Palin Wins Beauty Pageant; Biden Wins Debate

Prior to yesterday's Vice Presidential Debate the talking heads were going on and on about how low the expectations were for Governor Sarah Palin due to her lack of experience and jaw-dropping bad performances in recent interviews. Within minutes after the debate was over the commentators and bloggers were all-a-buzz about how the debate wasn't a game changer, how neither of the candidates really won the debate, and how Palin really exceeded expectations.

I'm calling bullshit.

These are the two candidates for the Vice Presidency of the United States! If something should happen to their principles they could very well be President of the United States! We've all learned after watching Dick Cheney transform Washington into his own personal sandbox that the Vice President is no longer some silly figurehead standing on the sidelines. Whichever candidate wins will undoubtedly have a large hand in the fate of this planet. Does this not demand that we set the absolute highest expectations possible for these two people??

If we remove expectations and excuses from the equation - which we absolutely should - Biden was obviously the superior candidate last night. It wasn't even close. Biden was composed, factual, and disciplined.


Here's a breakdown of what I saw from Biden last night:

• Didn't bite on any of Palin's childish taunts and attacks.
• Promoted Obama's policies and was able to get into the specifics of those policies.
• Repeatedly noted similarities between Bush and McCain's ideals.
• Spit on the myth that John McCain is a maverick and a catalyst of change.
• Dissected Palin's claims and McCain's various policies and pointed out the absurdities in each.
• Reinforced his focus on the idea of fairness and the well-being of the middle class.
• Demonstrated in spades his knowledge and experience on all of the important issues.
  

Biden summed up the problem with Bush and McCain's policies with one brilliant line that came in response to Palin not wanting to discuss the causes of climate change: "If you don't understand what the cause is, how can you possibly come up with a solution?" Indeed.

Where Biden was a lion, all class and dignity, Palin was an evasive jackal - lying, cackling, and dancing around the issues. She even had the nerve to dictate to the moderator how she wanted the debate to go and only answered the questions she felt like answering. Palin looked came off like a cartoon character with her accent and folksy lingo. Her speaking demeanor seesawed from hockey mom to preacher and it was obvious that she was simply reciting lines that had been rehearsed many times rather than participating in an actual debate. Biden was
certainly guilty of throwing out some canned lines but Palin's entire performance was canned.

Here's a breakdown of what I saw from Palin last night:

• Didn't seem to be able to control her facial expressions, often seen giggling while Biden was speaking.
• When asked specifically if she agreed with Biden that same-sex couples should receive the same benefits of heterosexual marriages she refused to answer and instead agreed that there should be no "gay marriage".
• Lied and misrepresented Obama's past record on tax increases.
• Injected the inflammatory "redistribution of wealth" term into the debate to rouse Republicans even though it is a misrepresentation of Obama's tax proposals
• Attacked Obama and Biden's voting record on issues like energy independence, war funding, and tax relief when McCain often voted the same way on those exact issues.
• Contradicted herself by calling for more oversight and not blaming citizens for their financial woes but then going on to say in the same breath that we need less oversight and that citizens have to learn to be more responsible with their money.
• Mocked Biden by saying she respects his years in the Senate but the people are ready for something new. Palin offers up her 72yr-old white male Republican Washington insider as the alternative.
• Dialed up all of her gimmicky folksisms: "you betcha", "nucular", "get down", "darn right", "hockey mom", "joe six pack", "tap into 'em".
• Clearly reciting rehearsed lines, didn't look at Biden when addressing him.
  

Biden was able to draw from his vast experience in Washington and engage an intellectual dialogue with America while Palin recited lines from recall about things she obviously doesn't understand. Which one would better support the leader of our nation? How obvious can it be?

Why do people continue to tolerate this? Why do people keep giving Sarah Palin a free pass? Why do people feel badly for her as if someone put a gun to her head and told her that she had to accept the nomination? The past three weeks have painted a blindingly vivid illustration of how ill-equipped Gov. Palin is for the position of Vice President much less the office of President. Please stop making excuses for her. There are no acceptable excuses when it comes to the future of our Country.