Comments on: Instant debate reaction: Biden wins

By: Arnold Layne

Arnold Layne — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 21:43:42 +0000

Not sure why the author didn’t point out Biden’s mistakes. Since he’s such an expert, we should be even less forgiving of his. For example, he said the VP’s ONLY job in the senate is to vote to break a tie. Too bad Palin didn’t turn to him and say “Joe, don’t you know the VP can preside over congressional sessions as he sees fit?”
” The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided.

The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the office of President of the United States. “

By: Bill S

Bill S — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 17:40:15 +0000

Very interesting article but what I’m still not sure about is if I’m seeing is an ambitious dimwit who appeals to a certain portion of the populace or an ambitious politician playing the roll of dimwit in order to appeal to “those folks”. If the latter is the case then one has to wonder if she and Rove have played McCain in order to set the stage for some future election.

By: Sam Wang

Sam Wang — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 15:22:58 +0000

Bill S and Fran, read this piece on Palin's ascent in Alaska politics. Quite detailed - she's much less of a cipher to me now.

By: Fran

Fran — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 13:04:58 +0000

Okay – Palin exceeded expectations… but does it not matter that she lied about or was wrong on matters of fact time and time again? Our expectations are indeed low if we’ll settle for such dishonesty.

By: Sam Wang

Sam Wang — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 12:00:36 +0000

Bill S, I also had trouble following some of the answers. In this case I do think she was being intentionally misleading. Andrew Sullivan points to footage of her campaign for governor in which she (without winkiness or heavy accent) said that she favored legislation to deny rights to same-sex couples.

By: Mike L

Mike L — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 02:33:26 +0000

Victor,
Today I sent in my California absentee ballot with a NO vote on Proposition 8.

Good luck, and let’s hope Pat Brown’s title makes more people reluctant to “eliminate the right”.

By: Bill S

Bill S — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 21:51:38 +0000

I thought I heard her speaking in favor of rights for both different and same sex couples but still defining marriage as between a man and a woman. That others heard the opposite is interesting. For the most part I found what she was saying to be so vacuous and confusing that I had trouble listening to it. Which is my usual reaction to peole who I think are speaking without thinking.

She’s either a dangerously clever and cynical politican who has cultivated the abilty to sound pleasant to half the people while saying nothing or she’s a dimwit.

By: Victor

Victor — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 18:16:30 +0000

I watched the debate on CNN because they had a focus group give their reactions to the candidates in real time. What I noticed during the questions about gay rights is the focus group was very hesitant to tell their feelings until Palin said she had a “diverse group of friends.” After that moment the lines went up and they agreed with her that gay people shouldn’t have any rights. Apparently that was the cover they needed to express their true feelings. It was also the only point in the debate where males gave higher scores to both candidates than females.

I support marriage for same-sex couples and different-sex couples.

California, Vote NO on Proposition 8
Equality for All http://tinyurl.com/6ddtf5
Equality California http://tinyurl.com/5dydop

Arizona, Vote NO on Proposition 102
Vote NO on Prop 102 http://www.votenoprop102.com/

Florida, Vote NO on Proposition 2
Say NO 2 http://tinyurl.com/4mdsjj

By: Jeff

Jeff — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:34:42 +0000

I’m really surprised the punditry hasn’t made more of Palin’s remarks about the powers of the VP. Unless I misheard her, she said she’d like to expand the powers of the VP under the constitution, then said she agrees with Cheney that the VP’s office isn’t part of the executive branch. Seems like this should be explored — do we want another Cheney as VP, one with the same neocon commitments (by way of recent and ongoing tutoring) but with no relevent experience?

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 15:42:20 +0000

I thought that “O’Biden” did a better job of highlighting the differences between the Dems and the R’s than Palin. Palin sounded like the debaters in ‘04, which is to say that she did a competent job of sticking to her stump speech points. I thought biden was better on the substantive answers.

I predict that the debate will merely reinforce the growing consensus about the two candidates, which is MCain is more of the same and Obama is positive change.

I would predict that the trends that we have seen in the polling data since the last debate will persist or even accelerate, in terms of the shift to Obama. To the extent that the debate has any influence on voter perception, it will simply reinforce the narrative that is shaping the race now, except that it may have also helped shore up the Rep. base.

I am interested in seeing an analysis of the effect of this debate on voter opinions.