VP Debate Thoughts
I'm sure that many will beg to differ, but frankly I thought it was more or less a draw. Folks that disagree with one candidate or the other will think their man (or woman) won, but frankly, as I have problems with both of the tickets, I don't see either one as a winner or a loser.
Palin showed that the Katie Couric interviews were not the only spoken exchange to judge her by. Biden showed that he can encapsulate his answers and not get drawn into some stupid outburst or comment.
I was was annoyed by Palin's mis-pronunciations of Nuc-you-lar, and I-ran, and her Maliki and Talabani were questionable, but her Ahmadinejad was pretty impressive. I do think she suffers from an unfortunate informality of speech, especially her use of "ya" instead of "you", that makes her sound even more inexperienced than she is. It's a lack of polish, but also speaks to her having lived more or less a rural life....I'm not going to condemn her for that even though there's reason to want a polished vice-president.
As far as content, Palin dodged more than was good for her, and jumped back to energy too much. Biden had a tendency to need to respond to things a bit too much. My thoughts on policy are very mixed, but usually they are after any debate, as half the goal is to dredge up past actions and votes that usually had good reasons but look bad on the surface. There's a real need to visit the candidate websites and really look at the details of their stated policies and maybe compare to independent facts and sources. For at least some of the fact checking, check this Yahoo! news article.
Actually, I might give Biden a slight edge upon further thought, but the real challenge for Palin was just to demonstrate that the Katie Couric interviews were nto the final word, and I think she did that. So, Biden might have been more impressive, but Palin had a lot more ground to make up based on her previous week or two.
Palin showed that the Katie Couric interviews were not the only spoken exchange to judge her by. Biden showed that he can encapsulate his answers and not get drawn into some stupid outburst or comment.
I was was annoyed by Palin's mis-pronunciations of Nuc-you-lar, and I-ran, and her Maliki and Talabani were questionable, but her Ahmadinejad was pretty impressive. I do think she suffers from an unfortunate informality of speech, especially her use of "ya" instead of "you", that makes her sound even more inexperienced than she is. It's a lack of polish, but also speaks to her having lived more or less a rural life....I'm not going to condemn her for that even though there's reason to want a polished vice-president.
As far as content, Palin dodged more than was good for her, and jumped back to energy too much. Biden had a tendency to need to respond to things a bit too much. My thoughts on policy are very mixed, but usually they are after any debate, as half the goal is to dredge up past actions and votes that usually had good reasons but look bad on the surface. There's a real need to visit the candidate websites and really look at the details of their stated policies and maybe compare to independent facts and sources. For at least some of the fact checking, check this Yahoo! news article.
Actually, I might give Biden a slight edge upon further thought, but the real challenge for Palin was just to demonstrate that the Katie Couric interviews were nto the final word, and I think she did that. So, Biden might have been more impressive, but Palin had a lot more ground to make up based on her previous week or two.