Debate Coverage

We cannot recall when there were lower expectations for a candidate than the ones that preceded Sarah Palin’s appearance in Thursday night’s vice-presidential debate with Joseph Biden. After a series of stumbling interviews that raised serious doubts even among conservatives about her fitness to serve as vice president, Ms. Palin had to do little more than say one or two sensible things and avoid an election-defining gaffe.

Vice Presidential Debate Transcript & Interactive Video - Biden, Palin

So Sarah Palin didn't indulge the critics' lowest expectations in her Thursday night debate with Joe Biden. She didn't stumble or stammer, commit any awful gaffes or make a fool of herself.
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But it's only by the shallowest of standards that her performance could be called creditable or impressive.

After a difficult couple of weeks, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin looked relaxed and comfortable this morning when she left Sedona and flew with her family and advisors to St. Louis for her hotly anticipated debate tonight with Sen. Joe Biden.

Palin, along with her husband, Todd, daughters Willow and Piper and baby son Trig, had spent 2 1/2 days at the peaceful Sedona compound of John McCain and Cindy McCain, set in the scrubby hills and red rocks of Arizona’s famously spiritual destination.

During that time, Palin kept a low profile.

SARASOTA, Fla — As the political world awaits GOP VP Nominee Sarah Palin’s much anticipated speech at the Republican National Convention, Joe Biden fielded questions on how he plans to debate John McCain’s running mate — saying he’ll treat the Alaska Governor “with respect.”

She was animated and confident. She displayed an ability, for the first time since her convention speech, to repeat with a fair amount of credibility, the formulations that her handlers had given her. You knew she was well prepared when practically the first words out of her mouth were, "Go to a kids' soccer game..." She had that folksy thing down—although I did notice, watching the squiggly lines down at the bottom of the CNN screen, that when she tried to get cutesy with her folksiness, it didn't work.

SARAH PALIN’S 18 LIES TONIGHT

1. FANNIE MAE/FREDDIE MAC: Palin said “it was John McCain who pushed so hard with the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reform measures,” but fact checkers say that’s “Quite A Stretch” And “Barely True,” and that McCain was a “latecomer” to the discussion.

2. FUNDAMENTALS ARE STRONG: Palin tried to say “John McCain saying our economy was strong” but McCain has used the phrase “The Fundamentals Of The Economy Are Strong” At Least 16 Times This Year.

WASHINGTON -- With a straight-to-the-camera appeal to "Joe six-pack, hockey moms," a confident Sarah Palin sought to revive the flagging Republican campaign last night, in the first and last vice-president's debate.

Ms. Palin employed a strategy of repeatedly ignoring the questions from moderator Gwen Ifill, instead promoting the policies of her running mate, Republican presidential nominee John McCain, and attacking Democratic nominee Barack Obama.

Tonight? Palin mainly had to avoid falling on her face, at least as embarrassingly as she did in her recent CBS interviews (it takes a really disgraceful performance to make Katie Couric look like a smart, serious journalist). She had to be aggressive rather than defensive, reasonably articulate, and at least superficially informed on the issues. Biden, conversely, had to tone things down from his usual style—avoiding anything that could be seen as “condescending” to the less qualified candidate, and also avoiding his own tendency to pontificate.

David Letterman continues to milk the presidential campaign for humor with tonight's Top Ten list. The category: "Surprises in the Vice Presidential Debate."

10. First question for Palin: “Why the hell do you keep agreeing to talk to Katie Couric?”

9. As a welcome to the candidates, St. Louis constructed a special “Arch to Nowhere.”

8. To even the playing field, Biden wore stilettos.

7. A confused John McCain kept stumbling onstage asking where he was.

6. Most of the discussion was what to do about the Mets.