Vice Presidential Debate Open Thread

10:33 PM: It's over. Strong ending from Biden. Talking points from Palin.

10:29 PM: From Rob: Palin's answers trend flat to slightly positive. Occasionally she dips really low, sometimes high, but usually not when it's related to the question
she was asked but rather when she blathers on about whatever seems to be in her head at that moment.

10:26 PM: Wow. The difference in answers to that last question are stark...Biden gave such a good answer. She gave her talking point again. All night, Palin read talking points. Biden spoke from experience.

10:24 PM: Palin keeps saying "Maverick" but Biden DESTROYED that talking point over McCain: A maverick he is not. Excellent.

10:22 PM: Very powerful answers from Biden. He choked up when talking about his family tragedy. Wow. And, we can't afford more of the same. Then, she comes back with that same grating voice. She just keeps spewing talking points.



10:19 PM: OMG...she just blathers...never answers the question...it's unbelievable. She's trying to cram in every single talking point. Rob just wrote "You'd think with Biden on the stage if anyone would be filibustering the questions tonight it would be Biden. If Palin doesn't get to the White House, she might have a future in the Senate."

10:18 PM: Biden nailed it with that quote about Dick Cheney...Rob said it skyrocketed with the CNN focus group. There already seems to be a consensus that Palin read from a script, Biden spoke from experience.

10:17 PM: Sarah Palin and George Bush, separated at birth:



10:16 PM: From Rob: Been watching CNN and the dial meter tonight - for the most part Biden does better with women than men, but generally trends positive. Palin occasionally gets good responses, but for the most part mostly neutral. It's clear that with these uncommitted voters in Ohio Biden is taking the night so far.

10:14 PM: Where is the question about the bridge to nowhere, about the rape kits, about her seeing Russia from her window? Gwen Ifill got bought off by McCain before this debate. He played her and she rolled over. What a sad excuse for a reporter. I've always liked Ifill in the past, but what has she done tonight that a 5th grader couldn't do? She's read questions. That's it. Palin doesn't answer them, Ifill moves on to the next question. Maybe McCain will like you know, Gwen, maybe, keep being nice and he just might invite you back to the barbeque.

10:12 PM: Biden reminds us that Bush = McCain. But, doggone it, Sarah doesn't think we should look back at the Bush administration. No wonder...because so many of us got screwed by Bush And, a shout to third graders? That's presidential.

10:08 PM Jacki: Palin says McCain knows how to win a war. What war did he win, Sarah? Does she know he was captured in Vietnam? Does she know we didn't win?

10:07 PM Rob says, "If I were Sarah Palin I wouldn't be inviting the fact checkers."

10:04 PM: Palin doesn't understand how you vote for the Iraq war and now criticize how it's going. Huh? Because a real leader doesn't give the president authorization to go to war, then say nothing when the president proceeds to screw up that war. Real leaders don't stay the course and stay in Iraq 100 years.

9:57 PM: Huh? Her answer on nuclear weapons wasn't even coherent (watch the video). And now she's answering a question about nuclear weapons by talking about Afghanistan. And where is Gwen "I died an hour ago" Ifill? Nowhere to be found.

9:55 PM: Ben Smith notes the core of "Palin's improvement" tonight: "In the Couric interviews, she answered every question, floundered at times, blanked at times and dug herself in deeper. Now, she's ignoring questions."

9:53 PM: Rob says, "We've all had that dream of getting to the week before a final exam and haven't been to class all semester - Sarah Palin looks like she's living that dream right now."

9:51 PM: Biden zinged McCain on not wanting to even meet with the Prime Minister of Spain. He won't talk to anyone.

9:49 PM: Ok. It's Jacki again. One more. The Castro Brothers? Really? Where are they appearing nightly in Vegas? I grew up in Miami. I've never heard that one before.

9:48 PM: Is Gwen Ifill dead? Palin AGAIN - for what, the 20th time? - has given a 3 word answer and then changed the topic. And Ifill says nothing. Ever.

9:46 PM: Biden: McCain keeps telling us that Iraq is the central battle in the war on terror. We will go after Bin Laden.

9:45 PM: BIDEN: John McCain voted to cut off money to the troops.

9:40 PM Why is Gwen Ifill even there? She's an idiot. She spits out questions that she wrote in advance, she cuts off people when she decides that she wants to go to her next question, and she lets Palin always switch her answer to another topic while Ifill NEVER ever comes back and says "excuse me, Ms. Palin, you didn't answer the question." Why is Ifill even there?

9:38 PM: Biden gives a very strong answer on same sex couples. Sarah is very tolerant.

9:36 PM Rape, Palin wants to talk about rape? Is she nuts?

9:32 PM: Palin doesn't want to argue about the causes of climate change. HUH? My god, she just blathers and repeats the same things over and over...but not arguing about the causes of climate change? Biden is unequivocal: If you don't understand what the cause is, it's virtually impossible to come up with solutions.

9:30 PM Palin: No it's not so and I'm not going to answer the question, again. What the hell is Gwen Ifill doing? Does she plan on letting Palin not answer a single question - not hedge, but literally change the topic and answer a totally different question - every single time, and not challenge her on it?

9:29 PM: Rob just made a good point: Sarah is starting to repeat herself. Has she run out of flash cards? Palin just said we've got a toxic mess on Main Street affecting Wall Street. HUH? She's getting her talking points mixed up. That's her line of the night: We've got a toxic mess on Main Street affecting Wall Street.

9:25 PM: Yeah, Palin says you won't hear her and McCain tell different things to different audiences. Like how she was for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it, like McCain was for Roe v Wade before he was against it, like McCain was against the Bush tax cuts before he was for them, like how McCain called Jerry Falwell an agent of intolerance and then asked him to support his election. And on and on and on...

9:22 PM: Hi all. It's Jacki. It's my birthday so I'll make this quick. Joe Biden rules my world. He just called McCain's health care plan "the ultimate bridge to nowhere." Happy Birthday to me.

9:20 PM: 95% of small businesses fall under Obama's $250,000 limit, meaning, they wont' see tax increases under his plan. Plain claimed they would.

9:18 PM: Sarah Palin says that government regulation is the problem right when our economy is melting down because of lack of government regulation.

9:18 PM: Biden knows what he's talking about..."we have a different values set." And, he's looking at the camera finally.

Rob notes that it's clear that Sarah Palin is playing the traditional role of attack dog vice presidential candidate tonight. Whether she knows the answers to the questions or not still remains to be seen.

9:15 PM: Shorter Sarah Palin: "I'm not going to answer the questions you're asking."

9:13 PM: Palin will not answer questions...she just parrots her talking points...Biden busts her. John McCain voted 477 times to raise taxes..and wonders why Palin won't answer the question about regulation.

9:12 PM: Palin has presented her first few memorized talking points. And she's presented them well, as she does. As the debate goes on, and we get to the real Palin, then we'll see a real test.

9:10 PM: Palin hits predatory lending. "We need to band together." We can learn a heck of a lot from this and say never again.

9:07 PM: Biden hits McCain for saying the fundamentals of the economy are strong. Palin passes on the lie that McCain was talking about the American workers as the fundamentals of the economy...she is joining a team of mavericks.

Palin is looking directly at the camera. She's been well trained on that...she's talking to the American people. Biden is talking to Gwen Ifill.

9:05 PM: Palin...Is this a good time or bad time in America's economy? Go to a kid's soccer game. We need reform. John McCain has thankfully been one pushing reform. Really? McCain suspended his campaign? No, he didn't/

Rob reports that as opposed to last week's republican / democrat / independent dial meters, CNN is showing uncommitted Ohio voters broken out by men and women.

9:04 PM: Biden uses the question to talk about changing the focus of economic policy.

9:03 PM: Well, she showed up. First question to Biden is about the bailout...is this the worst of Washington or the best of Washington?

8:59 PM: So, here we go. John and I are live-blogging from my place. Rob will be weighing in, too. This should be interesting to say the least. And, we're not prepared to declare a win for Palin just because she shows up. We need to see whether these two candidates are qualified to be president.