The two nominees for Vice President of the United States will debate each other tonight live at 9PM EDT/8 Central from the Athletic Complex at Washington University in St. Louis. RussNRoJo.com will have live coverage tonight beginning at 8 PM EDT, and we encourage everyone to follow along with running commentary by leaving comments and engaging in discussion.
Governor Sarah Palin, the Republican nominee for Vice President, will be debating Senator Joe Biden, the nominee from the Democratic party. You can watch the debate live tonight on network television and follow along right here on russnrojo.com. We’ll be updating THIS POST with our live discussion.
Hi, everyone! Thank you for spending your night here at russnrojo.com (co-promoted with MadlibPolitics.com, fitting for tonight) while we watch the first and only 2008 Vice Presidential nominee debate. I will be viewing the debate on MSNBC, watching Keith Olbermann’s show leading into the debate, which starts at 9PM eastern. Yes, it’s true, I’ll be watching the debate over the Cubs game. However, after last night, I’m hoping they’ll do better when I do not watch.
This crowd is tense, and most don’t expect Palin to do well tonight. Will she stick to a script, get flustered when put on the spot, or take a second to think of an answer that sounds right but can be picked apart easily. What version of Sarah Palin will show up tonight? The polarizing figure who, for a short time, captured the attention of our country moreso than Barack Obama (who could have thought that was possible this year?) or the bumbling woman who couldn’t name a newspaper she has ever read? Obviously, we’ve been set up to believe she will fumble, but I don’t expect that. I expect her to do fine, but Joe Biden has this debate wrapped up barring an unforseen major glitch.
What we’re seeing tonight is a poorly briefed, unknowledgeable woman who was thrown into this race who has a greater chance than Joe Biden of becoming President due to unforseen circumstances. Sarah Palinw ill be debating a man who has experience in politics for decades, can debate well, but if his ticket is elected, may be largely unseen in the next four years. He’s much more likely to be an Al Gore-VP than a Dick Cheney-VP, even though the role of VP has largely changed in the last eight years. Sarah Palin, because she’s a woman, will be a more present Vice President than Biden just for the historic factor of her win. She’ll have more media coverage in the first year than Biden ever could, and this debate will be one of the first real tests for what kind of job she’d do in front of the media without being able to pick and choose the situation. Of course, picking and choosing the situation hasn’t worked out too well, yet, anyway.
8:45 – Debate moderator Gwen Ifill just wrapped up her pre-debate instructions to the audience. We’ll be starting soon. Stage is set up, both nominees have arrived, and Tina Fey is watching intently.
8:55 – Debate will get underway shortly. Aren’t you all excited? You can watch live online via C-Span at http://www.c-span.org/Watch/C-SPAN_wm.aspx
9:00 – Candidates have been introduced, and first question to Sen. Biden regarding the “Bailout” bill. Gov. Palin will wait calmly to screw this answer up, or shock the world.
9:05 – It took five minutes for Sarah Palin to mention soccer games with her kids. Check your bingo card – PalinBingo.com.
So far she is coming off well, speaking clearly, but it is quite obvious she had this opening speech memorized as she rushed through it. She’s also very clearly nervous tonight. Biden is cool and collected. No worries for him tonight.
9:12 – Joe Biden is doing a good job at giving respect to his opponents, while at the same time disagreeing with their statements and policies. This is something John McCain and Sarah Palin need to learn. They’ve been outrageous over the last few weeks in attacking their opponents with sarcasm, even though those attacks weren’t even clever.
9:13 – For the first time, Sarah Palin mentioned tax cut stances from the Democratic side and Joe Biden looked very anxious to respond. His response put Gov. Palin in her place, and sent the debate back on issue.
9:15 – For Governor Palin, this has become an infomercial on her political record. She was cut off by Gwen Ifill without ever answering the question given to her, while spouting out false information. Gov. Palin looks comfortable now up there, although not as comfortable as Joe Biden. This is like a playoff game between an experienced Yankees team against an unexperienced Rays team, although there is still a chance for the Rays (Palin) to surprise.
9:20 – Gov. Palin did do well in her defense of John McCain’s healthcare plan. Even if there are disagreements with the plan, she set forth details in a good manner and felt comfortable. It’s Sen. Biden’s turn at the mic, and he is picking apart McCain’s healthcare plan while backing up Obama’s tax plan.
I’m going to use a non-journalistic word, but Biden just PWNed Sarah Palin with a nice ‘bridge-to-nowhere’ reference speaking about McCain’s health care plan. The economic status of our country has been our theme tonight, and we’re still on tax plans right now.
9:23 – Biden just made the first blunder, failing to say ‘characterized’. I’m sure this won’t be the most memorable gaffe after tonight, however. Palin is practically reading from notes at this point, but she is poised and comes off very likable so far. I also enjoy when Gov. Palin breaks out sayings such as “bless their hearts.”
9:26 – Governor Palin hasn’t made any promises other than to do what’s best for the American people and get the government back on their side… she just doesn’t know how to do that, yet. She may, if she had read a newspaper.
9:31 – Governor Palin doesn’t want to argue about the causes of global warming, nor does she think the cause at this point matters. This is completely ridiculous. To fight the happening, you need to learn more about the cause. Doctors treat cancer by learning more about the causes, and using that knowledge to help find a fix or cure. The cause is necessary to know, and just because Governor Palin doesn’t like the truth about the cause, she needs to admit it and use the knowledge to better the American people. Afterall, that’s what she is here for, right?
9:37 – Joe Biden is clearly making a point to call Sen. McCain ‘John’ rather than ‘Senator’ or ‘my opponent’. The talk now is on equal rights, including same-sex marriage. As a heterosexual man, I fully support same-sex marriage rights. If a religious establishment wants to marry and keep the tradition to heterosexuals only, that is fine. But when you get into the state defining marriage, it needs to be equal. All need the same rights. All candidates do not support redefining the definition of marriage to include homosexual marriage, although this is clearly an issue that isn’t over. Gwen Ifill got a laugh by saying “Okay, so you agree, let’s move on.”
9:40 – The question is “What is your exit strategy for Iraq?” Biden and Obama believe in a timeline to move power to Iraqi troops. I’m not sure Palin gave an answer other than “we need to support our troops.” Biden – “We will end this war.”
Sarah Palin is flustered after Biden’s quote. She’s promoting the surge, and telling Biden his plan is a “white-flag of surrender.” She did say they are “closer to victory” but didn’t say how close, or what she thinks close is. Now, Palin is moving pressure to Biden and bringing up his previous disagreements with Barack Obama.
9:47 – Biden is promoting friendly disagreements between he and McCain. Sarah Palin so far has attacked the records of Obama, including bringing Biden’s criticism of Obama to light. Gov. Palin is now much more comfortable, collected, and seems to have a good idea on what she is speaking about. She has prepared for this debate very well, but much like a final exam, I wonder if all this info she crammed int he last week will be forgotten come Monday morning.
9:50 – Joe Biden was very anxious to clarify points about Barack Obama’s stance on diplomacy with enemies, correcting a few of Palin’s points. It’s clear Biden has a clear foreign policy intellect, while Palin, in this regard, can only be going off memory and notes given to her, as she has no hands-on knowledge of foreign policy.
9:53 – Joe Biden, while talking, speaks toward the moderator. He answers Ifill’s questions by speaking to her, looking her direction. Palin is talking right into the camera, making it obvious she’s been told to connect to the people watching at home, which she may be doing better than Biden tonight. For people at home, she’s the one talking to her, while Biden isn’t. We’ll see if that helps.
9:54 – Just as I say that, Biden’s gives an impassioned speech into the camera about foreign policy, admonishing the Bush policies and giving detailed facts, something Palin could not do.
9:56 – The backhanded comments from Palin continue, while Biden has stuck to policy facts. Palin has definitely held her ground tonight.
Is it a Republican thing to say ‘nucular’? Since when did the Republican party require the word ‘nucular’ to be used instead of ‘nuclear’?
10:00 – Joe Biden – “Facts matter, Gwen.”
10:07 – I have many friends watching this debate, and all seem to agree that while nervous at first, Sarah has become confident, but then overshot it into becoming arrogant, and without deserved reason. She also keeps looking off camera during questions, while Biden has been attentive.
10:10 – Biden seems to be doing well in instant polls being run online and on CNN.
10:14 – Palin got some laughs by calling out each candidates “lame” jokes. Nice.
10:17 – Palin couldn’t answer what the Vice Presidential role means to her, and she backed Cheney’s VP reign. Biden clearly states what the VP role means to him, and the roles set forth in the constitution, and how he would use precedent to serve as Vice President.
10:20 – Joe Biden – “You’re very kind suggesting my only weakness is my lack of discipline”. Palin is done trying to pit Obama vs Biden, and is now in full promote-McCain mode. She is bringing up her maverick past with regards to her cabinet selections and policy record. Apparently Sarah Palin is of a deverse background, according to her.
10:25 – Good move here, Joe Biden bringing up his judiciary committee experience and bringing up Supreme Court decisions and potential judges. Biden plays up his past in the judiciary to set himself apart as more knowledgeable in this field than Palin, who couldn’t remember the Supreme Court decisions she had disagreed with in the past.
10:30 – We’re at closing statements, and that bring the end to tonight’s debate. Remember, this was just my running commentary, not a statement of facts or complete word-for-word report of tonight’s debate. I encourage everyone visiting this page to share your thoughts by leaving a comment, or by e-mailing me at RoJo@russnrojo.com. I hope you’ll check back on our site soon, and take part by leaving comments and supporting our sponsors by clicking our ads. Every bit helps. The Cubs are down by five runs already, so it’s time to shift my focus onto baseball. Have a great night!