Palin Pokes Hoboken Joe

Just finished watching the first and only Vice Presidential debate of this election cycle. It was really good- from both sides of the microphone. After the initial Presidential candidate debate, I decided to take notes based on what I viewed a few weeks ago in order to "score" tonight's debate by both parties' statements. My criteria were these: Credible shots vs Opponent, Evasive/Refusal to answer moderator's Question, Outright Blunders, Interrupting Opponent's answer, Major Points Stated, Failure to Keep within Time limits, Rudeness to other candidate, Agreement with opponent's statement, Outright Falsities.




Caveat: I have zero personal debate experience. I have watched many, and asked lots of questions of those who understand the nuances of scoring, protocol and proper engagement. That said, too, my scoring is not scientific. Rather, it is as close to what I could capture with pen and paper during a 90-minute live television broadcast.


Here's the breakdown:

BIDEN/PALIN

Shots to Opponent's Credibility- 4/20
Evasive/Refusal to answer Question- 10/2
Outright Blunders- 5/0
Interrupting Opponent- 3*/0
Major Points Stated- 5/11
Time Limit Failures- 9/8
Rudeness/Deficiency- 0/0
Agreed with Opponent- 3/3
Outright Falsities- 11/0


By and large, the differences in the scoring were pretty close throughout the 90 minutes. The only criteria that clearly set Governor Palin apart from Senator Biden were "shots to other's credibility" and "major points communicated". The number in the "interrupting opponent" slot I scored as a "3". The moderator interrupted Gov. Palin before her time ran out to hand-off to Senator Biden. Too, the moderator failed to reign in Senator Biden on a particularly long oratory rebuttal that lasted a full two minutes. (They were only allowed 90 seconds) Third, the moderator failed to give Governor Palin the final response of the evening by her closing comments- Biden was first to speak with his opening statement and was last to speak with his closing comments. By design or accident, I don't know- but the fact remains, Biden had an unfair edge in this. So I attributed the mistakes to the column that benefited from the oversights.


BLUNDERS:
Biden made 5 major blunders- and not a single commentator caught it that I heard in the initial response on PBS or NBC.

• Twice- "No surge is going to work in this action....but we need more.....troops."
• Once- "I gave the vote to enter Iraq, but I opposed this war as did Sen. Obama."
• Once- "This is the most important election since '32." (speaking on the economy)
• Once- "I have an independent judgement...I will support Obama...across the board."

Bullets 1,2 and 4 are fairly irrefutable. Bullet 3 is subjective, but I think most of America would agree with me that singling out the '32 election as the last major election of importance over the current election cycle is extremely debatable. The elections of '44 (During WWII), and '68 (Vietnam War) rank higher on my scale than the '32 election. It wasn't just America's economy at stake in those elections, it was our very existence as a nation that depended on the next Commander-in-Chief of our armed forces. I so wish Governor Palin had taken that softball and hit it over the fence.

OUTRIGHT FALSITIES: Again, neither of the commentators caught any of these I have listed, so perhaps they are, again, somewhat subjective in nature. You can be the judge.

• Twice- "Obama warned of pending economic crises two years ago..."
• Once- "300 Million families will be taxed under McCain's plan." (Would equal 1.2B)
• Once- "McCain's healthplan would cost $3.6 Trillion..."
• Once- "Only 3% of the world's oil reserves are found in the United States..."
• Once- "I've been supporting clean cole technology for 25 years..."
• Once- "Obama has been focused on Pakistan as a terror threat for a long time..."
• Once- "We never said we would sit at a table (without conditions) with Ahmajinadad..."
• Once- "I never supported this war..."
• Once- "Obam's extensive record of change...(in politics)"
• Once- "McCain hasn't been a 'maverick' on this war..."

It's clear that Biden's handlers schooled him well on personal restraint and keeping his answers short and on point, but they failed to address his short-term memory from coming into play. When his temper got the best of him, his rhetoric rose and his arguments went down the proverbial drain from a points issue. Clearly, this debate went to the Republicans. With all due respect to Tom Brokaw- I think tomorrow morning's poll numbers will show yet another shift towards the (R) column. The only remaining question is...by how much?

-TMS