Random Thoughts from the Veep Debate

There’s not a lot of consistency here. These are mainly my thoughts as I react to the debate as it unfolds for me. I’m watching it a bit behind on Tivo. I’m not watching the Cubbies (but gameday is up on my computer), because I’m convinced they’re going to lose the series in three games. I’m trying to be as neutral as possible – focusing on my experience in debate and rhetorical studies, instead of my political opinions or public policy training.

At the beginning of the debate I was so frustrated with Biden and his failure to look in the camera. Gov. Palin does a good job at always making sure that she does this. In that sense, she’s a natural at the television medium. Biden seemed to start sensing that he wasn’t in the camera and started doing so about fifteen minutes into the debate. Perhaps there are multiple sets of cameras – I’m not really sure how these things are setup, but it would be interesting to see. This format all seems to favor Palin too; being rapid fire its really easy to be vague and sound good.

I loved Biden’s dig on the “that’s the bridge to nowhere.” This may be a one liner that gets replayed over and over on CNN.

Biden seems to confuse this format with Meet the Press. He’s consistently defending his record and giving us something to think about, but he’s not convincing anyone. He’s not making the case that McCain-Palin is worse for America. Paul Begala on CNN had this great piece earlier this week about how to do well in American political debates. His most important point: don’t lose sight about the greater argument. Biden seems focused on the details, rather than the big picture.

A good example of this is on the issue of energy. Palin says she’s not focused on the causes of Global Warming, she’s focused on the solution. Biden responds saying that you need to understand the causes to find the right solution. While this is absolutely the truth about crafting good policy – you need to know what’s wrong to fix it – I don’t think this makes for a good sound bite and I don’t think that most people understand how important that is. It’s probably good that Biden did indict her on this, but I would have hit back much harder. Talk about how the house Republicans, now lead by McCain (although that’s a questionable claim), just voted against a measure that was all of the above solutions because it didn’t have enough tax breaks for the oil companies. It’s highly unlikely that Palin is going to be able to answer that. Biden should link the important issues, not just respond with a list.

Similarly, I was mad that Biden didn’t attack Palin on health care from a policy side. Instead Biden chose to attack from a coverage stand point. Which is fine and good. But a tax rebate for health care is a silly policy. How does this help people get health care? In order to get the benefit, you have to have a tax liability. This doesn’t help low income people who can’t afford health care coverage right now. On top, you have to wait until after you have submitted your taxes. How does that help you fix your immediate needs? It doesn’t. The McCain plan is coverage delayed and coverage denied. That’s a policy that fails doomed to fail and barely pays lip service to the problem.

Biden now is doing a good job of comparing McCain to Bush. Repetition and litany of issues reinforces the Obama camp’s claim that McCain is the same Bush.

Palin insistent that “words hurt our cause” to anything that is critical of any military efforts is down right disgusting. This is the same unless you are with us or you are against us, mentality that Bush administration has used for years. It’s as if the words perform some perlocutionary function that attacks our troops. It’s as annoying as a team that’s getting crushed returning to the 1AC advocacy in the 2AR. (Debate reference).

Did I just hear a sigh? I couldn’t tell who it was from, but in general Biden has held himself well. Smiling often.

Oh Christ. Did Biden just walk into the Kerry line of “I was for it before I was against it?” Yup. Palin doing a good job capitalizing on that now. This is where Biden should hit back on strait talk. All Biden has to do is to show, like Kerry did at the convention, how McCain has flipped positions for political purposes. Not to mention this gets us away from the typical Obama sound bite about needing the right judgment on the war in Iraq.

What? Did Palin just ask the Constitution if it could give the Veep more power over the senate? This conjurs a funny image. (Yes, I know its a reference to Cheney having a lot of power – but apparently she wants more.) I wish the constitution were a person to tell her no. And for all the reasons why that would be stupid.

I guess we don’t have to have a constitution to tell her. Biden just did. I hope this gets picked up as news. Who in the world thinks the executive branch should have more power? Especially power

Wow. Biden taking the Maverick lines to school. That was a really good response.

“I’ve worked together, but I’ve never had to compromise.” That sounds like a contradiction in terms.