Palin-Biden wrap up

October 3, 1:26 PMCongress ExaminerIgor Derysh

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Biden lays in to Palin

Here is a quick wrap-up for those who missed the debate and analysis for those that didn't.

In case you missed the debate, here are some memorable moments:

-Palin: "Can I call you Joe?" [At the beginning of the debate]

-Palin: "I May Not Answer The Questions The Way You Or The Moderator Want"...  [After being called out by Biden on not answering a question]

-Biden chokes up while discussing raising his two kids on his own after his wife's death and the afflictions of average Americans.

-Palin gets the name of Commander in Afghanistan General McKiernan wrong while trying to rebut Biden's claim that McKiernan does not believe McCain's strategy for Afghanistan would work.

-Biden and Palin agree that gay couples should enjoy the same rights as heterosexual couples but not constitutional marriage.

-Palin: "Say it ain't so, Joe. There you go again ... ." [Referring to Biden's constant McCain-Bush comparisons]

Remember you can watch the full debate at Hulu.

Analysis:

No, Sarah Palin did not look like a fool on stage (Although a note to Governor Palin: It's pronounced Nook-clear not Nook-you-lur). No, Joe Biden did not say anything he would regret tommorow. No, the debate did not live up to the expecation of the many "gotcha" moments that it was suspected to be come.

The debate, however, was one of the most interesting in history. Vice Presidential debate history, anyway.

With Biden being uneasy about attacking his opponent as he is known to do, Palin was able to go toe-to-toe with Joe for an hour and a half.

The two candidates' different styles were very evident.

Biden, the master debater who ran circles around his opponents in the Democratic primary debates, responded to most of his questions with statistics and detailed policy outlines. He was able to, however, steal Palin's "small town" rhetoric thunder by referring to his very modest upbringing and showed that he was in touch with the average blue-collar American.

Palin took a different approach and loaded her answers with the usual talking points and cliches. She dismissed the questions that she did not want to answer and instead loaded her responses with typical Republican slogans; calling the Obama tax plan "wealth distribution," referring to Obama and Biden as "East Coast Liberals" (secret Republican code for Commie), calling her running-mate John McCain and herself "mavericks" and repeatedly referring to her small town, all-American family life.

That being said, she was still able to hold her own against Biden's array of numbers and frankly earned a lot of respect on that stage from her many critics.

Final Thoughts:
A debate is not really a competition, always with a victor and a loser. The debate was not won by either candidate. On facts, however, Biden ran away with it. On effect, Palin's obviously scripted lines made the biggest impact.

Despite there being no winner, the debate will still have an impact on the election.

Thanks to the hype, tens of millions of viewers tuned in to watch a debate they normally would not have and received a fairly coherent education on the policies of the two tickets.

Moreover, the McCain campaigned gained a lot of credibility today. For all her faults and vagueness in her responses, Palin won the expectations game and shut most of her critics up.

While I will still argue that due to the lack of substance, Palins candidacy is nothing to be celebrated, millions of Americans were introduced to Sarah Palin at her best at Thursday's Vice-Presidential debate.