Oct 03 2008
Dissecting the VP Debate
The mainstream media consensus on last night’s vice presidential debate is that it was a draw. Senator Joe Biden won because he actually beat most of his opponent’s arguments. Governor Sarah Palin won because she exceeded the very low expectations that had been placed on her. But voters had a different opinion. Two instant polls by CBS and CNN showed that voters declared Joe Biden the winner with about a 20 point margin over Palin. No third party VP candidates were allowed into the debate. The moderator, Gwen Ifill, who is writing a book about Black American politics, was targeted by the McCain campaign as biased before the debate. But her questions came across as fair and balanced. Topics discussed included the economy of course, but also energy policy, taxes, health care, global warming, LGBT rights, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, US policy in Iran, Pakistan, and Israel, the genocide in Darfur, and the role of the Vice President in US politics. Did the debate change the dynamics of the race between the two major party candidates? It’s hard to say just yet. Joining me to dissect some of what was said last night, are
GUESTS: Mimi Abramowitz, professor at the Hunter College School of Social Work in New York, author of “Regulating the Lives of Women: Social Welfare Policy from Colonial Times to the Present” and co-author of “Taxes Are a Women’s Issue: Reframing the Debate;” Phyllis Bennis, Director of the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, author of numerous books including her latest, Understanding the US-Iran Crisis: A Primer
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One Response to “Dissecting the VP Debate”
Joe Biden won, in my opinion, because he’s been in Washington for a long, long (and I mean LONG… very long) time. He’s had to go through with these debates and hone his fact-and-figure-hurling talents. Sarah Palin is (obviously) very new at debating, and that is somewhat apparent, but all things considered I thought she was awesome. She was very calm and collected, and she showed America who she really was (by golly, Joe!) instead of resorting to smarmy Washington double-talk. This could turn out to be a very close election. Both sides seem to have found new hope.