Wrong Again Sarah, Main Street Was Screwed By Wall Street

During last night's debate, Sarah Palin blamed the actions of Main Street for the problems on Wall Street. Despite whatever pseudo-populism she has tried to trick people with, the end of this video shows who she blames....and wants to punish with her potential policies.

Palin Was Clueless On Protecting Homeowners

Last night in the middle of the debate, Gwen Ifill asked Palin about her running mate's support of allowing bankruptcy judges to rewrite mortgage payments on people's first homes. Biden called out McCain's opposition to helping homeowners (particularly those unlike him that only own one house). Palin didn't want her side to come off as mean and uncaring of the millions who are threatened by foreclosure on their homes so she quickly lied and ran away from the question.

From ABC News:

Sarah Palin got her facts wrong in Thursday's debate with Joe Biden when discussing where John McCain stands on new protections for homeowners facing foreclosures.

The Alaska governor incorrectly made it sound like McCain supports giving bankruptcy judges the power to rewrite mortgage payment terms on first homes.

He doesn't.

Joe Biden did what he did best in the debate and went after John McCain and his failed policies. His adversary across the stage clearly showed that she was way out of her league when it came time to defend her man McCain:

"[W]e should be allowing bankruptcy courts to be able to re-adjust not just the interest rate you're paying on your mortgage to be able to stay in your home, but be able to adjust the principal that you owe, the principal that you owe," said Biden. "That would keep people in their homes, actually help banks by keeping it from going under.

"But John McCain, as I understand it," he continued, "I'm not sure of this, but I believe John McCain and the governor don't support that. There are ways to help people now. And there -- ways that we're offering are not being supported by -- by the Bush administration nor do I believe by John McCain and Governor Palin."

"Governor Palin, is that so?" asked PBS' Gwen Ifill.

"That is not so," said Palin, "but because that's just a quick answer."

Sarah was pretty good at running from questions she didn't have a clue on and if there's something to give her credit for, it was this. Meanwhile back in reality, homeowners with plummeting home values that can't afford their mortgage payments have nowhere to go, that is until they lose their home to foreclosure and the banks are given a free pass and a $700,000,000,000.00 check.

Palin May Not Have Fallen On Her Face, But She Still Lost

Based on the interviews with Katie Couric, a lot of Americans were expecting a spectacular explosion from Sarah Palin. While there were a few gaffes, for the most part she appeased her base and managed to stay on the stage for ninety minutes. Now I would have loved if Gwen Ifill asked her some of these questions but conservatives did a great job of keeping Gwen quiet and inserting a dose of covert racism into the debate in one shot.

As the show went on, Sarah followed her flow chart and while she came off as robotic at times with those talking points, she scored points with her base, especially when she viciously jabbed Biden over Iraq. Sure, the majority of the country was probably horrified to hear her say that Obama and Biden wanted to "wave a white flag of surrender," but Palin's strong suit is not to appeal to undecided voters (the majority of which are opposed to the war). In fact, as the polls showed after the debate, Biden dominated with undecideds. As long as Palin brings the fundamentalists to the polls, she'll have done her part.

While this debate will probably not sway anyone dramatically to one side or the other, there were some memorable moments. In her closing segment Sarah Palin went for the obvious Ronald Reagan reference as she tried to use people's fears so that they'd vote for her and McCain to hold onto our freedoms or else we'll have to explain the loss of them to our grandkids. It was a touching wingnut moment to say the least. Too bad the quote was about Reagan's appeal to end Medicare.

That one probably sailed over the heads of many so I think the key moment for most people was when Biden teared up over the loss of his wife and child and relating to America that he knows what it is like to be a single parent. He showed he was a human being and not just a politician. Then Sarah Palin showed her utter classlessness when she followed it up not with empathy but a tone-deaf response that showed she was still in the debate prep room while everyone else was at the main event. If she was mentally there, then that speaks even more negatively of her character.

Of course there was plenty more and we'll certainly be talking about it in the next day or so before round two of Obama/McCain starts on Tuesday. As many have pointed out, this was no Bentsen-Quayle event and even that verbal sparring match didn't help the Dukakis/Bentsen ticket. All last night did for the big picture was to show that Palin could survive a debate and that Joe Biden could clearly step in for Barack Obama in case of something godforbid. You could tell that Palin had studied and was still cramming with her notes up on stage. Meanwhile Biden spoke with ease and made his points clearly and concisely. As his word cloud shows, he hammered McCain over and over again while Palin had trouble putting together coherent sentences.

Oh and everything that DemFromCT says too.

Cliff Note Sarah Vs. To The Point Joe

Really, there is no comparison between the two people on stage tonight. Sarah Palin leaned heavily on her notes and ran from any questions that weren't answered on those 3x5's. Joe Biden on the other hand, is clearly connecting John McCain to George Bush and smacks any petty attack that Palin throws his way. He doesn't look like a policy wonk as many feared and he isn't brutally attacking her either. Joe has just the right amount of facts and Sarah has empty statements. She may not have burned the place down (yet) but this is hardly a pretty sight for any Republican supporter to watch.

As they did for the first debate, ThinkProgress is live-blogging the event and is easily refuting every false assertion that Palin makes. Everything from her BS about being in the middle class to calling out meetings with foreign leaders that haven't happened. All the "gosh darns" and "ya betchas" isn't going to save that car crash. Nope, not even the winks and the shout out to Dad sitting in the audience.

Despite her presence on the stage, Joe Biden is following Andrew Halcro's advice for the most part. He is going past her and talking directly to the middle class. His policy knowledge translates directly into what him and Obama will do for Americans that have suffered under eight years of George Bush. With fifteen minutes to go, unless Biden starts crying on the floor like a baby, this is game, set and match.

What To Expect From Palin Tonight, From The Man That Has Debated Her Before

Sarah Palin may be political neophyte on the national stage but that doesn't mean she hasn't been in a debate before. She did get to be a Mayor and Governor somehow, even if it was by underhanded means and backstabbing her way to the top of Alaska's government. Everyone is talking about how Biden should play his cards tonight, so I hope he talked to Andrew Halcro. When he ran against her and Tony Knowles, Andrew learned the hard way that Sarah Palin knows what to do in a debate.

From The Christian Science Monitor:

Palin is a master of the nonanswer. She can turn a 60-second response to a query about her specific solutions to healthcare challenges into a folksy story about how she's met people on the campaign trail who face healthcare challenges. All without uttering a word about her public-policy solutions to healthcare challenges.

In one debate, a moderator asked the candidates to name a bill the legislature had recently passed that we didn't like. I named one. Democratic candidate Tony Knowles named one. But Sarah Palin instead used her allotted time to criticize the incumbent governor, Frank Murkowski. Asked to name a bill we did like, the same pattern emerged: Palin didn't name a bill.

And when she does answer the actual question asked, she has a canny ability to connect with the audience on a personal level. For example, asked to name a major issue that had been ignored during the campaign, I discussed the health of local communities, Mr. Knowles talked about affordable healthcare, and Palin talked about ... the need to protect hunting and fishing rights.

So what does that mean for Biden? With shorter question-and-answer times and limited interaction between the two, he should simply ignore Palin in a respectful manner on the stage and answer the questions as though he were alone. Any attempt to flex his public-policy knowledge and show Palin is not ready for prime time will inevitably cast him in the role of the bully.

Truer words could not have been said. Biden should definitely not come off as a bully and in fact, if he plays his cards right he can turn her into the over-aggressive candidate that is over compensating for not knowing anything. She is definitely believes in a non-answer to everything (as we've seen with Katie Couric) and that is a tactic that can be countered. This isn't Alaska, we are talking about the Vice-Presidency and Joe Biden can take a policy and relate it to ordinary people. Sarah Palin may not be Robert Bork, but she is certainly someone that Biden can run circles around without coming off as a policy wonk.