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Sarah Palin did what I and many others thought she would do — she easily beat the extremely low expectations many had set for her. She did not have a meltdown. She did not faint or run off the stage. She only sometimes acted like Tina Fey's impersonation of her.
Palin looked right into the camera, only bizarrely winking a few times. She stuck to her script, only straying, rambling, or talking nonsense a few times. She attacked Barack Obama and Joe Biden's records, though could not defend John McCain's. She answered the questions she wanted to answer, not the ones that were asked. She attacked the media. She had obviously done her homework and studied very, very hard. I applaud her for that.
But Joe Biden was amazing, probably giving the performance of his life, way better than I had imagined. And Sarah Palin was utterly out of her league on every level.
Before (or if) I get into all the ways Joe Biden defeated Sarah Palin in their first and only debate, I need to talk about one moment first. And that was when Joe Biden choked up when talking about being a single parent and worrying about the lives of his kids. I haven't watched many debates in my life, but this moment was one of the most powerful I've seen in one.
Most bloggers/commentators/pundits/etc. (including ones I respect and many I don't) have said that the debate lacked fireworks or big moments. I disagree.
In less than two minutes, Joe Biden not only spoke about himself, his career as a politician, his childhood, and why he understands the struggles of working people. He also spoke about the values of himself and his party (that government can help when guided by the right values and leadership), and ended it with what is both the central theme of the Obama/Biden campaign and a devastating indictment of John McCain and his party's philosophy — Americans need change, not more of the same.
And, most amazingly, Joe Biden spoke from the perspective of a single father, a group one has probably never heard about in any presidential debate and rarely hears about in politics or anywhere else. One of Palin's (and the Republicans') strengths is their identification as protectors of the family and "family values". But Biden would not cede this ground, and neither he, nor the Democrats, should ever have to. Joe Biden is a father, a husband, and widower who has lost a child, raised two on his own, and now, thanks to Bush's war, will have to wonder again if one of his sons might die. Don't tell him that he doesn't know about families and their values.
In many ways, it clearly crystalized what this election, the candidates, and this country, in the midst of such difficult times, is all about in a way that powerful and grand while personal and intimate. I think that qualifies as a big moment.
As Leah McElrath wrote at Huffpo:
Joe Biden did more for the equality of the sexes with his honest display of paternal emotion during the vice presidential debate than Sarah Palin's presence on the executive ticket has or will ever do.
It feels funny — my post after the first presidential debate focused mostly on the body language and behavior of John McCain and Barack Obama, and how McCain came across as a total jerk. And now I'm writing about the vice-presidential debate's most touching moment. But it's hard to ignore what hits you on an emotional level, which is, for better or for worse, where political battles are fought.
And to those who would say that I'm not focusing enough on the policies and hard numbers, I say this:
Policy is important. But dammit, I'm not made of stone.
Below is the transcript of what Biden said:
And, by the way, a record of change -- I will place my record and Barack's record against John McCain's or anyone else in terms of fundamental accomplishments. Wrote the crime bill, put 100,000 cops on the street, wrote the Violence Against Women Act, which John McCain voted against both of them, was the catalyst to change the circumstance in Bosnia, led by President Clinton, obviously.
Look, I understand what it's like to be a single parent. When my wife and daughter died and my two sons were gravely injured, I understand what it's like as a parent to wonder what it's like if your kid's going to make it.
I understand what it's like to sit around the kitchen table with a father who says, "I've got to leave, champ, because there's no jobs here. I got to head down to Wilmington. And when we get enough money, honey, we'll bring you down."
I understand what it's like. I'm much better off than almost all Americans now. I get a good salary with the United States Senate. I live in a beautiful house that's my total investment that I have. So I -- I am much better off now.
But the notion that somehow, because I'm a man, I don't know what it's like to raise two kids alone, I don't know what it's like to have a child you're not sure is going to -- is going to make it -- I understand.
I understand, as well as, with all due respect, the governor or anybody else, what it's like for those people sitting around that kitchen table. And guess what? They're looking for help. They're looking for help. They're not looking for more of the same.
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| Kanuk25 commented about 13 hours ago: |
sad how palin tried to lecture biden about 'not
looking to the past' when she kept bringing up
her past experience in alaska. full of contradictions.
on one hand, palin can bring up the past experience
of both herself and mccain - but biden, just don't
talk about the bush administration and its past?
one cannot have it both ways, another reason
why biden won this debate. palin was just a good
sounding board...