election 2008: vice-presidential debate

at some point during last night's debate, i realized that the experience was not unlike watching a NASCAR race: i was watching the competitors going round and round in circles, waiting for one of them to crash. made it a little less exciting since neither of them truly crashed, but i think something may have been gained in the exercise.

first off, some comments on the moderator, gwen ifill. a wonderful woman, i'm sure, but if i were in the mccain camp, i'd be furious. i didn't keep track, but if i had to guess, ifill offered the last word to joe biden on at least 80% of the questions she asked, regardless of who was asked the question first. maybe some of that blame can be shifted to palin, who seemed to not use all of her allotted time on more than one occasion, but i think the disproportionate opportunities for rebuttal by biden were glaring. i think ifill also could have pressed each candidate further during the free time after the 90-second answers were given.

regarding the debaters, it was interesting to watch the differences in style. from the outset, biden looked directly at ifill when answering questions and rarely at the camera, while palin looked directly at the camera almost immediately after she began speaking each time. biden used the camera more so as the debate went on, but only when he had aggressive points to make, which came off as harsh and negative. palin came across as speaking directly to the public, which was clearly intentional. because her style was smooth and pleasant, her points seemed more substantive than they truly were.

this debate frustrated me. i think biden had more substance, but it was hard to tell because he blew much of his credibility with his style. he kept tripping over words, needlessly repeated phrases, and ranted about "fundamental" differences so much that the term got watered down. he refused to acknowledge any potential differences between himself and obama. biden insisted he and obama have always been of the same opinions on iraq, although their voting records demonstrate otherwise. palin hit him hard on that, calling out his kerry-esque reversal given his aye vote on the war resolution. biden could have defended himself better but chose to lose face to defend the ticket. it painted a wishy-washy picture which i think weakened biden a good bit.

palin, to me, had nothing to say. she brought up the points she was coached to bring up, and made them well. it infuriated me when she said something like "i may not answer the questions directly as you or the moderator would like me to", and she kept her promise. she repeatedly brought up unrelated topics and harped on "energy independence" as if it were the answer to all the world's problems. often, her answers started well but turned to canned fluff (shout-outs to all her buddies in alaska), and on one occasion (don't remember the question) she just rambled for all her alloted time with a bunch of patriotic cheez-whiz and not a single salient point. she came off as as a promoter for the ticket, someone like giuliani or romney, rather than someone on the ticket herself.

and then, she said it. the one thing about this current president that drives me crazier than anything, and palin said it. during an answer to a question about the dangers of pakistan and iran, palin dropped the N-bomb: "nucular". i didn't want to believe it at first, but she said it again. "nucular". and again. "nucular". and again. "nucular". there is one and only one way to pronounce the word "nuclear"- just as it's written, with the "l" right after the "c". our current president doesn't seem to understand that, and unfortunately, it seems mrs. palin doesn't either. it is extremely hard for me have faith that someone can comprehend the intricacies and ramifications of nuclear proliferation if they cannot even pronounce the damn word.

here's my bottom-line interpretation: biden is a good guy with a strong background of service who is afraid to say where he differs with obama for fear of presenting a divided ticket. palin is a wonderful public speaker, and i'm sure the best gosh-darn cookie-makin', baby-totin', moose-killin' hockey mom up there in juneau, but someone who has no right being a proverbial heartbeat away from running the free world.

almost every pundit i watched last night before and after the debate made the point that while VP debates may be interesting, they don't affect the election at all; people vote on the presidential candidates, not the VP's. unless i am given reason to be swayed differently between now and nov. 4, i may be the exception to that rule.