Sep 26th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Advantages to Picking an Experienced Running Mate
I’ve seen Joe Biden doing aggressive surrogate appearances on every network I’ve flipped to. I imagine he’s hitting all of them. Sarah Palin, by contrast, isn’t doing any networks.
39 Responses to “Advantages to Picking an Experienced Running Mate”
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September 26th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
The less time Biden has, the better he does. He’s great on soundbites, but he likes to go on and on.
There’s a message there, I guess. Soundbites are what wins elections, but Democrats prefer other, less successful methods. (In Delaware he wins regardless.)
September 26th, 2008 at 11:43 pm
Where is Palin? She should at least be our spouting talking points and hosannahs for Grandpa John (while taking no questions). Are they REALLY that afraid to trot her out for ANY reason?
September 26th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
No, Palin is on the Home Shopping Network right now talking about haircare.
September 26th, 2008 at 11:51 pm
That’s because John McCain’s judgment is a fucking joke.
.
September 26th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
Good point. Tonight’s debate meant little; can’t imagine voting for a ticket with Palin on it, regardless of what McCain said tonight, which wasn’t much.
September 26th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
McCain’s campaign isn’t about to allow Sarah out of her purdah to speak to reporters.
September 27th, 2008 at 12:00 am
I saw Joe on MSNBC and he rocked-there were a few points where I though Barack could have hit harder, and Joe was very strong in delivering those points. I think in the next debates, Barack needs to really hit the ‘we’ve done it your way for the last 8 years, you don’t deserve another 4′ meme.
September 27th, 2008 at 12:44 am
Every time Biden is on TV pummeling McCain, everyone watching is thinking,”where’s Sarah?”, then finding themselves at a loss to imagine Palin in the same role. Bet on it.
September 27th, 2008 at 12:48 am
Watching Biden tonight it dawned on me that this is what we are going to see in the VP debate: Biden hammering McCain. But in that instance, Palin is going to have no choice but to do something in response. Should be interesting.
September 27th, 2008 at 1:27 am
Palin doesn’t have to – she has legs.
All she has to do is be her usual “good ol’ girl from Alaska” self – and every cracker in America – all fifty million of them – will vote for her (and her legs.)
Who’s going to vote for an old white guy who hasn’t done anything for the US lately?
But he IS willing to sacrifice the entire country for Israel. If anything, Palin is going to have trouble winning over the AIPAC crowd compared to Joe “I’m a Zionist” Biden. But the AIPAC crowd already know who’s more likely to start a war with Iran – McCain. So she doesn’t have to worry about it.
In fact, AIPAC already knows it’s going to get a war in Iran no matter WHO gets elected. They’ve got Richard Holbrooke and Dennis Ross in the Obama camp – and crazed neocons in the McCain camp. How can they lose?
September 27th, 2008 at 2:01 am
Biden managed to rock the house everywhere he showed up, and he showed up like a virus.
The obvious strategy for Biden next week is to debate Dick Cheney. Because that fucks Palin over. She’s shown a Cheneyesque attitude towards investigations and disclosure, but she doesn’t pass the experience test that, begrudigngly, Cheney passed.
September 27th, 2008 at 2:08 am
I don’t know. I can picture her pummelling McCain.
“Whatcha go in pick me fer ya dope? Ya cudda got da same boost from Huckabee, in he goes on Colbert and the crowd actually likes’em ya stubborn old goat!”
September 27th, 2008 at 2:40 am
This was easily Biden’s best night of the campaign. He was hitting big picture items (tying McCain into Bush) with small picture points (dropping in a quick, brief “we Catholics”) with smacks to take downs on McCain points that Obama couldn’t/wouldn’t (citing McCain’s horrible ranking by non-right wing vet groups).
Two important things for him going foward into the Veep Debate:
(a) learn from McCain’s anger, bitchiness, grumpiness, contempt
Veep debates aren’t that critical, but right now Palin is badly on the ropes. Don’t give her a lifeline by pulling a McCain. Palin can hang herself simply by talking. Rather than saying, “… doesn’t get it” and “don’t understand”, focus in on smacks that will resonate without contempt: “… this is more of Bush Policies that have gotten us into trouble over the past 8 years.” Palin just can’t defend links to Bush’s positions. She’ll fall back into trying to Maverick Up to split McCain from Bush, but simply doesn’t have any idea on what McCain’s differances with Bush are.
(b) don’t let his appearances tonight, nor Obama’s success tonight, go to his head
There’s a risk that Joe going to enjoy what he did tonight so much that he’ll want to do more of it in the debate. Not more in the sense of the tone he had tonight, but more in the sense of going back to the Joe who will say in 200 words would be better said by a tight 40. That he’ll cram every talking point he can into his two minutes.
Joe could have a massive advantage if he shoots to answer questions in 60-70 seconds, hitting one key point and one secondary related point in a decisive and confident fashion.
It will be a sharp contrast to a Palin that we’ve seen ramble terribly to hit all her talking points, even if they’re the wrong talking points.
John
September 27th, 2008 at 3:20 am
Where is Sarah? That’s a good question.
She’s so sequestered, no one knows. I’m figuring that she’s locked in a room with McCain staffers who are drilling in her head in order to insert facts, soundbites and speaking points.
Joe Biden did a great job on CNN, who had John McCain’s chief campaign spinner on prior to him, interviewed by Dana Bash.
The VP debate is going to be painful to watch.. Palin is so far below the mark… she’s the Little League compared to the Big League pros.
At least after the Couric interview, the bar is set VERY low. I’m going to give her a point for every complete coherent sentence she utters. Judging from the last, there won’t be many.
I’m waiting for McCain’s campaign to come up with another excuse to postpone this appearance. Her failure could sink the McCain campaign ship.
September 27th, 2008 at 4:18 am
I agree that they’re going to set the bar so low that if she doesn’t trip walking out, they’ll Declare Victory!
We need to recall that they lowered the bar for here acceptance speech. That snowballed everyone.
They will try it again. It probably won’t work this time, but there remains the strong tendancy of the MSM to Swing From The Tire when it comes to the Republican Party.
John
September 27th, 2008 at 8:41 am
Palin doesn’t have to – she has legs.
But does she know how to use them?
September 27th, 2008 at 9:08 am
I think the debate was, largely, a draw. Not in the sense that both sides did the same, but in the sense that neither side made a glaring error and neither side landed a serious blow. So more than most, this one will rely on spin to form viewers impressions a day or two down the road and Obama had Joe out there, spinning like Rapunzel and McCain had nobody. This is gonna end up a big win for Obama.
And given what I’ve seen of the clips of Joe McCain has to be soiling his pants right about now. The decision to insist that the VP debate be kept to short question-and-answer segments was absolutely necessary to keep Palin from making a complete ass of herself and the party, but by limiting time for answers it takes away Biden’s biggest weakness in debates, logorrhia, and puts him on his strongest game – based on his post debate performance last night.
September 27th, 2008 at 9:59 am
I bet they are thinking about yanking her. I have been wondering why she isn’t out there doing the softball stuff you know she can do – the “I think John did a wonderful job in the debate” stuff. Come on – she’s a politician. She wouldn’t win 1 election without the ability to blather. She could do this and deflect a ton of criticism without breaking a sweat. So, why isn’t she ?
I bet she steps down for health reasons or family reasons by next week.
September 27th, 2008 at 10:20 am
She’s putting McCain up for sale on eBay.
September 27th, 2008 at 10:56 am
Next week, Biden has to pretend he’s the only on at the VP debate. Just address the questions intelligently, don’t attack Sarah. Pretend she’s NOT there. His grasp of the issues, his experience, will show. Let Sarah sink herself by her responses to the questions. AND SHE WILL!. THAT is how Biden will win next week. No need to go on the offensive against Sarah. We all know she’s a dim lightbulb. However, if Sarah would just show up bra-less and wear a sheer white blouse (maybe spill some water on it in the middle of the debate, I ABSOLUTELY will vote for her. The water-thing would be a boner…er bonus.
September 27th, 2008 at 10:57 am
And IF she get’s voted in. She can sell her panties to reduce the debt? Just a thought.
September 27th, 2008 at 11:14 am
I said thanks but no thanks to that bitch up there in Alaska
September 27th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Folks, I’m sorry Sarah wasn’t available last night to discuss the debate. You see, she had something big in her mouth and couldn’t talk.
September 27th, 2008 at 11:30 am
This thread turned real ugly.
September 27th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Geez, who let the misogynists out?
September 27th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
A female writer for the National Review is calling for Palin to resign due to her disastrous interview with Katie Couric. Jack Cafferty of CNN said it was the worst interview he had seen from anyone seeking that high an office. She sounds as if she is in way over her head and may need to make way for someone more qualified. Funny that a different kind of e-mail regarding Biden resigning in favor of Hillary previously wove its way through the Internet.
September 27th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Obviously she couldn’t do post-debate commentary because, like all Eastern Elitists, she was hanging out at a bar in Rittenhouse Square.
Only that actually happened.
September 28th, 2008 at 9:05 am
I’ve noted a few posts suggesting that Palin might drop out of the race. While this is an interesting conjecture, it’s just not going to happen. For better or worse, McCain is stuck with his VP pick:
- I suspect it’s too late to pull her name from the ballot in most/all states.
- Switching gears at this point would torpedo the campaign. John’s media surrogates would be left with egg on their faces, and the base would feel betrayed that one of their own was dumped. McCain would be left looking like a desperate fool.
On an odd tangent, last week’s The New Yorker Talk of The Town section had some quotes from Palin shortly before John came a calling. She didn’t seem at all put out by the thought that Obama might eek out a win in Alaska, based on contemporary polling.
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