Bob_Tarlau's Blog

MISSIONS ACCOMPLISHED

The marching orders were clear:  Joe Biden’s goal was to attack… and not be overbearing.  Sarah Palin's was to attack, connect, get the subject onto energy and off of the Bush administration all while sticking to her folksy script.

Missions accomplished!  Both vice presidential candidates succeeded in their only debate of the campaign last (Thursday) night.   Biden was strong, stronger than long time Biden watchers say he’s been in any previous debate.  But the stakes were much higher and the bar was much lower for Palin. So, in the contest of low expectations, I’d say Palin won.

If nothing else, the first-term Alaska governor got past the raft of nonsensical and meandering answers in network interviews with Katie Couric and Charlie Gibson, the spoofs by Saturday Night Live and the mockery of late-night comics and Internet websites and blogs.

From her first words, a confident Palin sought to connect with conservative voters whose confidence in her qualifications has waned.  She used the buzz words and phrases that would please the base.  She sprinkled down-home phrases throughout her answers — "bless their hearts" and "darn right." Americans weren't just people they were "Joe Six-Pack" and "Hockey Moms." And who needs polls, she suggested, when there are youth soccer games with parents on the sidelines.

She defended Republican presidential nominee John McCain from Biden's litany of criticisms, and took Biden to task over both his record and that of Democratic nominee Barack Obama.

And yet, it wasn't a perfect performance.   When she didn’t know the answers or was unable to counter Biden’s superior knowledge of facts and figures, she shifted to a well rehearsed non-answer or simply resorted to her favorite subject of the night, energy.

For instance, not even halfway through the debate, Palin was asked a question about sub-prime mortgages.  That was one of several spots where she quickly maneuvered back to energy where she was clearly more comfortable — and where she had her lines down. It appeared to be a non-sequitur.

She twice referred to the commanding U.S. general in Afghanistan as "General McClellan."  In fact, his name is Gen. David McKiernan and, as Biden said, he called this week for the U.S. and its allies to rush more troops "as quickly as possible" to Afghanistan and warn that the fighting there could worsen before it gets better.

She was adept at not answering questions and stuck to breezy sound bites, frequently looking to her notes. She criticized Biden and Obama with a smile and her Alaska accent.

Palin's head bobbed up and down from notes on her podium to Biden as she resurrected — and listed — his disagreements with Obama on the Iraq war.

Biden was critical from the start, accusing President Bush of overseeing "the worst economic policies we've ever had." Often tagged as undisciplined, Biden stuck to the Democratic script.

When Biden repeatedly listed failings of the Bush administration on domestic and foreign policy, she responded that Biden was just looking at the past and that a McCain-Palin administration would bring the change America craves.  

But where she was strong (on energy, for instance), she did sound convincing. Best of all for the McCain campaign machine, she didn’t stumble.  Didn’t hit any foul balls.  She was evasive at times, but what politician isn’t?

In the end, Palin did nothing to hurt McCain’s effort – but I don’t think she really helped him either.  Biden, according to various instant polls, seems to have helped Obama with undecided voters.   In the end, that’s all that will really matter. 

QUICKIE POLLS LEAN TO BIDEN

A CBS News-Knowledge Networks poll surveyed 473 uncommitted voters nationwide and found 46 percent of them saying Joe Biden won the debate, compared to 21 percent for Sarah Palin. Thirty-three percent said it was a tie.

Eighteen percent of previously uncommitted percent say they are now committed to the Obama-Biden ticket. Ten percent say they are now committed to McCain-Palin. Seventy-one percent are still uncommitted.

CNN/Opinion Research Corp. said 51 percent of those polled thought Biden did the best job, while 36 percent thought Palin did the best job.  Survey participants thought that while Biden won, Palin exceeded expectations.   Respondents also found the folksy Palin was more likable, scoring 54 percent to Biden's 36 percent. Seventy percent said Biden was more of a typical politician.

Eighty-four percent of those taking part in the CNN poll said Palin did a better job than they expected, while 64 percent said Biden also exceeded expectations.

THE FACTS AND FALSEHOODS

Some facts floated out the window during the vice presidential debate… facts about taxes, deregulation and more.  The Associated Press provides some examples: 

 PALIN: Said of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama: "94 times he voted to increase taxes or not support a tax reduction."

THE FACTS: The dubious count includes repetitive votes as well as votes to cut taxes for the middle class while raising them on the rich. An analysis by factcheck.org found that 23 of the votes were for measures that would have produced no tax increase at all, seven were in favor of measures that would have lowered taxes for many, 11 would have increased taxes on only those making more than $1 million a year.

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BIDEN: Complained about "economic policies of the last eight years" that led to "excessive deregulation."

THE FACTS: Biden voted for 1999 deregulation that liberal groups are blaming for part of the financial crisis. The law allowed Wall Street investment banks to create the kind of mortgage-related securities at the core of the problem now. The law was widely backed by Republicans as well as by Democratic President Clinton, who argues it has stopped the crisis today from being worse.

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PALIN: "Two years ago, remember, it was John McCain who pushed so hard with the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reform measures. He sounded that warning bell."

THE FACTS: Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska led an effort in 2005 to tighten regulation on the mortgage underwriters — McCain joined as a co-sponsor a year later. The legislation was never taken up by the full Senate, then under Republican control.

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BIDEN: Warned that Republican presidential candidate John McCain's $5,000 tax credit to help families buy health coverage "will go straight to the insurance company."

THE FACTS: Of course it would, because it's meant to pay for insurance. That's like saying money for a car loan will go straight to the car dealer.

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PALIN: "We cannot afford to lose against al-Qaida and the Shia extremists who are still there, still fighting us."

THE FACTS: She appeared to confuse the two main Muslim sects in Iraq. Al-Qaida is solely made up of Sunni Muslim militants. Through the course of the war, U.S. forces fought ferocious opposition from both the Sunnis and the country's dominant Shiite sects. Now, both groups are largely maintaining a cease-fire with the U.S. A much-diminished al-Qaida, mainly foreign fighters, remains the primary threat.

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BIDEN: Said McCain supports tax breaks for oil companies, and "wants to give them another $4 billion tax cut."

THE FACTS: Biden is repeating a favorite saw of the Obama campaign, and it's misleading. McCain supports a cut in income taxes for all corporations, and doesn't single out any one industry for that benefit.

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PALIN: Said the United States has reduced its troop level in Iraq to a number below where it was when the troop increase began in early 2007.

THE FACTS: Not correct. The Pentagon says there are currently 152,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, about 17,000 more than there were before the 2007 military buildup began.

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BIDEN: "As a matter of fact, John recently wrote an article in a major magazine saying that he wants to do for the health care industry — deregulate it and let the free market move — like he did for the banking industry."

THE FACTS: Biden and Obama have been perpetuating this distortion of what McCain wrote in an article for the American Academy of Actuaries. McCain, laying out his health plan, only referred to deregulation when saying people should be allowed to buy health insurance across state lines. In that context, he wrote: "Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation."

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PALIN: Said Alaska is "building a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline, which is North America's largest and most expensive infrastructure project ever to flow those sources of energy into hungry markets."

THE FACTS: Not quite. Construction is at least six years away. So far the state has only awarded a license to Trans Canada Corp., that comes with $500 million in seed money in exchange for commitments toward a lengthy and costly process to getting a federal certificate. At an August news conference after the state Legislature approved the license, Palin said, "It's not a done deal."

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PALIN: "Barack Obama even supported increasing taxes as late as last year for those families making only $42,000 a year."

BIDEN: "The charge is absolutely not true. Barack Obama did not vote to raise taxes. The vote she's referring to, John McCain voted the exact same way."

THE FACTS: The vote was on a nonbinding budget resolution that assumed that President Bush's tax cuts would expire, as scheduled, in 2011. If that actually happened, it could mean higher taxes for people making as little as about $42,000. But Obama is proposing tax increases only on the wealthy, and would cut taxes for most others. In the March 14 budget resolution supported by Obama and Biden, McCain actually did not vote.

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PALIN: Said a McCain-Palin administration "will support Israel," including "building our embassy ... in Jerusalem."

THE FACTS: Moving the U.S. Embassy from its present location in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is a perennial promise of presidential candidates courting the Jewish-American vote. In fact, moving the embassy is actually required by U.S. law. But successive administrations of both parties, including President Bush's, have made the same pledge only to find that the realities of Middle East peacemaking have forced them to invoke a waiver to delay it. Jerusalem is claimed as a capital by both Israel and the Palestinians, and Israel's occupation of east Jerusalem is not internationally recognized. The city's status is a key issue of disagreement in peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

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Again, those facts and falsehoods are from the Associated Press.   Now, standby for Presidential Debate #2, coming up next Tuesday.  And it is amazing to think that we’re finally just one month from Election Day.