Lies, lies, all of it!
I watched the debate in a bar in Cambridge, Massachusetts. That was a first. Not that anyone's keeping track, but the last time I watched this level of debate in a bar was in my home town of Springfield, Missouri. See how I'm establishing my own 'folksiness' there?
Yesterday, in anticipation of the event at good ol' Washington University, I quoted Martin Lawrence by suggesting that her cutie-pie ignorance might not play too well in the debate because "shit just got real." Watching the debate, I was surprised to see that Biden defied the bloggers by hitting fast and hard. And he managed to completely avoid sounding condescending or bullying at the same time-- especially when she tried to use her scripted "laugh lines." In retrospect, it was amazing to see her visible discomfort when the "wait for big laffs" cue didn't result in actual laughter. (Trying to combine 'say it ain't so, Joe' with 'there you go again' and having it all fall like a gosh-darn souffle. You could almost see her thinking 'But that was supposed to be my big moment!')
Anyway, we'll see what happens when we all wake up. But between Biden's 'shit just got real' approach, Palin's continuation of the Big Lie strategy that hasn't been playing so well lately (unlike the last two presidential campaigns), and her clear inability to come across well without a stacked deck, I think-- and I think conservatively about these things these days-- it won't hurt the Obama-Biden ticket at all. And given the shift in public opinion this last week, that's nothing to galdurn sneeze at, don'cha know.
BONUS: On the question about the ding-dang veep being part of the executive branch, when Biden said that Cheney was 'most dangerous vice-president in history,' the bar erupted in applause. It was great.
Oh, and the link. Liveblogging from the WaMo. Just 'cuz you've got to have a link, right?
Special prize to anyone who can identify the source of my title.
Afterthought: How do you suppose it would've played if Biden had dealt with Palin's awkward phoniness--and the GOP ticket as a whole-- by saying "These aren't the droids we're looking for"?
Yesterday, in anticipation of the event at good ol' Washington University, I quoted Martin Lawrence by suggesting that her cutie-pie ignorance might not play too well in the debate because "shit just got real." Watching the debate, I was surprised to see that Biden defied the bloggers by hitting fast and hard. And he managed to completely avoid sounding condescending or bullying at the same time-- especially when she tried to use her scripted "laugh lines." In retrospect, it was amazing to see her visible discomfort when the "wait for big laffs" cue didn't result in actual laughter. (Trying to combine 'say it ain't so, Joe' with 'there you go again' and having it all fall like a gosh-darn souffle. You could almost see her thinking 'But that was supposed to be my big moment!')
Anyway, we'll see what happens when we all wake up. But between Biden's 'shit just got real' approach, Palin's continuation of the Big Lie strategy that hasn't been playing so well lately (unlike the last two presidential campaigns), and her clear inability to come across well without a stacked deck, I think-- and I think conservatively about these things these days-- it won't hurt the Obama-Biden ticket at all. And given the shift in public opinion this last week, that's nothing to galdurn sneeze at, don'cha know.
BONUS: On the question about the ding-dang veep being part of the executive branch, when Biden said that Cheney was 'most dangerous vice-president in history,' the bar erupted in applause. It was great.
Oh, and the link. Liveblogging from the WaMo. Just 'cuz you've got to have a link, right?
Special prize to anyone who can identify the source of my title.
Afterthought: How do you suppose it would've played if Biden had dealt with Palin's awkward phoniness--and the GOP ticket as a whole-- by saying "These aren't the droids we're looking for"?
posted by Matt Sandwich | 10:47 PM
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