Home › Blogs › Daniel Ruwe's blog ›

Palin's Big Night

Submitted by Daniel Ruwe on Thu, 10/02/2008 - 23:16
in

Crossposted at Right Minds

Whenever I watch a debate, the first thing I do when it’s over is to head off to National Review Online or Ace of Spades or Instapundit or some conservative blog, to find out who won. I can never tell—invariably, I think the candidates I like do well, and those I don’t do poorly. My opinions on these issues are never right, at least compared to the popular view.
 
So when I concluded tonight that Palin was getting absolutely crushed, I thought that was a bad sign. (Remember, the candidates I like never lose, at least in my mind). She didn’t do anything right—I thought her opening “can I call you Joe?” was overly saccharine, her responses awful and nonsensical, and her demeanor poor. Her whole bearing seemed to scream out that she wasn’t anywhere near ready for the vice presidency. I expected the blogosphere to be equally gloomy.
 
Huh? Nearly every conservative blog thought Palin won? Instapundit thought both candidates did okay, Malkin thought Palin won, Ann Althouse thought Palin won, Jim Treacher thought Palin won, and Frank Lunz’s focus group thought Palin dominated. The National Review people are in her corner too—Mark Levin, who isn’t a big McCain fan, gushed over her, Katherine Jean Lopez (not the hardest person to impress, but still) loved her, and Ramesh Ponnuru thought she did quite well.
 
Liberals thought she won too. Andrew Sullivan (who is perhaps the most crazed Obama supporter on the Internet) though Palin won. Even the Huffington Post seemed impressed—their Palin-bashing seemed listless and obligatory.
 
So I guess I was wrong—Palin won. If the conventional wisdom holds up, there will be a substantial shift in the polls towards McCain. He’ll get a bump, conservatives will be elated, and then his bounce will subside, throwing conservatives into gloom. If the pundits are right about Palin’s victory, this is good news for conservatives, and will let McCain live to fight another day.
 
I have some observations about the debate, but there seems to be little point in sharing them, given the fact that everybody seems to disagree with nearly all of them. So I’ll just give my perceptions of the people involved.
 
Sarah Palin isn’t ready for the vice presidency. In fact, judging from her performance tonight, I’m not sure she’s ready for the governorship of Alaska. Her answers were canned, empty, and often meaningless—what you would get if someone mixed up a bunch of talking points. I have absolutely no idea of why everyone thinks she won. My judgment on these matters isn’t very good—but I’ve never been this wrong before. [NOTE: As I write this, the judgments keep pouring in from the NRO people. They are unanimous in their opinion that Palin won]
 
I can’t help but like Joe Biden. His political positions, of course, are radically different from mine, he is gaffe-prone, and his command of reality is limited (although the press really hasn’t covered it, he has his own version of Hillary’s “sniper fire” story). But I do think he is an honorable man, and one who truly cares about America. Tonight, he reminded voters that John McCain’s sons are serving in Iraq—a classy move, since McCain rarely reveals that fact. Biden would be a bad vice president—but he’s a good man.
 
There was a lot of controversy about Gwen Ifill, who is writing a book about the “Age of Obama,” serving as moderator. I thought she did fine—she seemed fair, and her questions didn’t seem to favor either side.  
 
So Palin won. That’s good, I suppose, but I shudder to think of her next debate.
 

 

0
Your rating: None

Comments

McCain kicked Obama's butt last time

Submitted by Freedoms Truth on Thu, 10/02/2008 - 23:35.

And I woke up and found that Obama was 'declared' the winner. By whom I dont know but apparently because Obama was able to say things - false as they were - and not fall on his face.

The fact is that Biden did okay, and Palin did okay.

But Palin performed in a way that reminds McCain/Palin supporters of why they like the ticket, and she said a few things that should move the needle for undecideds, on energy, taxes, individual responsibility: On energy, she fully embraced the 'drill baby drill' - *correcting* Biden on what the slogan is. Palin pointed out that Obama's plan is really redistribution of wealth.

She didnt have enough detail to hit all the points the wonks would like (for example, she could have retorted to Joe Biden "yeah, you said it would take ten years to drill; well guess what, in 1998 you voted against drilling in ANWR; I think we could have used that oil right about now with it around $100/barrel.") Missed opptys like that make us wonks think "oh she didnt do well" but in fact she DID do well because she got a lot of substantive things out there. But she had some heartfelt comments too, about importance of teachers, about individual responsibility when it comes to borrowing, etc.

Biden did as well too, but that was not where the stakes were, it was on her shoulders to see if she could handle it and brush off the 'not ready' critics, and she did. So at least this should end the silly handwringing about Palin. She's an asset to the ticket.

I dont know how much rightosphere 'Palin won' stuff is cheerleading, but I suspect it is mostly genuine. 5 weeks in and up against a 36 year incumbent senator who's spend a lifetime talking, and she held her own. So on that score, she 'won', no doubt.

Biden wins

Submitted by gabriel on Fri, 10/03/2008 - 00:07.

Both CBS and CNN polls as well as focus groups agree on this.

 

Sarah did OK but it means nothing for the election.