Vice Presidential Debate Update

All week I have been perhaps ridiculously excited over the vice presidential debate taking place today. I have been waiting to see Joe Biden debate since he first joined the ticket.

Full disclosure: I am a Biden fan for all his stupid gaffes, had my flight gotten into Oregon on time I would have been tempted to write his name in on the ballot. I'm hoping to see at least one good jab like the one that really put a spot-light on the tired invocation of September the 11th by Giulliani throughout his ill-fated run for president: "there’s only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun and a verb and 9/11." But enough of my pre-debate excitement, on to the more serious aspect.

Ignorance is Bliss?

Joe Biden should be somewhat nervous, I just watched Palin debate past opponents and she was pretty sharp, even when she wasn't.  By that I mean that sometimes she would seem to be just sort of talking about an issue without really knowing what she was talking about, but she is oddly convincing when she does this because she is so confidant doing such an absurd thing.  One of her opponents even calls her on it, saying of her answer to one question "this is political gibberish."  But any criticisms of her tend to fall on deaf ears, as far as I can tell.  This is largely because her base is composed primarily of those who are put off by aggressive, political bigshots.  Any attempt to point out her straying from the facts will label Biden as a "know-it-all" picking on Palin, who has portrayed herself as an average American.  So, her ignorance may turn out to be an asset, under a peculiar logic. 

Play Nice

Another trap for Biden is the gender aspect.  I fear that we will see a repeat of George H.W. Bush's "condescending" remark to Geraldine Ferraro, when he tried to explain a pretty basic foreign policy premise.  Biden is the foreign policy guy, and I can easily imagine him rubbing that in Governor Palin's face--which I think he definitely should do, if it weren't for the political ramifications.  He is more knowledgeable about foreign policy, the financial market and just about every other major issue that a vice president should at least have a good grasp of.  However, he can't promote this fact which is severely limiting and could make him appear awkard tonight as he struggles to restrict himself to polite points.  

Angry Joe Biden

Finally, Biden is such a powerful speaker because he is emotional and this could bring him down.  If he gets too ahead of himself he could lose sight of the facts--in a different way that Palin, by exaggerating a situation--or just get angry.  He's got a temper and a tendency to rant so that is not a great combo for a debate that he has to be really careful in.  We'll see if he can keep it together for 90+ mins. (is a Veep debate shorter?)

While I don't think Governor Palin is qualified to be vice president of the United States, she is looks to be a sharp opponent for Biden and I'm really looking forward to seeing the two go head-to-head. 

Let me know what you think: Will Palin be able to reclaim that popularity that was so strong after the GOP convention, or will she look as unprepared as she did with Couric this week?  Will Biden fall into old habits and verbally berate his opponen, maybe even steal from a speech (jk) or will he prove to be the qualified veteran debater?

Editor's note(?): Really, I should be reading Aristotle's Politics for my class tomorrow (today?) but instead I am writing about politics, which I guess is an appropriate substitute at least. I'm much more interested in this blog now that I've seen the excellent level of participation here--cool to get some feedback and dialogue going.