The best moment of the Joe Biden-Sarah Palin debate

Sarah Palin saved John McCain again Thursday night. She is the political equivalent of cardiac paddles: Clear! Zap! We've got a beat! She will re-electrify the base.

Biden won on substance, but Palin won on strategy. She consistently set Biden against Obama by agreeing with statements Biden had made about Obama during the primaries. And by agreeing with Biden on opposing gay marriage she also alienated a fair chunk of the Democrat base from Biden, a move that didn't necessarily gain her any votes but a strategic move to channel votes and donor support away from Obama-Biden. She also complimented Biden on his years of service in the Senate and then proceeded to use that as a negative in a very subtle way. I also liked how she pointed out that Biden, earlier this year, said he'd be honored to be John McCain's running mate, which stole the thunder from some of Biden's criticism of McCain.

I'd say Palin narrowly won in that her goal was to present herself to the public and to show that she could go toe to toe with an old hand like Biden.

Biden narrowly lost because the Democrat base really expected him to demonize Palin and to tear her up and instead the two of them came off as good friends who would probably work well together. He did not gain anything from the debate overall while Palin did gain credibility.

I doubt the debate will sway too many votes, but it firmed up Palin's support and I think the gay marriage thing will cost Biden some support.

If I were to score the debate it would be 50.1 points to Palin and 49.9 points to Biden.

I definitely noticed the overt attempts by each of them to appear like just one of the plain ol' citizens from your neighbourhood for the few minutes I watched the debate... I burst out laughing when Biden said something about the "Home Depot", where he spends "a lot of his time".

Give it a rest, guys, you're not typical, everyone knows it.

I don't support Biden, but of what I have heard of the guy the Home Depot comment was probably true.

Did we watch the same debate? It's only a win for Palin because should actually made it to the end without a deer-in-the=headlights moment.

Biden won on substance as Palin could only recite hastily memorised talking points and felt compelled to wink creepily all the time.

American Dream = everyday life to Canadians.

Oh SNAP!

Actually, it wasn't that bad. Both Biden and Palin can be firebrands when they want to and it showed somewhat last night.

Well, it took eight years and a search that took them to the far-flung reaches of Alaska, but the Republican Party finally managed to find someone more retarded than Geroge W. Bush.

Palin, while nice to look at, but knows even less than the shrub.{if that's possible}
Biden blew it by NOT destroying her on knowledge.
All she did all night long was use pre made up slogan and lines.
If you take the time to listen to what she said, she proved she was out of her element.
She rarely answered a question when it was put to her.
She told Biden to quit looking at the past, when she kept bringing her PAST record.
Her being one heart attack from the White House is SCARY. Worse than the jackass that's in there now!

In terms of political debate and especially leadership, what kind of moral quality do you think is endowed upon the those who have substance and those win with nothing but strategy? It seems to me that the unspoken right-wing mantra of "win at any cost" is the most socially damaging.

Too bad Biden is not the top dog on the ticket. I am a die-hard republican but after last night I would be tempted to vote democrook if Biden had been nominated. Still like the McCain/Palin ticket though. Yes, Bush is an idiot. However, the economic woes stem from the policies that the Democratic Presidents of recent have initiated. Bush added to the woes by his ill-planned Iraqi war. Had he focused on Afghanastan and finished things up there, there would be a vastly different world view going on right now. Bush won in 2000 only because there was a bigger idiot on the Democratic ticket that year.

Closer to the theme of this thread... I think Palin is doing well considering her limited experience on the world stage. I think she held her own quite well. And Bart is right, it looked like two old friends up there talking over a few issues that they have been bickering about for years instead of opposing forces.

I wonder how many times Palin said "maverick" during that debate.

Yeah, the whole "Maverick" line is gitting a bit stale. Yes, we understand Madam Govenor, you have been a maverick in Alaska, please quit reading your script and say something origional. I like her accent though

Unless they find a way of diverting the economic mess away from the Republican party, they are screwed.