“Yet I do admire her Reaganesque ability to talk directly to the viewer – catapulting the highfaluting language of Washington.”

Yes, I love being patronised by a dead-eyed, insincere right wing freak too. It makes me roll over to have my tummy tickled if they use “folksy” words like “betcha” and “heckuva.”

Sheesh. And this is article is analysis?

Either the piece is deep irony, or Aaron’s subtly rebranding the site as “ignorant hick conspiracy”…

You have to hand it to her, she did a lot better than most people expected. Not that that makes the prospect of her being “a heartbeat away from the Presidency” any less scary!

Have I stumbled across the wrong website or something?

Why is it so hard to admit she did much better than expected last night?

As I said, I’m no fan of hers – indeed I’ve been an Obama supporter since day one, but she didn’t crash and burn last night.

The fact is, as much as she pisses off liberals, she may – if she survives this campaign – end up being a strong political force.

As much was said on the Rachel Maddow show on Air America yesterday. So I suppose America’s top liberal talk-radio channel and I are both wrong.

Palin did better than many might have expected, but then she was coming from a very low base.

However, I think the honest appraisal has to be that while she can cope with set piece debates given a lot of preparation and time to memorise a bunch of stock answers, what she can’t do is think on her feet.

And that’s the line that the Democrats need to play – can you trust her to be able to think on her feet in a crisis or will she just stand there a burble inanely while everything goes to shit around her.

Aaron, I agree with you. Don’t count on any more interviews though – the McCain campaign will limit her to scripted speeches and soundbites. In fact, she probably won’t even do a single press conference which is shocking in itself.

I wonder how the debate would’ve been percieved if the faces and positions were reversed. A score-draw instead of a nil-nil result?

“Why is it so hard to admit she did much better than expected last night?”

This is what her former opponent said before the debate:

“”The one thing I found during the [2006] debates was no matter how knowledgeable her opponents were on the issues, it didn’t matter,” Mr Halcro told BBC News.

“She has an amazing ability to turn a 45-second answer into a folksy story… she’s never been forced to know the issues.” “

That’s exactly what she did and it was extremely irritating. Admittedly, Biden was poor but with his record he should never have been selected as VP.

Yeah, she exceeded expectations, but they were so low at that point – barring an attack of Tourettes – she was always going to at least match them.

That said, I didn’t find her particularly convincing or straight-talking. My instinct is that the line “Gosh darnnit, I’m a maverick and so’s my boss” was going to do much. I know that we in Europe all live in fear of the gullibility of the American fundie hick voter, but when it’s that obvious that the woman is only there to provide a folksy narrative, I think a lot of them will see through it. She can’t. Early polls certainly seem to suggest that.

And to have an effect on the race, she needed to do a lot more than just not lose. There was a time when she was meant to be the game-changer for McCain. If the most they’re expecting from her now is that she memorize her lines for the few appearances they allow her to make, then there goes their one slim hope.

Ach, you know the relative that’s always telling anecdotes instead of getting off the phone? That’s who she reminded me of.

Ben

Never underestimate the American people’s ability to vote for a charismatic moron.

And, incidentally, anyone who praises Henry Kissinger’s ‘passion for diplomacy‘ should be given a quiet holiday in Bedlam, not a VP nomination. I’m perfectly aware that Biden/Obama would do just the same, though, so I’ll just seethe quietly.

Ben

The fact is, as much as she pisses off liberals, she may – if she survives this campaign – end up being a strong political force.

I had a similar thought this morning: if McCain loses, Palin already knows that the Republican base loves her. She could be back in 2012/2016 – and next time, she’ll be better prepared.

(Pause)

Are readers scared already?

Aaron, I agree with you. ~ Shariq

Finally!

)

“I think the honest appraisal has to be that while she can cope with set piece debates given a lot of preparation and time to memorise a bunch of stock answers, what she can’t do is think on her feet.”

True but thats not just her:) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hSnEMV58F8

and we all know that politicians don’t need to actually know anything, after all that’s what advisers are for! so in the end all they need is self-confidence and people seem to believe in them. so in that regard, yes sarah palin certainly has not ‘lost’.

Why is it so hard to admit she did much better than expected last night?

Because it’s bullshit. She only did as well as Biden allowed her too. He had to play that whole ‘not look sexist’ thing but had he not had to he would have utterly destroyed her.

She did nothing but stick to a script and refuse to answer questions, anyone can look good doing that in those conditions!

She did exactly what my teachers advised me not to do during my A-level exams: she pounced on keywords in the questions that she was asked and then she reeled off whatever she’d memorised about that keyword, regardless of whether she was actually answering the question or not.

Why are people hating on Biden?? Maybe I had low expectations of him as well, but I thought that once he saw that Palin wasn’t going to self-destruct, he was outstanding.

In hindsight he also appears to have been an excellent pick by Obama. Obama’s goal has to be shown that he isn’t just an empty suit and that he is ready to govern. Picking someone for electoral purposes would have undermined that and I think people appreciate that Delaware isn’t an important state.

Look if Obama loses, go after him all you want. But untill then admit that whenever people have tried to second guess Obama and just as importantly David Axelrod, they have been wrong. They said he wasn’t attacking Hillary Clinton enough – wrong. They said he needed to divert resources away from organising towards tv ads – wrong. They said that having operations in many states rather than a few swing states – wrong. That he should have picked someone flashier than Biden – wrong.

I’ll stop now.

Good points about Biden, his answer to the Veep role question was excellent, showed a real grasp of the role and what he intends to do in it. It doesn’t surprise me that the polls from CBS showed such a wide margin that he beat her. If Obama can keep up his steady as she goes strategy in the last two debates and the economy stays as a major issue he’s going to win.

Shariq, don’t stop continue and write it up for PP!

Leon,

Because it’s bullshit. She only did as well as Biden allowed her too. He had to play that whole ‘not look sexist’ thing but had he not had to he would have utterly destroyed her.

Bullshit? But then you say she did well (albeit thanks to Biden)?

Did she do better than expected or not? Which one is it?

I’ll tell you: she did much better than people expected. People did watch it expecting gaffes-aplenty. They didn’t come.

That doesn’t mean she uttered anything constructive or substantive. She lied numerous times. And she flatly refused to answer certain questions.

So from an academic position it was an awful performance. From a political one, not so much.

She didn’t crash and burn. She did wrangle a few points by ably twisting Biden’s comments into negatives. Palin did manage to put in a par performance under incredible pressure and scrutiny.

If anyone won the debate it was Biden – with his great kitchen sink line and much spikier send-half performance, but I think it was probably a score-draw.