Friday, October 03, 2008

Joe vs. the Chihuahua

The VP debate was like Tom Hanks trying to mow his lawn, while his neighbor's chihuahua bites his ankle.

"Arf! Maverick! Maverick! Grr!"

He doesn't want to hurt the dog; he's just trying to mow the lawn.

"Grrr - Maverick!"

On he goes: talking about the Constitution, plans for the future, how to clean up the mess the Bush Administration is leaving.

"Arf! Maverick! Grwwwwl!"

He shakes his head. He moves on.


Biden answered all the questions. That shouldn't be remarkable; you don't go to a debate if you aren't ready to ask questions.

But Palin refused to answer the questions, and she wasn't even smooth about it. She was even proud of the fact that the mean old moderator couldn't MAKE her answer the questions. There's only two reasons why she might not have wanted answer the question: either she didn't KNOW the answer, or she was AFRAID of the answer.

Who knew that simply answering the question would become a plus for Biden?


Pundits call Joe "boring". Maybe so. In a crisis, we need a guy who remains calm, who says "Houston, we have a problem." Impulsive, entertaining people are fun at a party, but can you imagine McCain or Palin as president during the Cuban Missile Crisis?

Palin, on the other hand, was as lively as used car salesman! She had her pet phrases and repeated them over and over, filling time with winks and sarcasm. That's o.k., I guess, if you're running a frat house party or something that doesn't really matter; not so o.k. if you're running a nation. Lives are at stake, and Palin's winking.


I did, personally, enjoy it when Joe finally got tired of the "maverick" barking. When he listed the ways that McCain was the same as Bush, you could hear America cheering.

A similar thing happened when Ifill asked Palin whether the Vice Presidency was in the Executive Branch. I'm not sure whether Palin really understood the question, or just gave a stupid answer. She said was that the Vice President should have more power than even Cheney, which is not only Constitutionally wrong but politically unwise. Imagine: Palin thinks Cheney didn't have enough power; Palin wants more!

Biden, on the other hand, has actually read our Constitution and agrees with most of America that "Cheney's been the most dangerous Vice-President in our nation's history". I found it personally satisfying to see him punt the chihuahua over the fence!

1 comment:

V Cubed said...

Thank you, that was right on! Palin's winking was outrageous - was she selling lingerie or herself as VP? Is there a difference? In her mind, at least? She hit her targets: yearning older men, maybe some yearning younger ones, and the aging women who want to be as darling as her. She avoided every question that means a lot to voters. Biden rocked it.

The 70% of Undecideds who stayed that way (almost 20% moved to Obama/Biden, 10% to McCain/Palin) - what in hell are they thinking? If it's on policies, the contrast is stark. If it's on personalities, the contrast is stark. What is so hard about this decision?