Saturday, October 04, 2008

Debates!

Occasionally the internet here in K-stan is fast enough to actually allow me to download things, and I was lucky enough to download the first Presidential debate and Thursday's VP debate. For starters let me just say that in both debates I was incredibly impressed by the fact that the Republicans came off sounding articulate and intelligent. I mean, of course the Dems did, but we're used to that. It's been ages since we had an articulate Republican on the national scene, and that was just due to Reagan's training as an actor. It was actually quite nice to listen to intelligent people discussing things instead of an intelligent person talking above a redneck Texan bumbler. (Although dammit if Palin doesn't pronounced nuclear the same way Bush does. It's NEW-clee-ar, not nu-cu-lur.)

While I may have been impressed by the performances of McCain and Palin (to be honest, I was hoping Obama and Biden would wipe the floor with them, and was a little bummed when it dodn't happen) nothing McCain or Palin said did anything to sway me to their side at all; I am firmly behind Obama/Biden when it comes to policy. Also, it was obvious to me that Palin had been super-prepped for the VP debate, and was simply repeating the points which she had drilled; meanwhile, Biden came off looking as though he had a much deeper grasp of the policies than Palin.

I found this exchange in the VP debate amusing, as it seemed that she didn't know what an Achilles heel might be:

Moderator: The conventional wisdom, Governor Palin with you, is that your Achilles heel is that you lack experience. Your conventional wisdom against you is that your Achilles heel is that you lack discipline, Senator Biden. What is it really for you, Governor Palin? What is it really for you, Senator Biden? Start with you, governor.

Palin: My experience as an executive will be put to good use as a mayor and business owner and oil and gas regulator and then as governor of a huge state, a huge energy producing state that is accounting for much progress towards getting our nation energy independence and that's extremely important.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did you see any of Palin's interview with Couric? She has NO CLUE what she's talking about. She is completely, utterly, coached.

Stephanie said...

Thank god someone else noticed her pronouncing it that way. I thought I was just hearing things at first.

She completely ignored some of the questions she was asked, instead focusing on energy and drilling in this country. Something that didn't win any points with me. But you're right, I was a little disappointed Biden didn't totally thrash her.

annie said...

Oh, i know she's completely coached, and her knowledge of the facts is shallow at best... but you have to admit that her debate performance sounded much more intelligent than Bush! (Except for the whole nu-cu-lur thing.)

It was interesting to hear her actually say that she wasn't always going to answer the questions she was asked. Yeah, I've no clue what you're talking about so I'm going to revert to my talking points. Bah.

I've read several places that said that part of Biden's coaching was to keep him from seeming as though he were trying to intimidate the woman, which was probably why he held back...

Anonymous said...

If you haven't seen the Couric interview yet, you totally should. Palin is a complete and total moron. If you don't have time to watch the whole Couric interview, then you should at least was the SNL Tina Fey skit on hulu.com.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/36863/saturday-night-live-couric--palin-open

Melissa

annie said...

Oh, don't worry - I totally agree that she's a moron. I was just impressed by her debate performance. I was hoping for something more a la Couric.