VP debate odds.......Follow

Interesting little piece on NY Times website around Biden/Palin debating styles and perhaps a small glimpse ahead to Thursday.

http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=ebfac2eaf3489d19fc07c79758598d8b02b3dcbb

I can only hope the latter, but...

I think you give him too much credit.

yeehaw

Then it shouldn't be hard to produce evidence of this "fact". Cite, please, numbnuts.

And while you're at it provide us with some evidence you have a IQ higher than a root vegetable.

Edited, Oct 1st 2008 5:31pm by tarv

I'm sure if Virus's wife ( yeah right) was told in her trimester that she had 4 hours to live unless they aborted the baby, who would almost certainly die anyway, he too would support the abortion.

To rewind the tape just a little bit, McCain said that he trusts that the "very respected" Ifill will do a "professional job".

Lol... I suppose the hack of her email account right after she insisted that there was nothing in those emails relating to troopergate was just a coincidence?



Even beyond that though, the very question was belittling. The implication given by even asking it was that Palin's only source of knowledge was reading magazines. If Palin had answered, the entire issue would have turned to what she learned by reading magazines (again with the assumption that that's all she knows). Exactly as her statement about being able to see Russia from Alaska has magically meant that this is all she knows about Russia.

It's belittling because the very fact that you ask the question means you assume the person you're talking too isn't very knowledgeable on whatever topic you're discussing. It's the interview equivalent to "have you stopped beating your wife". If you don't list what magazines you've read, you're painted as dumb because you don't know what you read. If you do, the entire context of your knowledge is assumed to be based on reading magazines (with a ton of spin potential that can lead from there).


Her biggest problem so far in these interviews hasn't been identifying those sorts of questions, but correctly attacking the interviewer back on them. She's avoiding the trap questions, but she's getting so many of them that they end up still dominating the coverage. What she should have said was that magazine articles are not the extent of her understanding of foreign policy.


Just to be specific, here's the question she was asked:




Do you see how this is a "complex question"? By answering it, she's accepting the premise in the question that reading magazines is what has "established her worldview". That's the real trap. There's no correct answer except to turn it around. Unfortunately, she recognized the trap and refused to fall into it, but didn't successfully turn it around. The correct answer is to say that your worldview isn't formed just by reading magazines (and newspapers).


I'll also point out that there was an implied assumption in there as well that since Alaska is "remote" that this somehow means that Palin doesn't have access to the same information that others do. Can you imagine any interviewer ever asking someone from the Beltway this question? Why not? In what way does being from Alaska automatically mean that you are less informed then someone from say Virginia or Massachusetts?


To her credit, Palin did actually address this, just not forcefully enough IMO:




She's correctly responding to the real question which is "How can you know anything important if you live waaaaaay over there in Alaska". She's not polished enough to do this without fumbling a bit, but her responses did show she's savvy enough to know when she's being cornered with a question and not fall into it blindly.

Edited, Oct 1st 2008 5:56pm by gbaji

A laughingstock with lipstick!

If I could have, I would have JUST hperlinked the video. But oh well.



She'll understand these things eventually, but most candidates figure these things out before they're candidates, dontcha know?