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Sarah Palin and Joe Biden shaking hands after Friday's vice-presidential debate (AP)
Last update - 22:12 04/10/2008
VP debate / Palin beats the odds, fails to be field dressed by Biden
By Benjamin L. Hartman
Tags: Joe Biden, Sarah Palin 

For those expecting to see Senator Joe Biden field dress McCain's VP pick on the Washington University stage based on her less than lackluster performances before the national media, there was no train wreck in St. Louis, though that could be because her only appearances before the mainstream media in the past weeks had set the bar for her debate performance so low that she could have jumped it with a snowmobile.

Against all odds, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska put on a performance at the debate that made her interviews with Charlie Gibson
a
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nd Katie Couric and the Tina Fey videos
now making the rounds on YouTube pale by comparison.

The governor had a rough couple of weeks before the debate, becoming a late night punch line and having to see even stalwart conservatives like Kathleen Parker and George Will
questioning her place on the presidential ticket. Her case for being ready at day one to serve if something were to happen to John McCain was also not helped by the release last week of a new YouTube classic video of her "Bristol Baywatch" one-piece swimsuit competition from the early 80s Miss Alaska beauty pageant in which she won Miss Congeniality. Adding insult to injury for Palin was the release of her Jethro Tull-meets-Northern Exposure flute-playing performance from the talent portion of the same pageant.

From the beginning it was almost a lock that Biden should win, but in a sense couldn't. He obviously knew the issues better, but as anyone who has followed presidential elections would know, knowledge of the issues is almost worthless, eclipsed entirely by a candidates ability to speak to "Main Street", a nebulous locale which was mentioned repeatedly Thursday, first by Biden within his two minute opening remarks.

Palin faced what seemed to be the crashing back end of a soaring rise to fame since she was tapped for the VP spot, a star turn that gave the McCain a serious bump only to have her become a liability the more people actually got to see her and hear her speak.

Palin had spent much of the week before the debate in red-rock isolation at McCain's Arizona ranch being coached by the campaign
, presumably learning the differences between Sunnis and Shi'ites, Slovakia and Slovenia, and Hamas and hummus. She stated in the days before the campaign that the media had been "censoring" her, and she expressed her desire to speak to the American people, a humorous contention if you consider the way she was lampooned for her few performances before the national media and the fact that the McCain campaign has not let her come within a country mile of a press conference since she was named as his VP pick.

In retrospect, the Palin strategy was easy, she didn't have to prove she knew as much as Biden and any attempt to do so would have been a failure. Staring straight at the camera like a moose in the headlights wearing a jet-black post-Goth top and skirt, she stuck to general statements such as saying on the issue of the economy that if you want to know if it's a good time or a bad time in America, go to a kid's soccer game on a Saturday and listen to the fear in peoples' voices. Basically, she kept things simple and tried to show that she understands the concerns of soccer moms, even if they have been usurped in this election by the sudden rise of hockey moms.

Palin was probably further helped by dolling out a healthy portion of "aw shucks" down home corn pone, using phrases such as "darn right" and "dog gonnit" with aplomb.

Biden seemed to hold back, repeatedly cracking a broad, impossibly white-toothed smile in response to Palin's statements and shying away from the intense, loquacious, and often hot-headed speaking style he has become known for. He also made a point of clearly repeating specific contentions on policy, including McCain's voting against funding for troops that included a timeline from withdrawal from Iraq. He also surely scored some sympathetic points with viewers for his comments on the loss of his wife and year-old daughter in a tragic car accident shortly before he first entered public office.

Biden gave a nuanced response to how the United States should handle a nuclear Iran, saying that while we should not let them get nuclear weapons, such weapons are years off, and stressing that Ahmadinejad is not the supreme leader of Iran. To his credit, he didn't try to distance himself from claims that Obama would sit down for talks with Iran with no preconditions saying that our friends and allies "have been saying, talk, talk, talk."

Palin for her part again tied instability in the Middle East to the war in Iraq, and said there is no way Iran can have no nukes period, sighting Ahmadinejad's statements calling Israel a "stinking corpse". She almost managed a very adept pronunciation of "naivete." She also said she believes that a two-state solution is the key to a political solution between the Israelis and the Palestinians, and after Biden gave a spirited response about his support for the state of Israel, she expressed her joy that "we both love Israel," to which the Jewish state rejoiced.

In what was easily the most talked-about Vice Presidential debate of all time, one for which over 3,100 press credentials were issued, the maligned Alaska governor showed her ability to use "aw shucks" plain talk and an accent straight out of Fargo to make up for a glaring lack of foreign policy and legislative experience, showing again that in American elections, style and low expectations can make up for any shortage of substance.

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      1.   JOE SIXPACK AS PRESIDENT 17:44  |  C A Wren 04/10/08
      2.   Not "field dressed" but quite "well dressed"..... 17:55  |  Swiss (Dino) 04/10/08
      3.   Hey I Think She Impressed Women! 17:56  |  Yosemite 04/10/08
      4.   Benjamin L. Hartman, Snow Mobile 17:56  |  John 04/10/08
      5.   The next VP of the United States of America. 18:11  |  Pastor Joseph 04/10/08
      6.   No substance 18:26  |  Baz Mann 04/10/08
      7.   Where is the beef? 18:26  |  Shimon Cleopas 04/10/08
      8.   Well trained 18:28  |  Mark Lincoln 04/10/08
      9.   Some misconceptions in US, Europe and Israel 19:38  |  Rodner 04/10/08
      10.   Palin 19:56  |  American 04/10/08
      11.   Disgusting twit 19:57  |  W 04/10/08
      12.   This debate was boring 20:17  |  Mark B. 04/10/08
      13.   The author and #1 are clearly both idiots 20:25  |  Ken 04/10/08
      14.   Subjective Judgment 20:40  |  guy 04/10/08
      15.   Not My Wife, Yosemite 20:57  |  Mark of Lewiston 04/10/08
      16.   The next Vice-President Sarah `Princess` Palin 21:03  |  Pastor Joseph 04/10/08
      17.   #10 mark b boring...The debate could only be 21:18  |  Pastor Joseph 04/10/08
      18.   W 21:21  |  Connie 04/10/08
      19.   I still can`t get over that VOICE 21:21  |  Clickfool 04/10/08
      20.   Failing to Self-Destruct 21:28  |  Mark of Lewiston 04/10/08
      21.   Another non-biased article by Haaretz 21:48  |  Stacy 04/10/08
      22.   To #2-Not this woman 21:50  |  Aphemia 04/10/08
      23.   For "Pastor" Joseph #14 21:58  |  Clickfool 04/10/08
      24.   For Connie # 16 22:06  |  Clickfool 04/10/08
      25.   Given that the next four years will be a disaster for America 22:10  |  Clickfool 04/10/08
      26.   Palin`s winking and cheesy clicking 22:14  |  Clickfool 04/10/08
      27.   Re Rita #9... ah well... 22:49  |  Esther 04/10/08
      28.   YouTube shows lots of Obama guffs too, Just look at 23:25  |  I 04/10/08
      29.   clickfool 23:37  |  Connie 04/10/08
      30.   RE: Yosemite 23:41  |  thundercloud65 04/10/08
      31.   #20 clickFOOL maybe you and your cohorts 23:50  |  Pastor Joseph 04/10/08
      32.   Hartman article on Sarah Palin 00:04  |  Selig Freedman 05/10/08
      33.   #22 boris the clucking fool on the usa problems 00:26  |  v.hardman 05/10/08
      34.   Clickfool, son of a tank repair man 00:50  |  John 05/10/08
      35.   And What About Those Israeli Debates??!!!! 00:54  |  b`galil 05/10/08
      36.   #28 John....Yea clickyFOOL...come home 01:46  |  Pastor Joseph 05/10/08
      37.   Palin is an embarrasement 01:51  |  marc 05/10/08
      38.   Palin`s debating style? 01:59  |  KT 05/10/08
      39.   Palin`s excellent Vice-Presidential debate. 01:24  |  EGW 05/10/08
      40.   Benjamin Hartman can go to hell. 01:59  |  FulghumInk 05/10/08
      41.   WY SARAH PALIN WON THE DEBATE 02:10  |  Barry S. Roffman 05/10/08
      42.   #21 Clicky....she knows energy deals 02:11  |  Lynn 05/10/08
      43.   #22 Clicky .........Obama is already tainted 02:13  |  Lynn 05/10/08
      44.   #2 Yosemite 03:41  |  hala 05/10/08
      45.   Palin did very well for Palin,but Biden did very well for Obama 03:59  |  Maria 05/10/08
      46.   If we`re really based the debate on questions, Palin would flunk. 04:05  |  Maria 05/10/08
      47.   All republicans here, I`m republican myself, let`s be honest. 04:08  |  MMM 05/10/08
      48.   Biden vs. Palin: the triomf of substance over presentation 04:08  |  Ben Alofs 05/10/08
      49.   For rent 04:18  |  Baz Mann 05/10/08
      50.   Clickfool#21 04:27  |  Mickey 05/10/08
      51.   Clickfool #23 04:31  |  Mickey 05/10/08
      52.   #2 Yosemite. Wrong, gawd dammit! 04:53  |  Maureen Ann 05/10/08
      53.   #15 Pastor Joseph, if boring you makes you pick me out 05:48  |  Mark B. 05/10/08
      54.   a totally disgusting campaign 05:53  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 05/10/08
      55.   # 28 Hello John, of Toronto. How`s the plagiarizing, up there in? 08:46  |  Maureen Ann 05/10/08
      56.   None of the candidates inspires any hope 08:52  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 05/10/08
      57.   For John, a Canadian idiot # 30 09:49  |  Clickfool 05/10/08
      58.   For Maria # 45 12:25  |  Clickfool 05/10/08
      59.   Sarah "Nucular" Palin Beats the Odds!!! 12:42  |  Leeza Cohen Coleman 05/10/08
      60.   Sarah "Nucular" Palin Beats the Odds!!! - the Saga Continues 13:03  |  Leeza Cohen Coleman 05/10/08
      61.