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ORIGINAL: persephonee

She didnt suck as badly as Qayle did. But a puppet cant really fail if she relies on her strings to save her.

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ORIGINAL: BitaTruble

With Biden, I felt like I was hearing a viable Vice-Presidential candidate and one who could step into the highest office should the unthinkable happen. He came across as smart and human. With Palin, I did not see her as a viable VP candidate nor do I take her seriously. She came across as fake, not folksy to me. Dog gone it anyhow. I had absolutely no expectation of Palin and that's exactly what she delivered.

Substance goes to Biden.
Intellect goes to Biden.
Humanity goes to Biden.
Bake Sale Goddess/Beauty Queen Pagent contestant - Palin, hands down.

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ORIGINAL: Irishknight

What I think is that people heard what they wanted to for the most part.  Those who are anti-Palin had to work a bit harder tt come up with their reasons that she is such a worthless candidate.  Surprise!  She actually did well.
On the other hand, Biden came out of it without the expected slap down of Palin that would have made him seem like a mean old man.  He showed himself to be a professional and above the heavy handed attacks people expected.  Surprise!  He was smart enough not to fall into sop simple a trap.
I thought that they both handled this better than most of us would have.  There was niether a clear winner nor a clear loser.  I doubt this debate changed anyone's mind about how they intend to vote.

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ORIGINAL: kittinSol

Interesting debate: I was fascinated. Palin started off well: I agree that she has good camera technique because of her training as a televised sports anchor. She had populist lines and she delivered them well. Biden caught up though... this is when the dynamic changed radically in Biden's favour, with his in-depth knowledge of foreign policy and his demolishing of McCain's record. I thought he showed extreme courtesy and came across as warm and humane.

Palin didn't meet the criteria I would think would inspire confidence in her as a potential president. "I'm not answering that question because I want to talk about something else." just because it wasn't on her cue cards was a bad moment for her. In the end, this debate won't change many people's minds. The republican candidate managed not to sink; but she never started swimming. She just didn't drag her party further into the ground.

Excellent entertainment.

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ORIGINAL: caitlyn

My overall impression, is that I wish we could have the option of selecting a Biden/Palin ticket.
 
Biden is an Obama I can trust ... Palin is a McCain I can believe.

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ORIGINAL: xXLithiumXx

We want to give you 5 grand to get your own health coverage, but most middle and lower class families wont be able to afford the premium for more than that 5 grand will cover. And realistically, that 5 grand will most likely go to something like paying for gas to get to work, or to heat a home before it will go into buying health care.

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ORIGINAL: dcnovice

<fast reply>

I thought Palin exceeded expectations, but I still have a hard time seeing her as presidential. Not sure if that's the (faux?) folksiness, internalized sexism, or what.

Palin seriously lost my respect on the topic of Biden's vote to authorize GWB to use force against Iraq. Biden explained why he voted the way that he did, but Palin either didn't hear it or chose to ignore it. She then launched perhaps her most nauseating folsky attack: "I'm not a Washington insider, so I don't understand the way you talk, how you were against it before you were for it, etc." If she really didn't understand Biden's answer, then she's in over her head. If she did but chose to play dumb anyway, she's intellectually dishonest--and, I think, condescending to the American people.

I was sorry that Biden never called Palin on the contradiction between her claiming in one breath that we needed better regulation of Wall Street and in another that we need to shrink the government and let the private sector run things.

Eta: On climate change, Palin seemed unprepared and much more at sea than in her other answers. That, of course, made me wonder if we were getting a glimpse into her actual intellectual heft rather than her ability to deliver canned answers.

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ORIGINAL: BitaTruble

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ORIGINAL: justgemmie

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Palin didn't meet the criteria I would think would inspire confidence in her as a potential president.

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Biden and Palin aren't runnin for president!!!!

That's not what scares me. What scared me was Palin actually stating, and apparently believing, that the Constitution gives a lot more power to the Vice-President than it actually does. VP is and always has been part of the executive branch. Suddenly she's added in legislative duties other than casting a tie-breaker vote in the Senate. WTF? If she believes that, god knows what power she thinks the President actually has. Bit more schooling on what the VP actually does there, Sarah. M'kay?

What else can be expected from some one who isnt sure what news paper she reads?

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ORIGINAL: MzMia

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ORIGINAL: vegasspanks

After going back and reading the transcript as well as watching most of the debate (stupid late work hours), I feel like Biden spent more time hitting important points and discussing actual things that had happened and what was on his principle's platform.  Palin dipped far too often into the deep well of rhetoric that I have long been tired of, though Biden is not without sin in this regard either.  All in all though, I think if Palin winked at me one more time I was going to reach through the screen and poke her eye out.  I am a voter to be impressed, not a judge in a beauty pageant.

I listened to half the speech in my car on the way home tonight.
If you just listen to what she says and you are not "looking" at her,
you would just shake your head.
People need to seriously wake up.

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ORIGINAL: Sanity

That's where I saw him as being a sick caricature of your typical lifelong career politician... dragging out his dead wife and kid for a few cheap political points that way.

Sniff. [:(]

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ORIGINAL: vegasspanks

More power to those voting for third parties, the two party system needs to just roll over and die already.

In defense of Biden against Sanity's post, he didn't play that card until Palin tried too hard to paint herself as supermom.  He had the capacity to respond in kind and took it, and it actually made me feel like he was a little more human when he almost lost it there.

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ORIGINAL: rulemylife

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ORIGINAL: Irishknight

What I think is that people heard what they wanted to for the most part.  Those who are anti-Palin had to work a bit harder tt come up with their reasons that she is such a worthless candidate.  Surprise!  She actually did well.
On the other hand, Biden came out of it without the expected slap down of Palin that would have made him seem like a mean old man.  He showed himself to be a professional and above the heavy handed attacks people expected.  Surprise!  He was smart enough not to fall into sop simple a trap.
I thought that they both handled this better than most of us would have.  There was niether a clear winner nor a clear loser.  I doubt this debate changed anyone's mind about how they intend to vote.

I think there was a clear winner, and the polls seem to confirm that.  The only reason anyone is saying Palin did well is because the expectations of her were so low.  Just because she didn't turn out to be the babbling, nonsensical idiot she was in her recent interviews does not mean she did well in any objective sense.

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ORIGINAL: xXLithiumXx

While I like Obama and Biden, I do have to agree with this...it was a play to the people who are single parents and it was low...I wasnt at all impressed with that...and kind of eye rolled at him for being dramatic.

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ORIGINAL: kittinSol

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ORIGINAL: xXLithiumXx

We want to give you 5 grand to get your own health coverage, but most middle and lower class families wont be able to afford the premium for more than that 5 grand will cover. And realistically, that 5 grand will most likely go to something like paying for gas to get to work, or to heat a home before it will go into buying health care.

And it's not five grand cash in hand, it's a five grand tax rebate. How much does it cost to privately insure a family of four? Around one grand a month? That's twelve grand a year. McCain's healthcare plan absolutely sucks.

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ORIGINAL: persephonee
If Obama doesnt win this election, i predict a mass exodus to Canada...

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ORIGINAL: xBullx

-fast reply-

I've come to the conclusion that these debates are ratings wars to generate TV money.

None of you see anything but what your partisan bias wants you to see...

I wasn't impressed with either of them...though I did keep imagining Sarah in a Turian Collar. mmm mm mmmmm

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ORIGINAL: kittinSol

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ORIGINAL: xXLithiumXx

While I like Obama and Biden, I do have to agree with this...it was a play to the people who are single parents and it was low...I wasnt at all impressed with that...and kind of eye rolled at him for being dramatic.

I have to disagree. Palin kept on playing the saintly mom card, as if Biden was out of touch with reality. I think he had enough of these implications, and that he just let her know he was aware of the difficulties of parenthood, especially in his own personal circumstances: his wife did die with their daughter in a horrific car crash.