Official Vice-Presidential Debate Commentary and Analysis Thread

[Dan the Roman]

Palin seems a bit nervous, and hence is speaking too quickly. Its distracting from what she is saying.

Is she even pausing to breath?

[Dan the Roman]

"I may not answer the questions the way you or the moderator want" and she is going to call Obama a demagogue!

Anyway, solid evidence of over-coaching. She was clearly giving canned responses which don't fit, she is smart enough to know they don't fit, but she has had it drilled in so much that she needs to use them that she is doing the worst of both worlds; giving us pre-written responses but doing it in stale manner.

[Dan the Roman]

Biden is getting annoyed. He is on the verge of entering patronizing territory. His last response was unnecessarily abrasive, especially the ending.

Palin though looks like she is on anti-depressants.

[Dan the Roman]

Biden just flashed a really big smile that I thought was unfortunate. This is a race between Palin looking like self-parody and Biden starting to seriously look patronizing.

[Dan the Roman]

Roomful of rowdy Democrats, here, but I do get the idea that Palin is doing well but Biden is landing the best tactical blows.

Fair summary?

Definition of doing well. As someone who does competitive debate she is doing a good job holding her own in the conversation. I'm not sure though if thats what she is trying to do here. She dosen't need to prove that she can be argumentative, which no one has challenged, but that she is not uninformed. In that sense, I think that her tactically skillful dodging don't really help her. She needs to actually answer questions. She looks combative, but Biden looks Presidential.

Also I think the Tina Fey thing has done damage by making fun of her vague responses, and such her responses here, which would have worked fine two weeks ago, have a touch of self-parody today.

[Dan the Roman]

She seems fairly competent to me. I mean, I'm no longer as scared about her being VP. Even though she's not directly answering the questions that well, she is certainly doing better than the couric interview.

She also doesn't have any follow-up questions here. These sorts of responses can be scripted.

[Dan the Roman]

The power and prestige of the Presidency should never be made available to foreign tyrants for them to use as a football.

Precisely my reason for opposing Mitt Romney's ascension to that office.

[Dan the Roman]

Dogginit?

[Dan the Roman]

Biden on a role now on the maverick thing.

[Dan the Roman]

Palin is whining that Lyda Green won't let her have undisputed control of the Alaska state budget.

[Dan the Roman]

I still don't know what debates demonstrate about qualifications. I was on the College circuit for four years, and none of those people are qualified to be Vice President, but a good number would have performed better than any of the candidates this year.