I think Biden's going to be working on his delivery, more than his answers. If he goes the soft touch route, there's no way he can be perceived as a bully. He just needs to not make any major gaffes or seem condescending or cruel.
I feel she's going to tank, regardless, of what her fans think. I'm curious to see what the "intellectual" Republicans think of her performance.
I'm curious to see what the "intellectual" Republicans think of her performance.
Most of those have already written her off. But if she does "well" maybe some will say she's been rehabilitated or something....
ION, I think I need to stick a hose into my brain and suck the gronk out....
He just needs to not make any major gaffes
I think this is the key for him. I doubt he will go after Palin at all, I think he'll focus on McCain and figure that Palin may dig her own hole.
Fun! On The Other Hand, New Polls Cite Palin As Reason For McCain Drop
As discussed below, the McCain-Palin campaign attributes all of Sen. McCain's gravity in recent polls to the economy. But new Quinnipiac and Pew polls provide evidence to the contrary. Specifically, Pew finds that 51% of Americans now believe that Palin is unqualified, up from 37% after her announcement. (Pew's Andrew Kohut writes: "There is a clear correlation between views of Palin's qualifications and support for McCain, which may be hurting the GOP candidate. Fewer people see her as qualified to become president, and the balance of opinion toward Palin has grown more negative since early September.")
...
Quinnipiac's latest set of swing states polls finds Palin with a net negative impression in several states, including Florida, where she's spent quite a bit of campaign time. The numbers in Florida are stunning, in a sense; there's been a net swing of 13 points in Obama's favor during the past two weeks. He's even competitive among white voters, with McCain besting him by only five points.
If she does end up as bad as the rumor mill is mongering, Biden should just shut up and let her blather herself into a hole. If she proves to be better than expectations and goes on the attack, he should let loose like he would have on Romney or Huckabee.
ION, the sticky tape in front of the TV has been successful in thwarting my cat from jumping onto the cabinet and using the screen as a scratching post! She spent most of the evening meowing plaintively while staring up at the TV and occasionally getting onto her hind legs and touching her front paws to the tape, then running away. She did manage to jump behind the TV, where I don't have any tape, and then try and walk around to the front, but was driven away by the tape.
She also shoved the cabinet (which swivels) out of frustration, and seeing her walk away in a snit after getting it to swivel all the way to the right was pretty funny.
If she sticks to talking points
Does it still count if her talking points aren't part of coherent English sentences? Because if the Couric interview is any indication, she's memorized all her talking point buzzwords phonetically.
Does it still count if her talking points aren't part of coherent English sentences?
Yeah, this is the thing with memorizing the talking points -- she's not just getting 3 days of debate cramming. They've been coaching her pretty much nonstop for 6 weeks now, and I'm seriously doubtful that another couple of days is going to make the difference from what we've already seen. The convention speech was her peak.
I think the bar is set so low right now...anything close to complete sentences will garner applause.
This Andrew Sullivan post cracked me up (Sullivan, FTR, has been extremely critical of Palin from the beginning):
Running Out Of Cards
Michelle Cottle asks what Palin's next excuse will be:
Team McCain is burning through the list of groups to blame at an alarming clip. At this rate, with five weeks left to go, they are at serious risk of running out of ways to paint Palin as the victim of some overarching prejudice. Religious persecution is still available for use, as is the well-documented bias against people who wear glasses. But those two excuses cannot possibly hold all the way through October. Anyone care to venture some more creative cards for them to play?
The fag-blogger card? I'm ready.