I won't comment on the debate itself, which doesn't matter, but on the immediate reactions. Palin seems to have held her own, which counts as a bit victory in the point spread. Mickey Kaus has this:
In the debate, if it's close Palin won. It was close. In the overall campaign, if it's close, Obama won. It was close. ...
That seems to be about right. After her last two dreadful weeks, Sarah rose to the occasion. Barack Obama began in much the same situation, but he is apparently more of a natural, and he has had fifteen months to get up to speed. Palin is catching up, but she has precious little time. Paul Mirengoff at Powerline, has this:
I thought that Joe Biden and Sarah Palin were both excellent tonight. Biden hammered McCain relentlessly, which is the traditional role of the vice presidential candidate. Palin, forced by circumstances to prove her merit to an increasingly skeptical electorate, accomplished that mission and then some. Having done so, she is once again in a position to help the ticket by energizing the conservative base and appealing to at least a segment of the undecided vote.
From a technical standpoint, it was Biden who had the more detailed command of the facts (and the greater ability to fudge them). He was able not just to hammer McCain, but to do so at a level of specificity that Palin could not address. And, on occasion, Palin missed easy opportunities to defend her running mate. I got the sense that, while Palin was getting up to speed on the basic issues, Biden was being prepped for an all-out assault on McCain. Palin got in her share of his shots at Obama, and some of them were quite effective. But, as I suggested, she could not afford to be as single-minded as Biden because she had a greater need to sell herself. Nor, it seems, is it in her nature to be purely a hatchet-woman.
If McCain was a little ahead, tonight's debate would be comforting. As it is, he is a good five points behind. Palin's showing might not hurt him, and it might not stop the bleeding, as Peter Lawler puts it, but it won't help him catch up.
Recent Comments