9:07: Palin just opened up with a pretty nasty zinger against Biden, by pointing out that while he and the rest of his colleagues were blowing off the warning signs, McCain called for greater regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Biden came off weak by trying to bring up McCain's quip that "the fundamentals of the economy are sound."
9:09: Palin just managed to call into question Obama's wilingness to work with the other side, by pointing out that he's voted his party line over 96% of the time. So far, it looks like Biden is mostly on the defensive.
9:11 Biden has done a decent job of trying to make Obama look like he saw the subprime issue too, and that McCain flip-flopped. Not bad, but he visibly came within a second of labeling McCain's policies as "right-wing" rather than Republican, which would have made him look more partisan.
9:13 Biden is doing better now, having just successfully Obama's record against Palin's comment about him wanting to raise taxes.
9:18: Oh shit, Palin just accused Biden of attempting to "redistribute wealth." She just successfully tore Biden a new asshole on spending and his comment that paying taxes is patriotic by pointing out that middle America doesn't feel that way at all.
9:22: Biden was holding his own, but then he reinforced that he really believes that paying taxes is a patriotic thing to do.
9:23: Palin just said that Obama helped get those tax cuts for the rich oil companies, and that she had to face them down in Alaska and make their relationship with Alaska work for the people of Alaska.
9:26: Biden just had to point out that Palin did support the very windfall profit tax that he and Obama supported. Most of the points that he made about McCain were lost because of this, in my opinion, though it might not have any impact on most people who were thinking about supporting Obama because it's still about McCain.
9:33: Biden is doing a pretty good job of making the argument that Obama's energy policy based around solar and clean coal will have benefits for the economy via export, but he really hurt Obama by making it his official position that human activity is the cause of Global Warming. Palin presented herself better here by suggesting that it was a combination of factors, and that she and McCain want to target the areas which are human causes.
9:38: Biden just came off as too enthusiastic about gay rights issues, which could further alienate him from people who are undecided on this issue. Palin came off better by suggesting that she would support essentially anything short of redefining marriage, and she did a good job of making it clear that McCain's administration would not deny any legal rights to homosexuals.
9:39: Biden regained some ground by saying straight up that he does not support redefining marriage to permit gay marriage.
9:43: Palin just managed to bring up a good contradiction in the voting pattern of Biden and how he said that Obama was not ready to be commander-in-chief.
9:47: Palin managed to come back and defeat some of Biden's key points by pointing out that both Paetreus and the Al Qaeda leadership agree that Iraq is the central battle in the War on Terror.
9:52: Palin just hit a home run by unequivocally supporting Israel and saying that she supports putting our embassy in Jerusalem.
9:54: Biden is also doing very well now by condemning the free elections that brought Hamas to power, and how he says that NATO allowed Hezbollah to become more powerful, and even become part of the government.
10:03: Palin succeeded in portraying Biden as a big flip flopper on military policy.
10:05: Biden tried to weasel his way out of facing the fact that he voted for the war before he was against it by trying to cast it as him being opposed to McCain's strategy. That won't work with people who were paying attention to the question. Palin did miss an opportunity here, but it might have been for the better because she could have come off a little too harsh.
10:23: A lot of talk about what people are talking about around kitchen tables. It's starting to go downhill for both candidates. Get these guys some coffee with amaretto or irish cream...
10:28: It's now degenerating into more shit about bipartisanship and other stuff.
10:32: Biden has finally convinced me that he grew up as a poor little black boy in a log cabin in the mean streets of Scranton. Something like that.
Winners, in order:
9:09: Palin just managed to call into question Obama's wilingness to work with the other side, by pointing out that he's voted his party line over 96% of the time. So far, it looks like Biden is mostly on the defensive.
9:11 Biden has done a decent job of trying to make Obama look like he saw the subprime issue too, and that McCain flip-flopped. Not bad, but he visibly came within a second of labeling McCain's policies as "right-wing" rather than Republican, which would have made him look more partisan.
9:13 Biden is doing better now, having just successfully Obama's record against Palin's comment about him wanting to raise taxes.
9:18: Oh shit, Palin just accused Biden of attempting to "redistribute wealth." She just successfully tore Biden a new asshole on spending and his comment that paying taxes is patriotic by pointing out that middle America doesn't feel that way at all.
9:22: Biden was holding his own, but then he reinforced that he really believes that paying taxes is a patriotic thing to do.
9:23: Palin just said that Obama helped get those tax cuts for the rich oil companies, and that she had to face them down in Alaska and make their relationship with Alaska work for the people of Alaska.
9:26: Biden just had to point out that Palin did support the very windfall profit tax that he and Obama supported. Most of the points that he made about McCain were lost because of this, in my opinion, though it might not have any impact on most people who were thinking about supporting Obama because it's still about McCain.
9:33: Biden is doing a pretty good job of making the argument that Obama's energy policy based around solar and clean coal will have benefits for the economy via export, but he really hurt Obama by making it his official position that human activity is the cause of Global Warming. Palin presented herself better here by suggesting that it was a combination of factors, and that she and McCain want to target the areas which are human causes.
9:38: Biden just came off as too enthusiastic about gay rights issues, which could further alienate him from people who are undecided on this issue. Palin came off better by suggesting that she would support essentially anything short of redefining marriage, and she did a good job of making it clear that McCain's administration would not deny any legal rights to homosexuals.
9:39: Biden regained some ground by saying straight up that he does not support redefining marriage to permit gay marriage.
9:43: Palin just managed to bring up a good contradiction in the voting pattern of Biden and how he said that Obama was not ready to be commander-in-chief.
9:47: Palin managed to come back and defeat some of Biden's key points by pointing out that both Paetreus and the Al Qaeda leadership agree that Iraq is the central battle in the War on Terror.
9:52: Palin just hit a home run by unequivocally supporting Israel and saying that she supports putting our embassy in Jerusalem.
9:54: Biden is also doing very well now by condemning the free elections that brought Hamas to power, and how he says that NATO allowed Hezbollah to become more powerful, and even become part of the government.
10:03: Palin succeeded in portraying Biden as a big flip flopper on military policy.
10:05: Biden tried to weasel his way out of facing the fact that he voted for the war before he was against it by trying to cast it as him being opposed to McCain's strategy. That won't work with people who were paying attention to the question. Palin did miss an opportunity here, but it might have been for the better because she could have come off a little too harsh.
10:23: A lot of talk about what people are talking about around kitchen tables. It's starting to go downhill for both candidates. Get these guys some coffee with amaretto or irish cream...
10:28: It's now degenerating into more shit about bipartisanship and other stuff.
10:32: Biden has finally convinced me that he grew up as a poor little black boy in a log cabin in the mean streets of Scranton. Something like that.
Winners, in order:
- Gwen Ifill: despite the claims that she had a financial interest in seeing Obama win, she did a very good job moderating.
- Sarah Palin: she didn't get tripped up, and made a lot of good points, some of which were real zingers, while remaining polite.
- Joe Biden: he didn't do badly either. In fact, I think he did better than Obama did in his debate.
I don't really understand the total politeness by politicians. Perhaps it is just my personal temperament, but I would go into a debate ready with facts and figures to utterly destroy their argument. If it upset them, so what? Of course, I actually believe that "the facts matter" so would make that the basis for my arguments.