On the Vice Presidential Debate

The Vice Presidential debate between Palin and Biden was definitely an entertaining one. These are just some general thoughts on the debate. I don’t claim to be a politics expert. These are just some things that I noticed, and some of my opinions regarding the debate. So, forgive me if I get some details wrong.

As I’ve said before, the debate was pretty entertaining. I’m not exactly the biggest Palin fan. I think she incorporates religion too much into her policies, and I don’t think she would be a very good replacement if McCain were to bite the dust. I don’t really know much about Joe Biden, but I believe he is much more capable in general. Anyway, back to the debate. I think it can be said that Biden won the debate overall. This isn’t to say that Palin didn’t do well though. In fact, she did much better than I thought she would. I’m surprised she performed so capably under the pressure that she was under, having to prove herself and all. Though, Biden was more in his element than she was. They are both excellent debaters, but Biden truly excels at that particular debate style.

Speaking of Palin, I have to admit, one of the main reasons I watched was to see Palin crash and burn. I was a bit disappointed when she didn’t, but I was pleasantly surprised as well. I think her goal was to simply defend herself and prove that she could roll with the big dogs, and she did that pretty well. She even had several really good moments. For example, when she called out Biden for saying that he thought Obama wasn’t ready to be commander in chief yet. That was one of her real shining moments during the debate. I noticed that she really focused on showing that she was one of “us” so to speak. A lot of the times when she answered questions, she looked directly into the camera, giving the impression that she was speaking to all the viewers. She did relatively well in answering the questions, but I felt like she dodged the questions a lot. Maybe it was just me.

Joe Biden did as expected. His style of debating was much more direct. When he was asked a question he answered it quickly and concisely. What else could you expect? The main challenge for him wasn’t to answer the questions as well as he could but rather to not seem like he was patronizing Palin. That’s probably why he allowed some of Palin’s points to pass.

Overall, it was an interesting debate. Both sides did pretty well, but in the end, Biden came out on top in my eyes. That wasn’t that much of a surprise. Though, Palin did hold her own, and that was all we could have asked for.