The Dynamic Duo

I listened to an audio version of the Biden-Palin debate earlier, but wanted to watch the video too so that I’d be able to pick up on body language cues and other things that don’t show up in an audio file or a transcript.  A couple things come to mind that really get to me.

First, Palin not only doesn’t answer the questions from the moderator, she doesn’t even try.  She goes to far as to announce that she isn’t going to answer the questions.  What then, is the point of having a debate?  As I see it the purpose of a debate is threefold:

1. See how the candidates stand up in a contentious situation.  Looking an opponent in the eye and disagreeing with them is not something you have the opportunity to see a candidate do very often, and it does give some insight into their temperament and character.
2. Have the candidates discuss a wide range of relevant issues in a forum where they can be challenged.  The role of the moderator is to keep the candidates on track and to keep the discussion moving forward and not off the rails.  I didn’t think our moderator for this debate did a particularly good job, but she wasn’t horrible either
3. Demonstrate how the candidates deal with a series of issues coming at them in a fashion that they don’t have the opportunity to rehearse specifically for.  This gives some indication of how a candidate would deal with the wide range of issues that will be coming at them in office.  It at least demonstrates for us (hopefully) that the candidate has considered the issues long enough that she is able to speak about them somewhat intelligently, and that she would be able to understand a briefing in office related to said subject.

So if the candidate doesn’t answer the questions given her, why even have a debate.  I knew she would do better in the debates than in her one on one interviews because in debates the moderator rarely pushes the candidate very hard to answer, and the opponent can’t without seeming like a bully.  I wouldn’t have ever in my wildest dreams expected this though if I hadn’t already listened to a debate she had when running for governor of Alaska where she did much the same thing, albeit to a lesser degree.

The second thing that is really bugging me is English.  Both of the candidates supposedly speak it as their native tongue.  Biden made his share of slip ups during the debate, but Palin makes him look like an English professor.  Her two greatest hits though I thing stand out as proud monuments to being stupid, which really does seem to be the goal.  Palin is in a big hurry to show off her lack of education and sophistication so this probably plays right into her hands.  I guess it worked for Bush.  The first big one comes directly from him after all.  The word is nuclear, not nook-yoo-ler you nincompoop.  It should be a prerequisite for being in a position to order the deployment of nuclear weapons that you can pronounce nuclear weapons.

The second big English language gaff was Palin’s remark that she wouldn’t want to attribute all of man’s activities to global warming.  I’ll just leave you to stew in that until you, like I did last week, vote Obama.

Some Neat Quotes:

• “there has been more ans more revelation, made aware now, to Americans about the corruption and the greed on Wall Street.”
• After Biden talks about supporting allowing judges to adjust the principal owed on mortgages to help keep mortgage holders from defaulting and said he though McCain and Palin didn’t support that, the moderator asked Palin if that was so: “That is not so, but because that is just a quick answer I want to talk about, again, my record on energy, versus your ticket’s energy ticket also.”

And, so that my dear mother can compare, here is the actual video: