Posted by
Locutisprime on Friday, October 03, 2008 9:04:52 AM
Last night was the much anticipated debate of this election. All eyes
were on St. Louis last night, as Joe Biden and Sarah Palin squared off,
in the most anticipated vice presidential debate in the last thirty
years if not ever.
How'd they do? I suppose as always that
depends on who your horse is in this race. Joe Biden was expectedly Joe
Biden IMO. No surprises and no major gaffs, aside from his patented
political craft of re-manufacturing reality and history to represent
something entirely other than the truth. Sarah Palin? Well IMO, Sarah
Palin wasn't there to debate Joe Biden, as much as she was there to
debate herself. Maybe not so much directly, as much as the perceived
image that has been being constructed by the media for the last two
weeks in particular.
This debate wasn't a debate for either
candidate to win IMO, as much as it was a debate for Sarah Palin to
lose. And the news this morning across the board in MSM, is that she
didn't lose it. She never stumbled and she never stammered, she just
stood toe to toe and delivered the representation of a folksy down to
earth woman come to the people to defend her guy and her party and her
position. And she demonstrated to both Joe Biden and America, that she
wasn't about to be cowed or pigeon holed by either the intended
perceptions of the media or the political constructs of the democratic
party and their champion of the night Joe Biden.
I was quite
proud of her performance, having spent most of the last week literally
shuddering over the thoughts of what a failure by Sarah Palin would be
and represent in this election. I was particularly satisfied last night
to see Sarah Palin look right at Joe Biden and tell him, that she
wasn't there to give him or the moderator the answers that "they"
wanted to hear or that they assumed that she should be giving to the
questions. She let it be known rather quickly, that she would be
answering the questions as she felt capable and comfortable answering
them and that she wasn't concerned with how they felt about that. That
is a paraphrase, but that was the message that I came away with after
hearing her make her initial case.
And toward the end of the
debate last night, I felt that she really hit her stride and stood toe
to toe with Joe Biden on every point. Especially when she went after
him on his intentional misrepresentations of McCain's record on votes
for the troops and the support of the war in Iraq. What else could be
ask for in a debate like this. This was a title fight no doubt and both
contenders were formidable and demonstrably not prone to fall on their
own swords. This debate wasn't Godzilla versus Rodan, nor was it really
a David versus Goliath contest of either wills or platforms or clashing
styles of representation. It was more of Elly Mae meets Mr. Drysdale to
me and in the aftermath of the confrontation Mr. Drysdale once again
walked away knowing that he had not been successful in trying to win
out against simple down to earth principles.
So we move on from
the here and now and wait and see how this great contest plays out over
the next week or so and how it plays out in the polls. IMO, this debate
will slide into the shadows of our discussions by tomorrow afternoon at
the latest. Twenty four hours is about the lifespan of the battle of
the vice presidential titans, seeing as no one was carried from the
field and no one held up the head of their defeated foe. And besides,
Americans are more consumed right now with the outcome of the economy
and the passage or defeat of the "Rescue of Wall Street' bill than
anything else.
This debate will be revisited by scholars and
historians in the months and years to come. Particularly as it is
perceived to have either benefited or impacted either or both
candidates for the presidency. But how ever this debate plays out
historically, right now in the moment of after glow and digestion of
what was played out before our eyes last night. The consensus has to be
that the gal from Wasilla came to the title fight and held her own and
gave as good as she got against the best that the grizzled veteran Joe
Biden could muster. And that has to count for a lot IMO.