperformance that was beyond anything that
could have been hoped for by the Obama camp. Genuine,
likeable, in command, and downright touching. The analysts
kept trying to use the phrase "folksy" for Palin. Try
hokey,and at times whorey ("drill, baby, drill.")
No, it was Biden showing the true understanding of a
parent. It was Biden talking about Home Depot and kitchen
table conversations. It was Biden who all polls show not only
won, but was picked as the person who better understands the issues
that are important to you. Not bad for someone who's been in
Washington 26 years.
The race was likely over before this debate.
Everyone knew Palin didn't have the miraculous - or even competent -
performance in her that it would have required to turn the election
around for McCain. In fact, being on the wrong side of the
issues, nothing can turn the American people toward voting for four
more years of Bush-like policies.
But the one danger, of Biden making some big gaffe or
Palin hitting with some great lines, didn't play out. In fact,
the unthoughtof opposite occurred - Biden not only held his own, but
flat out knocked her out, and took McCain out along with her.
It's hard to imagine a nicer guy than Joe Biden.
In answer to the age old question, "Why do bad things happen to good
people?" for Biden tonight, his tragedy of years back just helped
propel him to the Vice Presidency and, more importantly, help steer
America back toward the track that is required if the nation is to
survive.
Well done, Joe. Pathetic, pundits. Even
more pathetic - and slutty - Palin.
Game over.
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