Filed under: Author - ACG, Politics | Tags: Democracy, Environmentalism, Gay rights
Yesterday night proved to be, simultaneously, one of the more surreal & boring nights in recent politics. Sarah Palin stood toe-to-toe with Joe Biden with a minimum of gibberish and a reasonable amount of non-sequitur answers (what more could we expect?). For some, that’s a victory. For most, it makes for TV that’s only exciting in retrospect. As a result, the real major moment of the night has been buried. Let’s dig.
About halfway through the night, the thesis & antithesis of the last eight years met, and a new American consensus emerged. Namely, if we are to take Sarah Palin at her word (a dangerous proposition), her acceptance of limited (but extensive) gay rights, and her commitment to fight climate change (even if she doesn’t know the cause) come as firm repudiations of the divisive, ignorant “values” of the Bush administration. At the very least, they count as a step backwards from the Republican strategy of using wedge issues to divide & conquer America, duping the lower classes into voting against their interest. No matter what comes of the election, last night was a victory for liberalism, and especially for some formerly “controversial” elements of the same. When even a Republican concedes that America’s gay men & women deserve some semblance of equal treatment, that’s a good day for equality, a good day for liberalism, and a good day for America.
Unless, of course, McCain/Palin win and backtrack completely on the positive elements of their campaign rhetoric while vigorously pursuing the negative elements of the same. Lucky, that’s never happened before. Right?
Filed under: Author - ACG, Politics | Tags: Joe Biden, Presidential Debates, Sarah Palin
Good for her; Sarah Palin beat the spread (she could hardly have failed to!). However, taking a novel & interesting narrative direction (for a change), the media, in their initial reactions at least, are parsing the debate into two separate questions: (1) whether Palin reclaimed her dignity and; (2) independent of the first question, whether Palin won. Preliminary punditry points to (1) yes, and (2) no. (transcript)
This approach matters for one major reason: it separates the narrative about Palin’s low expectations from the narrative about her performance. Perhaps that’s the key to busting the expectations game: talking about it ahead of time, so people start separating the two mentally. In any event, the pundits seem to be taking Palin’s mediocre performance as going to her ability to reclaim her credibility in Republican circles, and not going to her debating vís-a-vís Biden. That’s good for Democrats, and bad for Republicans.
Of the major moments, there were certainly a few. First, it’s a good day to be a gay American, when even a fundamentalist Christian from a rural community recognizes limited same-sex civil rights, though she and Biden both stopped short of affirming a right to gay marriage. Followers of this site will recall that, though I for one fervently support gay marriage and believe it to be constitutionally compelled, I would counsel any Democrat to avoid the issue, and leave it to the judiciary. Biden took that course. Good lawyer. Have a fee.
Palin attempted to drop two show-stealing lines – first, “say it ain’t so, Joe, there you go again,” in response to Joe Biden’s attempts to tie McCain to Bush; second, “I guess it’s obvious that I’m a Washington outsider,” before critiquing Biden for “voting for Iraq before he voted against it” – but both fell flat. The first was a good ploy, and the best attempt I’ve seen from a Republican to moot the Bush Issue. But, as Biden replied, “the past is prologue” – with something like 80% of Americans saying America is going in the wrong direction, and Bush’s approval ratings down to 22%, it’ll take more than “move on, buster” to drain that line of its appeal. The second failed because Biden explained the difference between his vote & his intention before Palin dropped the Kerry line. The Kerry line doesn’t work if it’s explained well first.
On the other hand, Biden had two fairly effective moments. The first, an extensive indictment of McCain’s “maverick” credentials, was well taken, strategically sound, and tactically proven (hit the opponent where he’s strong).
The second, Biden’s attempt to lay claim to women’s issues by emotionally explaining the challenges of single parenting, struck home. It’s something people will be talking about.
There were a few failings on Palin’s part, but not as bad as you’d think. First, she misstated the name of the commanding officer in Afghanistan… and Biden let it slide (good call). Then, asked what promise she might not be able to fulfill because of the financial crisis, she made the ridiculously awkward statement that, since she’d been at it for only five weeks, she hadn’t made any promises. Fail. Way to remind us of your inadequacies. And third, of course, there were the usual lies, notable among them the old discredited canard about Obama raising taxes on the $42,000 bracket.
This, of course, leads into a discussion the candidates’ general style. Palin stuck to her talking points, dodged tough questions (rewatch that debate, or look at the transcript, and see if she ever answers the questions or talking points about regulation), and hammered the far-right message (“white flag of surrender”). Without the teleprompter spelling it out phonetically this time, she pronounced “nuclear” as “nook-ya-lar,”and she remained an expert panderer, describing herself as middle class (false: she’s a millionaire) and mentioning, at different points, both “hockey moms” and a third-grade class in Alaska. On the other hand, Biden was fairly highbrow – I heard a LOT of numbers – but still remarkably effective and accessible. He stuck to the top of the ticket, and didn’t let go. He was a respectful but full-throated attack dog.
Of course, McCain’s campaign has already released Google ads calling Palin the winner, for lack of failing. That’s fine; at least they waited until the debate was over this time. But all in all, this was not a big deal. Biden is a known quantity; Palin snatched mediocrity from the jaws of defeat. At most, this moots Palin’s failures of the previous week. But that’s not enough.
