Palin Didn't Bomb, But She Didn't Help

The New Republic: Republican Saves Herself In Match Against Biden, But Obama's Prospects Remain Bright

(The New Republic)  This column was written by Michael Crowley

The good news for Republicans in last night's vice presidential debate is that Sarah Palin saved herself. Sure, her paper-thin grasp of policy issues and reliance on canned talking points was an embarrassment. She was barely able to cope with a question about the gravest responsibility of the presidency--the potential use of nukes. And many of her sharpest talking points--about funding US troops and the fiendish mainstream media--seemed tailored more for a conservative base already supporting her ticket anyway.

Still, before an audience that was prepared for 90 excruciating minutes of Miss South Carolina, Palin avoided committing the kind of indelible, viral-on-YouTube gaffe that would destroy her candidacy, as well as her future political prospects. She drew no blanks, made no major errors of fact. There was no "e" on her potato.

So the calls to dump Palin from the ticket will now stop, except among those hardy Republicans who actually care about her qualifications to be president. (President! Remember that's what we're talking about here, not some high-stakes reality show. In theory, Sarah Palin could be signing executive orders, appointing Supreme Court Justices, and even ordering air strikes on Iran by the time Super Bowl XLIII kicks off in Tampa on February 1.

The debate's seemingly-cowed moderator, Gwen Ifill, did disappointingly little to bring that scenario to life.) And with her debate prep and the drip -drip of her network interview gaffes behind her, Palin can now return to whipping up conservative crowds on the stump and charming the obsequious hosts of right-wing talk radio.

Yet what Palin did to actually help--as opposed to not hurting--John McCain is a different question. It's hard to imagine that anything happened last night which dims Barack Obama's very sunny prospects. Palin certainly didn't introduce any damning new facts about Obama's record, or even particularly clever new iterations of old ones. John McCain may have gone to bed last night pleased with the thought that Palin didn't melt down. But as Palin would say, that's looking backwards.

Ahead of McCain now is a gruesome tableau, mainly consisting at the moment of the financial crisis, still convulsing on the table like a trauma patient, with McCain in the role of a hapless doctor tangled up in his own stethoscope. Given that prospects for a clean House vote on a financial bailout package are still uncertain, the campaign is sure to spend at least a few more days stuck on an issue that eats away McCain's poll numbers like acid. Meanwhile McCain's team is writing off Michigan as lost, and is now placing bets on weird scenarios like stealing away northern Maine's one electoral vote.

In recent days McCain's cranky demeanor has increasingly suggested a man with a sense of creeping doom: He refused to look at Obama during last Friday's debate and frostily accepted his greeting on the Senate floor Wednesday night; he snapped and groused at the Des Moines Register's editorial board; and in B-roll footage of his meanderings around the Capitol hallways these past few days, he has seemed to be grimacing with annoyance (a stark contrast to his rival's unfailingly winning smiles). So, yes, Sarah Palin saved herself tonight. But John McCain is the one who really needs to be saved, and soon it will be too late for that.

[eroosevelt08]

It is interesting that the McCalin-Palin ticket is trying to smear Barack Obama now. I do recall that it was Senator McCain who came back from being a POW and dumped his crippled wife Carol, who had been a model before her horrible 1969 car accident. While stationed in Florida in 1976 he had extramarital affairs. He met Cindy McCain in April of 1979. He filed for divorce in January of 1980 and married Cindy McCain in May of 1980. Carol and John McCain had been good friends with Nancy and Ronald Reagan, which friendship cooled when they learned about Cindy. Read McCain''s biography. It is all there on Wikipedia.

[dude1961-2009]

Palin Killed Biden in the debate! Hands Down!

She IS a major force in the electorate.

The look on Cambell Brown''s (CNN) face said it all!

Fear!

She recognition that this woman hustled the entire Main Stream Media.

Way to Go Sarah!

[dude1961-2009]

How about some fairness! The New Republic of Obama?

No, not a biased article here. How about some fresh material on say:

The latest trial details of Rezko(D-IL)

How about Obama (D-IL) and his gun rights ban back in Chicago

How about Obama (D-IL) and his infanticide legislation in Illinois

How about Chris Dodd (D-CT) on his Countrywide Mortgage

How about Barney Frank (D-MA) and his gay lover at Fannie & Freedie

How about Charles Rangel (D-NY) and his tax skills

How about Mr Family values John Edwards (D)

How about William Jefferson (D-LA) with $90k in the freezer

How about the 9% Democratic Congress and their two brethren running for Office and why they are part of the problem not the solution.

Is it right to collect a Senators Paycheck while pursuing another job for 2 years on company time!

Vote - John McCain / Sarah Palin - Today!

[lanawonders]

Palin didn''t help and it''s getting worse everyday.

[arohanui-2009]

I finally worked it out...it''s the hair!

[jsalern3]

Joule3 is a liar and a peawit. For one thing, you need to be born an American citizen to be elected president, not born in the country. Last I looked, his mother was a middle class girl from Kansas who grew up in Washington. He would have been born an American citizen if he was born on he moon. He was born in Hawaii, fool.

[ioweign]

She said Newclear for nuclear and Talibanie for Taliban, was anyone listening? She had several "Bush moments" for sure.

Posted by opinco at 04:51 PM : Oct 03, 2008

Well, she did stay at one of McCain''s seven homes rehearsing for this debate and McCain is 90 percent Bush...

[dvillegas43-2009]

I watched the debate with my ADD/ADHD 16 year old son. Even he was amazed that Palin was skirting the questions posed to her. If he can see it why can''t the country''s rank and file voters?

[element51]

joule3....Your attacks on Obama are nothing more than hot air. Your claims have been out there for ages and have been proven to be totally false. This election is not going to be won with lies so I would suggest that you bone up on policy issues that are relevant to the differences in the candidates. And trying to paint Obama as the boogy man is grasping at straws. To even suggest that he will open the country up to the jahidists so they can attack us from within is just to ridiculous to even consider. If you think that turning the country over to an old man and a religious nut case is in our best interest you might want to re-examine your position. If you want to debate the real issues I welcome that but if all you want to do is post nonsense we have no grounds to talk.

[msay3]

Good point. There are no do-overs when it comes time to push the nuclear button.

Posted by elz523 at 11:12 AM : Oct 04, 2008
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Aw, don''t worry...She won''t even find the button...She''ll be looking for the nucular button, and there ain''t such an animal....

[amrt5016]

Right. What scares me is that her foreign policy advisers are Max Boot and Robert Kagan. They are the chief neocon cheerleaders of the Iraq war. What happens when McCain dies and they have Sarah Palin to themselves?
Posted by elz523 at 11:10 AM : Oct 04, 2008

This kind of belies the claim of change the McCain/Palin ticket wants to run on. Can''t they even be subtle about this?

[amrt5016]

I thought Sarah Palin did a good job in her own folksy kind of way. But, I was bothered by the fact that more often than not she utterly refused to answer the questions asked of her. I don''''t think I have ever seen a debate like this where one of the participants nearly always neglected to answer the questions they were asked.
Posted by jcr103 at 03:00 AM : Oct 04, 2008

This didn''t surprise me. I had heard the debate format for the VP was not the same as for the principal candidates at the behest of Republicans and obviously to make it easy for Palin to come through the debate with as little damage as possible. And notice that Biden did not aggressively engage Palin to avoid being seen as a male bullying the weaker ***. In the real world out there, you wouldn''t always get this kind of favorable treatment and you would sink or swim on your own.

[elz523]

My wife teaches grade 3 and when her students bomb a test, she goes over the answers with them and then lets them take the test over again. When Sarah Palin did the Fox interview, she was able to recite answers to Katie Couric''''s questions about Supreme Court cases, and the magazines she reads. She claims that she reads the New York Times, what she doesn''''t realize is that anyone who reads the Times do so religiously, not part time. Was she lying ? Probably, but she has been able to get away with it. I would probably say that there aren''''t three places in all of Alaska that carries The New York Times.


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Posted by mrtutto at 10:08 AM : Oct 04, 2008

Good point. There are no do-overs when it comes time to push the nuclear button.

[elz523]

I thought Sarah Palin did a good job in her own folksy kind of way. But, I was bothered by the fact that more often than not she utterly refused to answer the questions asked of her. I don''''t think I have ever seen a debate like this where one of the participants nearly always neglected to answer the questions they were asked.


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Posted by jcr103 at 03:00 AM : Oct 04, 2008

Right. What scares me is that her foreign policy advisers are Max Boot and Robert Kagan. They are the chief neocon cheerleaders of the Iraq war. What happens when McCain dies and they have Sarah Palin to themselves?

[elz523]

BO and Nancy Pelosi both should be prosecuted for violating the Logan Act. The MSM never reports anything negative about BO and everyone has negatives. Aren''''t you even curious why they are pushing for his election instead of informing us about all there is to know about him. Geez! He could be our POTUS and there are still a lot of unanswered questions about him. Even Hamas and Gaza has contributed to his campaign. I fear he will look the other way when jahidists come to this country and he allows them to take us from within our borders.


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Posted by joule3 at 06:21 AM : Oct 04, 2008

You are a *******, but fortunately most people see through your bigotry. Note everyone who opposes Obama is a bigot, but those who talk about these vague fears of jihadists and are.

I contruibuted to Obama''s compaign and I am a white maile Christian from northern Indiana. Obama loves his country and will be one of the best Presidents this country has seen. We need someone who can inspire in the American people becuase that is the only way we will recover from teh Bush/Cheney/McCain policies of the last 8 years.

[baby54boomer]

As a woman I was glad to see Palin at least not look as "deer-in-the-headlights" as she has looked during interviews. BUT, lets be honest, this country is circling the rim of another great depression and cute winks, sophomore little cliches and gestures are just too trivializing for someone who wants me to place my trust in their ticket to run this country.

[baby54boomer]

As a woman I was glad to see Palin at least not look as "deer-in-the-headlights" as she has looked during interviews. BUT, lets be honest, this country is circling the rim of another great depression and cute winks, sophomore little cliches and gestures are just too trivializing for someone who wants me to place my trust in their ticket to run this country.

[baby54boomer]

As a woman I was glad to see Palin at least not look as "deer-in-the-headlights" as she has looked during interviews. BUT, lets be honest, this country is circling the rim of another great depression and cute winks, sophomore little cliches and gestures are just too trivializing for someone who wants me to place my trust in their ticket to run this country.

[mrtutto]

My wife teaches grade 3 and when her students bomb a test, she goes over the answers with them and then lets them take the test over again. When Sarah Palin did the Fox interview, she was able to recite answers to Katie Couric''s questions about Supreme Court cases, and the magazines she reads. She claims that she reads the New York Times, what she doesn''t realize is that anyone who reads the Times do so religiously, not part time. Was she lying ? Probably, but she has been able to get away with it. I would probably say that there aren''t three places in all of Alaska that carries The New York Times.

[rjstolba]

Thank GOD that there are rational people in this country who know a lightweight when they see and hear one. The only reason this lady sounded remotely coherent is that she evidently can remember her point sheet better than she can speak extemporaneously. She doesn''t have an original thought in her mind. Anyone who thinks this lady is being judged by her "accent" or other personal characteristic needs to wake up and get in touch with reality. There comes a time when these people need to stop being hateful and start being human beings