Palin sends the cringe meter off the dial

[independent_uk]

 No one will be more relieved than John McCain if a major crisis erupts on Thursday to overshadow the debate between the vice-presidential candidates, Sarah Palin and Joe Biden.

Alaska's one-term governor is hugely popular with voters, but she is also a liability for the Republican ticket, as her painful-to-watch interview last week with Katie

Comments

[lurkitty]

Gov. Palin was the Fundamentalist's dream. She came heavily recommended by several very powerful fundie evangelicals, and she appealed to party strategists who decided that a woman, any woman, would pull in the disaffected Hillary vote

[reality_hammer]

Ah yes, those all powerful "fundie evangelicals"...so powerful they can pick the VP...but not the President.

Do you actually believe what you write?

Keep lowering the bar for Palin. It worked so well when you did it for both Bush (both of them) and Reagan.

[lurkitty]

Gee, could it be that the Republican nominee for President actually has to go through an election process, and the candidate for VP is chosen, ostensibly, by the nominee?

I believe the the fundies are powerful enough to pressure McCain into choosing someone they approve of so he can get their votes.

Oh, and no one has to lower the bar for Gov. Palin. She's doing fine on her own. She now has Republican pundits begging her to drop out for the sake of the party.

[marta]

Just to step in here, for the purposes of conversation, please try to make sure you're talking about or discussing ideas and not being dismissive of another community member.

[izuko]

She hasn't been stellar in the debates, but she's not cringe-worthy, either. She definitely needs some polishing up, though.

The debate will be interesting because, for the first time, they won't be able to edit out her answers.

On the other hand, let's talk about the cringe-worthy things Biden has said...

• You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I'm not joking.
• You don't know my state. My state was a slave state." [in response to why he thinks he would do well in the south.]
• I mean, you got the first mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.

[tyskkvinna]

LMFAO. :)

Biden is pretty damn good at sticking his foot in his mouth, isn't he?

[izuko]

Biden and Bush should go on a speaking tour.

[lennoxmacbeth]

And it's all crap I hear daily up here in Northern Wisconsin/Northern Minnesota. As "politically incorrect" as such statements are, they're said by and agreed with by a sweeping portion of the rural poor. If Obama/Biden wanted the votes of the wealthy, all they'd have to do is run McCain's platform.

[adamwolf]

To me, Palin represents everything that's wrong with McCain's approach to this campaign. He's been leaning heavily on his experience, on his reputation as a maverick (disproven by the sudden turn in almost every major issue over the last two years, including his stance on the Iraq war) and on the fact that he's a war veteran. It's been all about who this guy is, rather than what he thinks or what he plans to do with this country

[seldearslj]

Alaska's one-term governor is hugely popular with voters, but she is also a liability for the Republican ticket

Uh, if she's hugely popular, isn't that the opposite of a liability for the Republican ticket, whether or not she can talk politics?

[credendovides]

Public opinion is a fickle thing. She needs to hold on to that popularity for another month or so. However the graph there hasn't exactly been up and to the right.

[seldearslj]

True, that.

I was just questioning the seemingly-contradictory language use.

[tyskkvinna]

My viewpoint on this thus far has been that she's been hugely popular with people already likely to vote for the Republican ticket. It's been the undecided ones that have initially been excited over her, and then learned more about her, who are starting to see her as a liability. At least from what I've seen.

[metafrantic]

The significance of the VP is greater this year than most, I think. On both sides. For the Republicans, there is the concern about McCain's age and health, and the thought that he might die in office and leave the presidency to Palin.

For the Democrats - and I don't know why no one seems to want to talk about this - there's the fact that a black president will be one of the biggest targets for assassination that the US has seen in decades. There was already one incident during the DNC, and although it was declared "not a credible threat", Obama would be (already is) a huge target. And if, God forbid, something did happen to Obama, Biden becomes all the more important. Regardless of how muc risk there actually is to Obama, it's something that some voters are considering.

[tyskkvinna]

I heard Obama's race described as "the elephant in the room" a few days ago and I thought it fit the situation PERFECTLY. On one hand, it's been nice that he hasn't been making it a big deal that he's black. (I think it could just as off-putting to many voters as somebody claiming to be proud of being white. He has stated about his father being from Kenya, but that comes out as being something totally different than race.) But since his campaign has basically ignored his race, they've been ignoring all aspects that go with it. I've been thinking about precisely the same risk.

And I also think that if anybody even remotely connected to the Republican party were to bring this up to the media, they'd be immediately skewered for attempting to "play the race card". Whether or not that's what they were trying to do.

[metafrantic]

Very true, and a real shame. Although I think it's good that the whole thing is being downplayed - I mean, why give people ideas? I'm sure that the Secret Service and the candidates and their people are very aware of the risk and taking precautions.

I agree that Obama has done a fair job of keeping his race a non-issue, which is all to the good, since it would be labeled (fairly) as playing the race card for sympathy. Of course it's politically wise too, since his race is a negative to some just as it's a positive to others. And insignificant to others as well.

[izuko]

I have faith in the Secret Service. And I figure, whoever gets in, there will always be loons.

However, nobody talks about the problem that Biden may be even worse than Palin or Obama (depending on which side you're on).

Palin's relatively inexperienced in public speaking, and often comes off as unpolished. Biden is very experienced, and often comes off as a rambling loon... At least Palin hasn't told a wheelchair-bound man to stand up.

I'd say the margin of expectation for Palin is much narrower. She could do well, or she could do poorly. With Biden, he could do well, or he could bring the whole damn ticket crumbling down on their heads.