10:38 pm
Live Blogging the VP Debate III
10:01 Ifill calls Biden an interventionist. Asks whether Americans will tolerate it. Biden says that Americans will tolerate success.
10:02 Biden: a noun, a verb, and Dick Lugar. Do Americans care about what he thinks?
10:03 Palin has crib notes.
10:04 Biden is making good points, but is he talking too much?
10:06 Palin says John McCain knows how to win a war. Really? Which one did win? POW POW POW!
10:07 Biden does a good job of deflecting what, frankly, was a dumb question about how his Administration would differ from Obama. Palin says that a team of mavericks don’t agree on anything. You’re right — McCain disagrees that it was a good idea to put you on the ticket.
10:10 I didn’t know that Wasilla was the epicenter of reality. I thought it was Springfield.
10:10 It’s weird, but I think Biden actually comes across as more connected to Main Street.
10:11 You know she was waiting to say “Say It Ain’t So, Joe.” I don’t think that’s the killer line they thought it was.
10:12 Molly just asked if Palin meant that some children should be left behind. Heh.
10:13 Palin’s line about a lame joke was actually pretty good.
10:14 Dick Cheney had no trouble exerting his powers. It was pretty yucky.
10:14 Was Biden’s comment about a long talk a shot at Palin?
10:15 Biden is talking too much about himself here.
10:16 Ooh constitutional theory ftw!
10:16 Opening for Biden: Palin just said that she agreed with Cheney.
10:17 Biden: good comeback on Cheney. And then he gives Palin a little lesson on the Constitution.
10:18 What’s your Achilles heel? Palin misunderstands the question and talks about her experience. For someone who claims that she’s not a typical politician, she’s giving a typical answer.
10:19 America is a nation of exceptionalism??? Really? Where has that gotten us? Palin appears determined to lash the McCain camp to the Bush Administration. A good idea?
10:21 That was Biden’s best answer, by far. And is sounding shallow in comparison.
10:22 Molly said that she’s all style over substance. I would add talking points over policy.
10:23 Biden is making a fundamental framing mistake by using the word maverick over and over again.
10:24 Smart — Biden brings up the Supreme Court without mentioning Palin — reminds people about her awful answer.
10:25 “Quasi-caved in?” Steve Schmidt just screamed. Signing a budget is not changing a policy position.
10:27 I guess the final question was actually the pentultimate question.
10:28 Sorry, Joe, but I questioned the motives of Jesse Helms.
10:28 Palin: a smile wide and an inch deep.
10:29 Answering tough questions without the filter of the MSM. Or follow up questions of the MSM either. Palin: I’m a victim! Katie Couric is a big meanie!
10:30 Our children are at risk of dictatorship? Well McCain did say he wanted to be a dictator.
10:31 I liked Biden’s ending: It’s time for America to get up.
Palin was much better than expectations. That means, of course, that the media will say she won. Palin basically had six talking points: energy, Iraq, Israel, maverick, experience, and USA! Clearly, the debate prep people emphasized to her that she should appeal to the base and focus on the red meat. In the end, a tactical victory for the McCain campaign, largely because they were able to define a debate format that played to Palin’s strengths.
I think Biden was far stronger. But it wasn’t enough to look like a win.
So she didn’t destroy the McCain campaign, but I don’t think she did anything to bring McCain back into the race.