VP debates, the personal ones?

[gazetareporter]

The vice-presidential debates are over. What do you think? Did you hear from Sarah Palin anything other than the standard set of “folksy colloquialisms” (as Tom Shales from the Washington Post calls it ) and her traditional mantras such as “Washington outsider”, “maverick” and the need to “combat the Wall Street greed”? And what about Joe Biden,

Comments

[dreadfulpenny81]

Obama's chant of "Change" is a completely false one. If he wanted to present real change in his campaign, he wouldn't have chosen a candidate like Joe Biden who is a symbol for politics as usual. But I understand; Obama has to choose an older VP candidate to make up for his lack of experience as a political leader.
By the way, Hitler had chants for his political campaigns, too. And he also censored the common man, just like Barack Obama and people working for his campaign do. Think about it.

[orwhoeveriam]

Every political campaign has chants. "Drill, baby, drill" comes to mind.

I'm sure I'll regret asking this, but who has Obama censored?

[credendovides]

Ooh ooh I can do that too!

McCain's chant of "Change" is a completely false one. If he wanted to present real change in his campaign, he would have voted against the current administration more than 10% of the time. But I understand; McCain has to tow the party line to garner the votes of the party.

See? It has as much substance as yours and makes the same assertive statements, and means just as much. (In other words, absolutely nothing.)

[valknott]

Oh, so we are to compare Obama to Hitler? Obama "censors the common man"? LOL! Way to troll, man...

[madelinekrieger]

I don't mean for this to sound rude in the least bit, but for a question that's coming from a newspaper, I find the wording of this post to be a bit 'spin doctored'.

In a typical blog, questions are slanted all the time; that's what they're there for. But you're representing a newspaper for the purpose of reporting news on the election. I would've expected the wording to be more unbiased. I'm not familiar with the policies of Russian reporters and newspapers, so I can't speak with authority in that regard. But in the US we consider a post like this to be baiting the reader, using creative wordplay to try and garner a more directional response from them.

Just my two cents. As for your question, I felt both Biden and Palin conducted themselves fine, all things considered. Both misrepresented certain facts, but I challenge anyone to point out an 'honest politician'.

[madelinekrieger]

Added: And ironically enough, I found the two of them to be more adult than their counterparts. Watching McCain and Obama debate is like trying to decide which one's the smoother liar. Watching Palin and Biden debate was refreshing in comparison.

[jeffxandra]

This is strangely not uncommon during the debates. Remember the Lieberman-Cheney sit down 8 years ago?

[letitshine]

I didnt find Obama/McCain childish. I felt Mr. McCain's total lack of eye contact was certainly telling - not to mention disrespectful - but I saw frequent attempts at engaging the opponent by Mr. Obama.

[valknott]

Palin's comments were devoid of real content, she obviously was told to appeal to the emotions of her audience and try to play the "joe six pack hockey mom card" which was incredibly transparent. On CNN, the "voter dial" dived whenever she flashed that smile and started talking about Alaska or her "maverick" status. Biden, on the other hand, occasionally slipped into the detail-laden wonkiness Democrats are prone to do. That being said, I'd prefer an intelligent details wonk over a slogan-spouting talking head.

[batbuds]

Personally... I find Palin refreshing if not a bit naive. Biden, I find not eloquent as you say, but old school, tired and typical of professional politicians.

I can say the same things about Obama/McCain... Obama fresh, McCain jaded...

I am actually tired of the professional politicians... I vote for term limits on Congress too. And to make it even better, once you have served your term limit in one position, you are no longer eligible for any other position; in other words no drifting from House to Senate, to President/VP, etc... NO CAREER IN POLITICS... do your duty and go away... it would bring the lobbyist and special interest groups under control too...

But I digress... Your question is slanted... obviously... Please, if you are going to claim to be a non-biased reporter interested in honest and open conversation, verify that you are not stacking the deck before you even deal the first card...

[credendovides]

While I personally agree with the bias of the question (As in I prefer Obama/Biden over McCain/Palin, not that I agree with it being biased), I have to agree with the question being slanted. I have noticed a lot of the questions posted to this community have been very slanted. I'm honestly not sure what that reflects.

Unrelated, I've noticed that comments by the community seem to have much of the same slant. There have been only a handful of people who support the McCain/Palin ticket compared to those who support Obama/Biden. It's something I've been noticing since the beginning and have been wanting to mention. Again, I'm not really sure what it reflects, aside from the demographic that would join this community is more likely to be Democrat.

[letitshine]

Until last night I was most assuredly voting for Ron Paul. Biden's statements seem to have brought me into a gray area towards potentially voting Obama/Biden.

[absurdhero]

Ron Paul actually isn't running for president anymore, since he lost his bid for the Republican nomination and isn't running as an independent. That should make the choice a bit easier.

[dustwing]

I would, as I've said before, rather elect a horse's ass with a megaphone in its anus than Palin/McCain

[lakadyn]

It sure will take a superhero to fix all that needs fixing. I'm actually glad the financial mess has started before november or the next president would have been blamed for the whole thing caused by Bush.

[onewaystair]

Sadly, I think the winner of the election will be blamed, anyway, by opposition voters with short memories.

In my area (northwestern Florida), at least, Bush and company have proven to be astonishingly skilled at escaping responsibility for their actions in the minds of the public. It kind of freaks me out, to be honest.

[lakadyn]

You're probably right and it would be nice if the journalists were doing their work and reminding people of the facts.