I'll admit right here and now that Palin wasn't the car crash that I was expecting as far as having a deer in the headlights moment (but she was close on a few occasions) - and I thought going in to this that her B.S. has gotten a little better - but the bottom line is that if you look past the fact the she didn't completely breakdown on stage, she's still the same Palin who can't give a straight answer, and at times (especially the later half) didn't even seem to understand the questions.
A couple of comments:
1. Our standards for Palin were pretty low - extremely low - and the fact that she didn't actually prove those expectations right doesn't mean she's any smarter than she was before - it just means lightening strikes twice (but only for style because there wasn't any substance). But even more to the fact is this: Do we really want a VP - and possible President - who we have that low of expectations for where all they need to do is come out on camera and not wet themselves and we'll be happy? That's a winner? I don't think so.
2. Palin basically didn't answer any question while Biden answered with specifics, and Palin made sure to set up the debate when she said she wasn't going to answer the questions the way maybe people wanted her too - setting us up for lowered expectations - again - because she knew she wouldn't be able to answer - or even understand - specific questions thrown at her (and I know I said something similar above, but I just wanted to hammer that point home once again).
3. Biggest Palin gaffe on the question from Ifill of "Governor, nuclear Pakistan, unstable Pakistan, nuclear Iran? Which is the greater threat?"
Palin: Both are extremely dangerous, of course. And as for who coined that central war on terror being in Iraq, it was the Gen. Petraeus and al Qaeda, both leaders there and it's probably the only thing that they're ever going to agree on, but that it was a central war on terror is in Iraq. You don't have to believe me or John McCain on that. I would believe Petraeus and the leader of al Qaeda.Are you kidding me? So your VP candidate wants to take al Qaeda's word for where the war on terror is? So if al Qaeda says the central war on terrorism is going to be waged at the McDonalds in Texas is Palin going to send troops to secure the home of the Big Mac with some special sauce?
I didn't know Palin's foreign policy meant that she would take a sworn enemy of the United States at face value. Talk about naive.
4. Another typical Palin moment (and she almost lost it on this one) in answering the Ifill's question of "Governor, you mentioned a moment ago the constitution might give the vice president more power than it has in the past. Do you believe as Vice President Cheney does, that the Executive Branch does not hold complete sway over the office of the vice presidency, that it it is also a member of the Legislative Branch?"
Palin: Well, our founding fathers were very wise there in allowing through the Constitution much flexibility there in the office of the vice president. And we will do what is best for the American people in tapping into that position and ushering in an agenda that is supportive and cooperative with the president's agenda in that position. Yeah, so I do agree with him that we have a lot of flexibility in there, and we'll do what we have to do to administer very appropriately the plans that are needed for this nation. And it is my executive experience that is partly to be attributed to my pick as V.P. with McCain, not only as a governor, but earlier on as a mayor, as an oil and gas regulator, as a business owner. It is those years of experience on an executive level that will be put to good use in the White House also.Listen - say what you want about style - but if your candidate doesn't even understand the difference between the Executive and Legislative Branches and can't speak to a simple question like that with specifics basically trying to B.S. her way through the question - style doesn't matter (and contrast that with Bidden who clearly understood the question).
See if this would have been a Katie Couric interview, she would have dug further and we would have been able to see - even more clearly - that she didn't even understand the question (because you know Couric would have asked a question like "Tell me the difference between the Executive and Legislative Branches.") - now that would have been a disaster.
5. Clearly if you look at the transcript and actually see who answered questions, to me it was an easy win for Biden - and just one more reason to vote for Obama.
