VP Debate – The Morning After

Beyond my own too-verbose effort, a few other live-blogging efforts, as well as some general debate thoughts and observations — and, for the record, the transcript.

I’m still miffed that Ifill shied away from some important questions that have come up about Palin the past few weeks. Granted, she did ask some generally tough questions, taking care to zero in on both the candidates. But she didn’t explore any of the gaffes that Palin had made — not remembering any Supreme Court rulings aside from Roe v. Wade, not being able to name any newspapers she says she reads, not being able to cite McCain’s reform record, or questions about her Young Earth Creationism, or even her position on things like Supreme Court appointments, rape kits, and abortion rights. All of these had analogs that could have been directed at Biden, too.

It was also disappointing that neither Biden nor Ifill noted her non-responsiveness to question, her shifting of topics away to talking points, etc. Nor was there much in the way of follow-ups, which is where she’s gotten slammed in the past. Both were treating her with kid gloves, which let her squeaking through the debate have that much more impact. While Biden did counter her on some policy answers, he let some personal attacks sneak by (the taxes and patriotism one, for example) — though, to be sure, that gave him time to land some zingers on McCain (the litany of why he’s no maverick in particular). She also didn’t get called on some of her straight factual bloopers, perhaps with a thought that they’d be fact-checked the next day fact-checked the next day. After all, Biden was cautioned by a lot of people not only to not go overboard against Palin to avoid being seen as a “bully,” but because it would impact his own limited time to get out his positions.

It still irks me, but it might have been the right approach.

Some particular items from Palin’s performance that bothered me:

1. She danced around the gay marriage/gay rights issue. Biden was very straightforward that he wanted civil rights parity, but preferred that the “m” word be addressed solely within churches. Palin, after dithering around tolerance and how nobody in her administration would ever block visitation rights, and boy she had a diverse family (though it was unclear whether it was diverse in orientation or diverse in opinions about gays) finally simply said that she was against gay marriage. Good to get that admission from her (and disappointing from Biden), but her unwillingness either to speak her mind more broadly on gay rights issues (for fear of offending the Right, or offending Everyone Else) spoke volumes. Especially, no doubt, to gays in Alaska.
2. She was blinking like crazy. Bangs too long, eyelash problems, or a tell as to how she was feeling or what she was saying, I don’t know.
3. She didn’t seem to understand or grapple with the powers and nature of the the Vice Presidency, except to say that she sure looked for forward, you betcha, to expanding its rights in the Constitution. The whole neither-executive-nor-legislative-thus-unaccountable argument asserted by Cheney either excites her or hasn’t hit her radar; either is unconscionable. 
4. Aside from the folksy you betcha humor, pretty much everything she said was a scripted point (some seemingly recycled from past presidential campaigns). It was clear. She had points A-Z to get through, and if that meant circling back to an earlier question to finish the list, that’s right where she went. If she didn’t say anything egregiously stupid, it’s because she didn’t say anything other than what she’d rehearsed, and wasn’t asked for follow-ups that would make her think on her toes.

I was impressed that the families all got together up on stage in a show of civility that stood in stark contrast to McCain’s performance (make him come to you to shake hands, avoid contact, disengage, grab the wife, work the crowd) at the first presidential debate. One question that I’ve seen (quite legitimately) raised is what’s a baby that small doing being awakened and lugged around under the lights at that hour (besides, y’know, showing that Palin’s a great mom, you betcha)?

Though the spin from the GOP was that Palin was da bomb, that was largely because she didn’t horribly suck or further tank the ticket. The debate itself wasn’t, stripping away the Palin Watch, all that exciting, with a few exceptional moments. I was surprised to find out that quick polling after the debate gave the outcome handily to Biden. I thought there would be more people genially accepting Palin’s Joe Sixpack demeanor. Perhaps there’s more scrutiny of her now than there has been in the past.

On the other hand, Lloyd Benson beat the stuffing out of Dan Quayle, and we know how that election turned out.

We’ll see how the polls are tracking after the weekend to see if there was any actual impact.