Liveblogging Palin/Biden

I'm here in Rader Hall on the beautiful campus of Morehead State University and live-blogging the vice-presidential debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden.

Contrary to most commentators, I believe that Sarah Palin has to do more than be an appealing kind of working mom/politician.

Actually, a lot more.

As a vice-presidential candidate, Palin needs to be able to formulate John McCain's positions in an attractive and appealing manner. That's not an altogether easy thing to do. McCain's positions on domestic issues like tax policy, health care, immigration, and social security are not very attractive positions. McCain himself has trouble staying consistent. But Palin needs to show that she understands McCain's positions, formulate those positions in terms of principles, facts, and anecdotes, and be charismatically winning.

Who knows? Maybe she'll do great. But it's a tall order for someone who has a relatively hard time focusing on anything outside Wasilla, Alaska.

Paramaters. I have a hard time seeing how Palin helps McCain. Let's say she beats Biden on points. What does that do for McCain? I'm not even sure she helps McCain even if she scores a knockout punch. Biden's not in that much of a position to help Obama either.

9:03--First gaffe by Gwen Ifill who got the failure of the bailout legislation wrong.

9:04--I like the way Biden starts out in talking about the bailout legislation. He's talking about what Barack Obama thinks--not what Joe Biden.

9:05--Palin starts out by talking about how afraid everybody is about the economy. Not bad. She's talking about McCain making bipartisan efforts.

Both of the candidates make decent starts. Palin is avoiding most eye contact. Oooh--she winked at the camera.

9:09, Ifill asks about the sub-prime legislation. Palin talks about greed and corruption on Wall Street. One of the strange things about Palin is that she talks about the American people, hockey moms, and Wall Street as though it all existed in another country. Her efforts to "connect" give me the impression of her being separate from all that and artificial and off-putting as a result. I'm sure that part of the problem here is Palin's semi-Canadian accent. Another element no doubt is a lifetime of isolation in Alaska.

9:11, Biden connects McCain's position on deregulation in health care to deregulation in Wall Street.

9:12, Palin on Biden voting for the largest tax increases in American history. That's something that will come back to haunt her. Republicans routinely call Bill Clinton's tax hikes the largest in history, but I think Ronald Reagan's tax increases in 1982 were the biggest.

9:14, Biden and Palin really going at it. Excellent. Palin's bragging about not answering the question and it kind of works.

9:15, Biden is smiling too much when Palin is talking. I'm smiling a little bit too. But it looks condescending when Biden does it.

9:16, Bidens' doing well on middle-class tax cuts. Palin making a kind of weird response, but she's smiling while Biden talks. I guess it's okay if they both do it.

9:18, Palin on McCain's health care plan. McCain's got a horrible plan. Let's see how Biden responds to the health care issue. Yes! Biden hits McCain for taxing health insurance to pay for $5,000 tax credit. McCain's health care as the "bridge to nowhere." I like "Road to Nowhere" better. But McCainCare is nowhere no matter how you put it.

9:21, Biden is getting out too many numbers. He's getting garbled and confusing. He's also talking too fast for even the fastest typing blogger. Palin is getting tied up in some of her numbers as well.

9:23, No greed in Alaska? Palin's not going to cut it with that one. What 2005 energy plan?

9:25, Joe Biden using Palin against McCain on a windfall profit tax bill. It turns out that Palin enacted the same kind of windfall profits tax on oil that Clinton wanted. Go-o-o Joe!

9:26, If the debate stays relatively even like this, Obama is going to win. A vice-presidential tie goes to Obama even if McCain gets to breathe a lot easier.

9:28, Joe Biden is a little better on his facts even if he trips over them every once in a while. But Palin isn't being that cute and adorable either.

9:29, Palin goes back to energy but it's not very compelling. Biden's kind of nodding at Palin. That's good.

9:30, Palin's kind of confusing on climate change. She deosn't want to argue about the causes. She wants to "effect the impacts." Palin has a lot of odd little ways of speaking that are off-putting in that way. She wants to deal with "planet change." It's not that Palin's terrible, but she's also not a natural at this kind of political slugging.

9:32, Biden is making nice little pivots that highlight a lot of the weaknesses in McCain's positions. Biden emphasizes that McCain's voted 20 times against funding alternative energy technology.

9:34, Senator O'Biden?

9:36, Biden comes out fairly strong on equal rights for gay people. That's not the same thing as gay marriage. Palin claims to be "tolerant" of gay people. What a big favor!

9:38, Biden doesn't support gay marriage. Nor does Obama. I already knew that, but it's still disappointing.

9:39, Biden's teeth are so blindingly white it's scary. I have to give Palin credit for not overdosing on tooth whitener. Score two points to Palin for not blinding me with dazzlingly white teeth.

9:40, Onto Iraq. Palin is saying that McCain has a plan for withdrawing. Palin is doing pretty well with the details of things. She trips a little, not probably not as much as most people. Certainly not as much as me. Talking smoothly about complex issues to a camera is a relatively rare talent.

9:42, Palin's getting a little weak and looking at her notes as she talks about foreign policy. Now she's stumbling over the question of withdrawing Iraq. Here she's showing herself as more of a Triple A player than a Major Leaguer.

9:43, Biden got the last word on Iraq--excellent.

9:46, Biden is sounding really good on the dangers coming from Pakistan and Afghanistan.

9:47, Palin is very ineffective when she looks down in her notes while discussing foreign policy.

9:48, Palin talks about "America, our freedom, our democracy" as if America were a foreign country.

9:50, Biden is very effective talking about the need for negotiation with Iran and other enemy countries--in comparison Palin sounded very much like she was a Triple A politician again.

Still, the VP debate is a hell of a lot better than the presidential debate. They're not dodging, they're not insulting--they're debating. The quality of the debate is high.

9:53. Joe Biden is good on the failures of the Bush administration. Actually, he's better than either McCain or Obama.

9:55, Palin: every administration "makes mistakes and we'll learn for it. "
Change is coming."

Biden is tough on the similarities between McCain and Bush on Middle Eastern policy.

9:56, Now Palin is talking about "our planet" as though it's a foreign place. Maybe Palin is taking the Martian view.

9:58, Biden on Afghanistan: "Facts matter" as he emphasizes that the commanding general in Afghanistan concludes that the surge principles from Iraq won't work in Afghanistan.

9:59, Palin responds on Afghanistan--not quite convincing but far from terrible as well.

10:01, Joe Biden makes his first mispronunciation gaffe--The Bosniaks? But he's good on genocide in Darfur.

10:03, Palin hits Biden on voting for something before he was against it.

10:05, I'm feeling pretty good. Joe Biden is doing a really good job and he's helping Barack Obama by not hurting him.

10:06, Palin's not that strong on tying Biden to John McCain.

10:07, Ifill asking about Biden as president in the case of Obama dying--Biden's good on carrying on the Obama legacy.

10:09, She winks again.

Winking is just not very good. Nobody's feeling good enough for a winking politician at this point.

10:11, "Say it Ain't So Joe." Biden's wife is getting "her reward in heaven." These are the most painful Palin moments for me. But there will probably be more.

10:12--Her children as "public school participants." It's like the whole world and everyone in it is foreign to Palin. Maybe it's a way of speaking. Maybe it indicates a deep kind of isolation.

10:15--Biden would be the legislative point man for the Obama administration in Congress. That's a good idea.

10:16. Palin is setting herself up for a big fall by talking about the "flexibility of the office of the Vice-President."

10:17--This is predictable. Biden is hitting that weak idea on the vice-presidency out of the park.

10:18--Palin has a connection with the "heartland of America." But she doesn't seem well-connected as she's saying it and she's getting aggressive in her testimony to "tolerance."

10:21--Biden chokes up a little--

The debate is now starting to slow down a little. The debate has been successful. It's time to put this baby to sleep.

Palin's repeated the "maverick" mantra so many times that it's losing value.

I'm beginning to think that Biden is going to marginally help Obama. Palin's going to help McCain by not hurting him nearly as much as everybody said she was.

It's been an excellent debate and it's helped both sides.

It will be interesting to see how the polls evaluate the VP candidates as people. I think that Biden comes off as being real while Palin is oddly disconnected although she's doing well.

But I'd like to see if other people think the same way.

Palin's certainly happy with herself as she stares into the camera waiting for Obama to finish.

This time both candidates did bring their "A" games. It was sort of a surprise that Palin had an "A" game.