vice president

Promoted - Rob Willington is executive director of the Massachusetts Republican Party.

I just launched a new activist web ad to promote the phone banks for the final few weeks; spread far and wide.

I already touched on this in a comment elsewhere here, but I thought I'd throw this out to everyone.

Did Joe Biden get his facts wrong? Has anyone here done any research (my day is just beginning, so I am behind schedule here).

Immediately after the debate, Fred Thompson asserted that Joe Biden had indeed made several serious factual errors. I wonder what will become of Thompson's claims.

Here is what one blogger had to say this morning. I have not checked the blogger's own "facts," but if what the blogger says is true, then it would seem to me that there will be some significant negative fallout for Mr. Biden. In other words, perhaps Mr. Biden did not do so well at all.

Any thoughts?

Growing up, the last thing that any boy ever wanted to have happen is to compete head-to-head against a girl and lose. Despite the number of girls at my school that were exceptional athletes (one of whom was a Division I basketball player at Tulsa University), the taunts of “You got beat by a girl!” would mortify any boy on the playground. Tonight, the taunt is directed at Delaware Sen. Joe Biden.

Folks, we have a race again! It was a four-to-six point race entering tonight, but it’s going to get a little bit tighter before next debate between Arizona Sen. John McCain and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama on Tuesday night. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin took it to Biden and it was not a good night for the Obama-Biden campaign as a result. John McCain’s gamble paid off for tonight.

The girl on the playground that went head-to-head with boy was better than the Biden. Sarah-Barracuda is back and Obama should be concerned about what the fallout of this is when polling comes out on Monday.

Tonight, Joe Biden looked his age and presented himself as a cantankerous, old man. Believe me when I say that some of these people can be funny (go watch a Jeff Dunham video with his doll Walter and you’ll see why). But, Biden looked downright mean.

At this time, Biden hasn’t been called on his gaffe-proneness, but he had a moment during tonight’s debate where it reared its ugly, hair-plugged head. Palin made it a point that the Obama-Biden ticket had done nothing more than chastising the last eight years as opposed to sharing their vision for the next four years. When Biden went back to “old reliable” and attempt to tie President George W. Bush to John McCain, Palin caught him and field-dressed him in front of millions of people watching at home.

Meanwhile, Gov. Sarah Palin looked fresh, energized, and was able to lace her beauty and wit when she was critical of both Barack Obama and Joe Biden. If there is nothing else, it appears to me that the American public wants something fresh. Democrats think that Barack Obama is that embodiment while Republicans see Sarah Palin in the same respect. On this night, Palin looked fresher than Obama and many times fresher than Biden.

However, despite all of the beauty and grace that was exemplified by Governor Palin, the most surreal moment for her came when she asked moderator Gwen Ifill, “Can we talk about Afghanistan for a minute?” This was a moment where Palin wanted to talk foreign policy in a debate against a foreign policy “genius” (really a doofus, but that’s neither here nor there). She then went after Obama on accusing troops of “air raiding villages and killing civilians”. That was the game-changer of the night.

While Biden’s approach plays in the Boston-New York-Philadelphia-Washington axis as well as the in-the-tank-for-Obama media, Palin appealed to just about everyone west of the Mississippi (save California), the Midwest, and the South. In using those totals with a calculator (minus Hawaii), McCain-Palin defeats Obama-Biden 341 to 197 in the Electoral College and that doesn’t even include the 21 electoral votes in Biden’s native Pennsylvania.

It was also an amazing and surprising job done by debate moderator Gwen Ifill of the PBS show “Washington Week”. Ifill was able to stay surprisingly unbiased despite the cloud hanging over her head with her Obama book that would be a six-figure windfall for her.

All in all, Palin just made this race tighter and gives McCain an opportunity to narrow the gap further, if not close it, Tuesday night against Barack Obama at the town-hall format debate at Belmont University in Tennessee.

The long awaited vice presedential debate will be held tomorrow at 9PM EDT. It will be arguably the most important vice presidential debate ever, and most analysts predict it will be the most widely watched vice presidential debate in history. A lot rides on this debate, and there is a lot to gain for the winner, and much to lose for the winner, regardless of who emerges the victor.

On paper, this debate should belong to Joe Biden. He has much debate experience, is well versed in foreign policy, and he is a Democrat, which in this election cycle is as good as gold. Sarah Palin is much less experienced, has less debate experience, and has never had a debate on a national scale. 

Sarah Palin does have some things on her side though, she is very likeable. Although her favorable ratings have been on the decline as of late, she is still viewed more favorably than Joe Biden, and she has a way of connecting with the average voter that Joe Biden will probably never achieve.

Both Joe Biden and Sarah Palin are no doubt training very hard for this debate. Both have their strategies worked up, and we even got a pick of the Biden strategy thanks to the Politico. Basically, they are telling Biden "for the love of God, please stop the gaffes". Predictably, on the Republican side, they are working furiously to load Sarah Palin up with information, everything from Supreme Court decisions to names of foreign ministers.

That is not to say Sarah Palin is not knowledgeable on these issues, it is merely to avoid getcha questions that will inevitibly come up in the debate, just as we have seen them come up in her interviews. No one is going to question Biden's knowledge in these areas, but there will be many, especially in the media, who will be much harder on Palin than on Biden.

It also does not help that the moderator of the debate, Gwen Ifill, is totally and completely in the tank for Barack Obama. She has a financial stake in the outcome of this election. Her book, called 'The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama' is set to be released on January 20th, 2009, which is inauguration day. Obviously, that book is going to attract a lot more sales if it is Barack Obama's inauguration day, and not John McCain's.

With a biased moderator, less experience, an extremely critical media, and a formidable opponent, it seems like the fix is in, right? Wrong. Despite the way it looks, Sarah Palin should do very well in this debate. Sarah Palin is a very good debater, just look on YouTube for the 2006 Alaskan gubernatorial debates. 

Joe Biden is going to be very nice in this debate, he will address her very formally, and downplay any mistakes she makes. This is because the Obama camp knows the media will tear her apart over any mistakes, regardless of how small. Sarah Palin on the other hand, has the opportunity to be very aggressive.

For example, she could look at Joe Biden, and very personally address him, and say "Joe, both of us have kids going to Iraq to fight in this war, and who do you really trust to be at the helm, John McCain, or Barack Obama?" After all the things Joe Biden has said during the primaries, Palin could pin him down with this question. A fumble by Biden on this question would be a knockout blow.

There is a good chance however, that both candidates will be relatively cautious. This will work for Palin as well. She has lower expectations coming into the debate, and if she holds her own against Biden, it will be perceived as her win. 

On the other hand though, if she performs poorly, it could be the final blow to McCain's campaign. It is something that should not be of too much concern though, Sarah Palin will perform well, and will leave voters very impressed.

Fred Thompson points out the essential inequality in coverage of the verbal slips of each Vice Presidential candidate...

Governor Palin’s every comment was scrutinized... [...] Never mind that her counterpart, the 30-year-Washington-veteran Joe Biden, apparently is unaware that America relies upon coal for a lot of it’s electricity or that he recently referred to a top level U.S. official’s visit to Iran that never happened. That’s just Joe being Joe – protected by the sheer number of his gaffes and the fact that he is Barack Obama’s running mate.

Thompson is correct.  Unknowns are at a disadvantage, because their flaws are shiny and new - and those flaws are often their introduction to the vast majority of Americans.  But who is to blame for this? 

• The campaigns, which spend their time pushing trivia and cliches.
• The media, which spend their time covering the puerility, rather than policy.
• The public, which consistently rewards campaigns and media for this behavior.

I suspect this is a chicken/egg problem.

Sen. Thompson says Gov. Palin compares well when it comes to "courage and political will".  I think that remains to be seen, as both Rob Bluey and I have discussed in the past.  I hope she will demonstrate a national governing philosophy and priorities that justify his estimation.  I'm afraid we haven't seen that, yet.  

As long as Sarah Palin remains a largely unknown political quantity, she will be unable to rise above the trivialities on which the media, the campaigns and the public will focus.  Sarah Palin (and the McCain campaign) can change that, but it will require a bold campaign of self-definition - a core issue (ethics, rather than energy, I suspect) and a substantial, sophisticated, yet clear, reform agenda.

The polls are trending towards Obama, the battleground states are starting to settle in his favor, and a growing number of pundits are predicting an Obama win. John McCain's prospects look grim. While he performed strong in the first debate, he just can not seem convince voters he is their man when it comes to the economy. 

Obama is now ahead in voter trust when it comes to the economy, and with the economy front and center at the moment, and likely for the rest of the campaign, he will likely remain ahead in the polls until election day. Holding the margins he does now, it would be an Obama landslide, with 300+ electoral votes in his column.

All is not lost for McCain though, he still has a crack at this thing. His campaign needs to switch gears though, and do it quickly. First, Sarah Palin must perform exceedingly well at the Vice Presidential debate on Thursday. Sarah Palin is very likeable and viewed favorably by voters, a gaffe free and positive debate will go a long way in reviving McCain's stumbling campaign. 

The second thing he needs to do is own this issue of the bailout. He should immediately begin criticising the taxpayer bailout, and while he is at it, he should also criticize president Bush, as it is his plan. McCain can make this issue work for him, he should emphasize how he supports loans and insurance for the companies, and not a blank check.

McCain also needs to sell this bill differently. He should begin emphasizing that this bill bails out Main Street, not Wall Street. This is because many of those small businesses on Main Street, are barrowing money from those banks on Wall Street so they can make payroll, and fund their day to day operations. 

Only 30% of Americans support the bailout, if McCain can show voters his vision for the bill, and prove to them that action is absolutely necessary, then he can make this bill more popular. He can then take a large chunk of due credit, and restore voter faith in his ability to run the economy. He better hurry though, only 35 days left.

Not even Nostradamus could have predicted that in 2008 the one woman on a major party presidential ticket would be a Republican, or Governor of Alaska, or mother of five, or a moose hunter.  Yet, today, we have all four in Sarah Palin.

Any betting American would have predicted Hillary Clinton as the “feminist” role model of the year.  Hillary Clinton, a product of the feminism of the 60s and 70s, where “femininity” meant weak and “motherly” a flaw.

Sarah Palin, the Republican Party’s new favorite daughter, is of the new breed of feminists, those who believe women have crucial roles as wife, mother, and nurturer, and because of that -- not in spite of it -- they can be powerful, and effective executives. (Note: The lipstick line) 

Last night, Palin gave the speech she needed to give and so much more.  She demonstrated why she was a superior choice for McCain vs. the other so-called "short list" VP picks. Not only is she smart, tough, articulate, and dynamic, but also feminine, compassionate, and real.
Some critics thus far have focused on the fact that she defied expectations because the bar was so low. Hogwash!

I ask them to watch or listen to Sarah Palin again. Her convention address would be considered enormous, even superior, by any standard. That she's a woman, a mom, from provincial Alaska, and was elevated to national player status less than a week ago, all make her showing on the campaign trail thus far all that more impressive.

The bar is now set so high that Palin faces an incredible challenge for the remainder of the campaign and her career: continue meeting the elevated expectations.

Yet, I’m confident Palin will do just fine.  As long as she holds on tight to her integrity – staying true to her values, her personality, her womanhood … as long as she emphasizes her strengths while acknowledging her weaknesses. 

In the primaries, American voters rejected candidates who appeared to “play” leader, rather than act like one -- hiding their true selves and letting the media bait them into running from their supposed flaws.

Palin brings the authenticity to politics that Americans demand more so in a YouTube, people-powered media environment, where everyone is the media and regular people become celebrities in an instant.

Almost every child dreams of being a star at some point, and the Internet makes that possible for more of us.  If you have what it takes, you don’t need to be part of an elite club or have required connections.  Be confident, set goals, reach your potential, stay true to yourself, take care of your community and there’s no limit to what you can do.  Read: Vice President, United States, Alaska Governor, Mom.     

Sarah Palin.  A new hero for women, and men, across America.

If the Obama camp tries to paint Sarah Palin as some right winger from the wilderness, they may find that dog won;t hunt. Here's the initial reaction from some of the more liberal elements of the GOP

Newark Star-Lender

Jersey's GOP leaders surprised but delighted by Sarah Palin

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/08/jersey_republicans_say_mccain.html

Rhode Island NPR

It's about time!" That's the reaction of one Rhode Island Republican to Senator John McCain's choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running mate.

http://www.wrni.org/content/rhode-island-gop-delegate-reacts-vp-pick

Hartford Courant

http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-palinreax0830.artaug30,0,5378822.story

The most recent Gallup tracking poll grants Obama a 55-38 advantage with voters in the 18-29 bracket, but that numerical disparity ignores the cultural, cultish following and outpouring of enthusiasm -- we all know Obama has triggered something in this younger generation, particularly for far left liberals. Palin might change the statistics, she might not -- but what she's already done is fired young conservatives the hell up about this election. Here's a sample of Facebook today:

That's majorly different than usual. Two liberal friends this afternoon volunteered that they would probably be giving McCain another look for this choice. Over at Right-Wing Vitriol, we've been proponents of Palin since March, but we were all legitimately excited about this pick. Only Bobby Jindal or Sarah Palin could have created a swelling of young support like this, and only McCain would ever pull the trigger on this one.

Not just the youth either. This afternoon, my grandmother, an avid NPR listener who remains a registered Democrat in Florida (because in the early 1950s in still Old South Florida, nobody was a Republican) wrote a check for the max to the McCain campaign. Per descriptions by my mother, grandpa, and herself, she has never been this excited about politics. Her younger sister, a Bush Pioneer in 2004, had reneged on her vow not to bundle this election cycle. McCain raised $3 million today. This is what can happen.

This can't be only framed as a play for independent voters -- it's a call to the faithful to energize and turn out.

Katherine Miller blogs daily at Right-Wing Vitriol.

You knew it was coming.

“Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency.

-Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton

and

Unlike Barack Obama, whom McCain has so emphatically condemned as not-ready, Palin hasn’t run for or served in the Senate. Nor has she run for president, which would have required her to think through and take positions on critical issues from the war in Iraq to the war on terror, from Iran’s nuclear ambitions to the Russian incursion into Georgia, from the emerging power of China to the march of globalization. She hasn’t debated tough opponents a dozen or so times or faced aggressive, often downright hostile reporters on a daily basis. Talk about untested. Her slim record undermines one of McCain’s most effective arguments against Obama.

-Fmr. Clinton WH Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers

Left-leaning observers have noted that with John McCain's choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, all arguments about Barack Obama's experience are off the table. It is true that Senator McCain's age (72 today) heightens the importance of who he chooses as his vice president. He has acknowledged this point, and while it may be an unfair criticism, it is one that will linger in the minds of many voters.

Last week, Obama's choice of Joe Biden as his running mate led many to believe that this was a governing decision rather than a political one; that voters could take comfort in knowing that the freshman senator from Illinois would have an experienced statesman in the White House guiding his hand on international affairs.

Sarah Palin has run a city and a state, whereas both Democrats on the ticket have run only their Senate offices (unless you also count Obama's presidency of the Harvard Law Review). However, let's assume that Obama and Palin have equally negligible experience, specifically on foreign policy and homeland security. A vote for McCain may mean that Sarah Palin never takes office, but a vote for the similarly fresh Obama puts him directly in the role of commander in chief.

In the event that Palin does need replace John McCain in the role of commander-in-chief, who is to say that she cannot make the same decision as Obama did on the campaign trail and tap a senator or diplomat with years of foreign policy experience as her vice president? If we are to believe that Joe Biden covers Barack Obama's dearth of foreign relations experience, it stands to reason that a newly minted President Palin could pick the likes of Dick Lugar, Condoleezza Rice,  or John Bolton to serve alongside her.

Furthermore, the Republicans cannot afford to undersell the executive experience Sarah Palin brings as one of America's fifty state governors. As Mike Huckabee put it in the January 30th primary debate in Simi Valley, California:

There's something a lot of people don't think about. When you're a governor, you actually manage a microcosm of the federal government. Every agency that you have at the federal level, you have at the state level. You are familiar with the whole game board. You understand what those agencies do, because you interrelate with them as a governor every single day.

-Fmr. Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee
 

This is something that Sarah Palin has undoubtedly learned very well, even in her short tenure in Juneau. It is a point she can raise in the upcoming debate against Joe Biden, who has never held state, local, or executive office. And when she does, her base of knowledge might surprise a lot of the people who have made cynical observations about what they perceive as an experience gap.