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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Friday, October 03, 2008

Vapor

It's my sense that debate didn't matter at all. Palin did rehab her image a bit which is especially important so the Republican base doesn't feel embarrassed anymore, but I don't think there was anything in that debate that will last.

My takeaways? Palin's negativity and attacking tone. I don't really remember anything too specific, but her stance was clear.

On Biden, the tearful moment about his wife, and the soundbite perfect indictment of John McCain as not "maverick."

But the bottom line is that there were no great memories, and nothing that moved votes. The bailout vote is today in the House, the next Presidential debate is Tuesday. I don't think there's anything lasting about that debate at all. It's vapor.

(4 more days gone for McCain.)

I'd bet the McCain campaign decision to pull out of Michigan has a longer shelf life.

4 Comments:

  • No great memories, but the partisans on both sides are trying to spin some their candidate's way. Buchanan had the same near-orgasmic reaction that he did after Palin's convention speech.

    Overall, I think Biden did great.

    Worst performance was probably Ifill's. She seemed more interested in getting to the next question as fast as possible than following up on the last one.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:59 AM  

  • All that pre-work on Ifill seemed to pay off for the GOP. She did almost no followups trying to force Palin to answer the questions she dodged.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 8:05 AM  

  • Ifill could have been replaced by a box of 3X5 cards, from which the candidates would alternately draw questions.

    But my recollection is that that's Gwen Ifill as moderator. She's just there to call 911 if things get out of control. I'm not sure this had anything to do with "working the refs." Seriously.

    There were a few times when she tried to passively tap the candidates back onto the questions... Palin in particular, but Biden once, I think.

    By Blogger -epm, at 8:28 AM  

  • She's generally very far back. Broadly, so is Lehrer. It's not coincidence that the two PBS folks are "acceptable" to both sides.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 8:30 AM  

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