Ok I am starting to get scared that Joe will lose his mind tonight.

[Egnever]

Joe takes his job pretty seriously. I am worried that there will come a point tonight where sarah will say something so ignorant and wrong headed that Joe will lose it and confront her directly.

At this point I think its been pretty well established that this woman is expected to get trounced tonight. To the point that I think people really wont be watching her but watching and listening to Joe to see if they can accept him as their VP. If he snaps and ridicules her I think it will hurt no matter how right he is.

[1corona4u]

1. Joe is not tempermental....he's passionate....a bit different.

[Blue Meany]

20. Her appeal is to the ignorant, his is not...

People support her because she's not any smarter than them; Biden is not going to win over people like that. But he has stronger working-class ties than she does, and I hope he brings those out in the debate.

We can count on her having a few sarcastic "zingers" that can be used in sound bites and ads, but he should have a supply of those too, given her record. I hope he can weave something in about the rate of sexual violence in AK, her charging rape victims for rape kits, and the his sponsorship of the law that would have provided federal money for such kits (and McCain's opposition to this bill). A quip like "why are you and John always on the side of rapists rather than rape vicitms?" might make the point nicely.

[1corona4u]

28. Yes, and one thing people need to keep in mind...

Joe didn't start 'practicing' last week for the debate, he's been 'practicing' since 1972.

[KSDiva]

34. Beautiful

We can only hope your idea above is used. Joe are you here!? LOL

[DeschutesRiver]

31. Totally agree - a way different attitude than the tempermentalness of McCain

I have confidence he can do what he knows he needs to do in the 90 minutes alloted. I am also not concerned about all the buzz of "what if he is accused of SEXISM???". John McCain hates women, and sees them as objects - can't believe how the geezer treats Sarah Palin and appears to get by with it. I read that rolling stones article; and this is how McCain has been his entire life, ie, a big fat sexist pig of the worst kind in that he tries to hide it when convenient. But the pattern is one of using women as objects.

Joe Biden is about as far from that misogynistic old McCain camp as you could possibly be. There is always the possibly of a gaffe with Biden, but even if he does throw a gaffe? He is still Joe Biden, yeah, the gaffe prone guy, but a much more known and steady quantity.

If Sarah gaffes? Who the hell is Sarah Palin - nobody knows still because she has been willingly sequestered from scrutiny and real questins. Someone who has been defined by nothing but gaffes. In her case, any gaffes she makes will cement her reputation as an all around idiot who isn't qualified for the job for which she is running.

Her and Biden, with regard to gaffes and scarcasm, are coming from two different places.

[daninthemoon]

2. Tomorrow's talking points for the rethugs are already mostly

written: "biden was mean when..." It doesn't matter what he says, they are going to say he was mean and condescending. I say: go for it, Joe. It doesn't matter if you cover her with praise or damnation, the story tomorrow will be the same. Speak the brutal truth no matter what.

[leftynyc]

32. My dad says the same

Me and mom were arguing with him about it on the phone this morning. His attitude is they're going to try and screw him over no matter what actually happens so he may as well wipe the floor with her. Mom and I see that as a tried and true way to piss off women. While I understand your argument and you may be right, the safer way would be just to "out-knowledge" her.

[TwilightGardener]

3. I worry about that, and I worry about gotcha questions for Joe--

all Princess Caribou needs to win the debate is for the old guy to make a mistake. I hope Joe can answer why Obama should be President, I hope he can name Obama's legislative and career accomplishments, and I hope he can explain away the times he differed with Obama on coal, the computer ad, the experience issue, etc. That's what I'm most concerned about. The dynamics between the VP's might be good for a point of two in the polls either way, but if Joe says something that actually hurts OBAMA, it will be much more damaging.

[1corona4u]

7. Well, I'm sure Joe can answer all of that, and more....

And, by the way, Joe does not differ from Obama on the coal thing, and his comment as far as the ad goes, they don't have to agree on everything. They are not suppose to be clones. Biden will not say something that will hurt Obama.

Actually, I'm kind of surprised at your 'worries".

Oh, and I truly resent this;

"the old guy to make a mistake".

[leftofcool]

9. or if he talks about being "shot down" in Afghanistan

the military is already all over this one.

[TwilightGardener]

16. Yeah, he said his helicopter was "forced down", but neglected to say

it was because of bad weather--I hope he hasn't fallen into the habit of exaggerating this to make a good story. Kerry and Hagel were with him, both of them shrugged it off as no big deal and haven't mentioned it since--so Joe should follow their lead.

[1corona4u]

18. Look, we all know you don't like Joe, so spare us the bullshit.

Joe just said it off the cuff, and everyone jumped on it, as they do with everything he says.

[TwilightGardener]

27. It doesn't matter whether I like him or not--and I have mixed feelings about him, for the

record. I think he's a good and decent man and Senator, but he wasn't my first pick for VP--I'm OK with it now, he's been doing pretty well overall. That said, I have every right to express where I have areas of concern and anxiety about his debate performance. I understand that you were a big Biden supporter in the primaries and thus feel defensive for him, but there's no need to defend him, because I'm not attacking him--I'm simply analyzing the potential pitfalls.

[1corona4u]

30. Fine, but I think you are worried about nothing.

As I said up thread, Joe didn't start 'practicing' for the debate last week, he's been 'practicing' since 1972. He didn't screw up in any of the primary debates, and in fact, may have even gotten more supporters because of his debating skills. Joe will stick to the facts, and issues.

[TwilightGardener]

33. OK. As I said, I'm more worried about a gotcha question involving

Obama's record or experience (which was already a problem for Palin RE McLoser's record) than anything having to do with policy or his treatment of Palin.

[1corona4u]

36. I bet Joe knows Obama's record, and positions, inside out.

;-)

[medicswife]

21. He never said that they were "shot down". He said that their

helicopter was "forced down". He never implied it was by terrorists, just that the area where the chopper was forced down is the area where they are hiding out. That it is dangerous terrain.

[Jennicut]

38. Yeah, this is ridiculous. He never ever said it was "shot down."

The gotcha media was just looking for an excuse to attack him as she has been such a nitwit in interviews lately they feel they have to make up for it by being "balanced" and "fair". I have seen lots of debates with Joe, he is smart and sometimes very funny but never mean or condescending. I think he will attack McTroll but be polite about it.

[Mira]

12. Don't you worry about Joe Biden. He'll come through with flying colors

(not pig colored or lipsticked, either)

[karynnj]

44. Well, he certainly knows one of Obama's 2 most significant points

of legislation - the Obama/Lugar extention of Nunn/Lugar that is about nonproliferation and removing some of the nukes out there - it was out of the SFRC. (He also has blasted the RW (formerly HRC) talking point about no Afghanistan talks in the Europe sub-committee - they were in teh full committee.

[LibraLiz1973]

4. Joe is very knowledgeable and passionate about our country

Sarah Palin is an idiot who has no clue.
He's no idiot- they have been prepping him. Don't worry!

[renie408]

5. What's going to make him lose his mind is being stuck between

wanting to do his job and not wanting to be seen as attacking her or being condescending or blah blah blah. I can't figure out how he can open his mouth and win this thing.

[firedupdem]

6. She deserves to be ridiculed. The job she is attempting to have

is very serious and they are making a mockery of it. If he yells at her and chases her off the stage I would still be proud of Joe. She is a freaking joke!

[ecstatic]

24. Yeah. I would forgive him and just hope the fallout (if any) blew over before

election day. Who knows? After the Gibson/Couric interviews, Americans might be hoping for the knockout punch to come soon.

[Overseas]

8. Palin will do much better than expected. That's the plan.

Her Alaska gubernatorial debates shown on CSpan some weeks ago were rather smooth. She lied like a true Republican, able to shuffle in meaningless phrases when she didn't know an answer.

Joe has probably been rehearsed with the stand in saying ignorant stuff so he won't roll his eyes too much because the Republican owned corporate media will be using whatever it can to slam him, as it did with Al Gore.

[vaberella]

26. I'm tired of people saying her "guber" debates were good.

They weren't smooth nor were they good. Compare her to Halco. That should say it all. He was on point talking about substance abuse and domestic abuse and rape. She was talking about building up the caribou population for hunters. Do you see the difference?

There was absolutely nothing of substance in her message. She supports the right to privacy but will force her daughter to carry the baby of her damn rapist. This is not a person who had a great run. If you weren't paying attention then you gave her a lot of credit.

And Alaskans that voted for her were probably dazed by the red jacket, but Halco was talking the truth. She was being round about and had nothing of value to say. Absolutely nothing. If you bring the same bullshit she said to the national play ground and put her against a figure like Biden who is fairly well known----> She stands no chance.

She's a woman who got a D in economics, what can she debate on economics...shoring up the economy was her talking point. Let's be serious about this woman. She's not good and never was in her "guber" race. She was crap.

It won't work on a people who are facing an economy down turn for many voters. Substance than fluff will matter.

[Overseas]

39. But while she was spouting drivel she wasn't nearly as incoherent

as she has been in those recent interviews. Seeing those, people expect her to be full of pauses and gee golly I'll get back to ya. The bar has been lowered too far.

She didn't do that in the gubers. She made sentences with words in the proper order. Filled with right wing ridiculous garbage, but not incoherent. She seemed like a lightweight compared to the Democrats but she wasn't as foolish as she was with Katie.

While I watched those tapes I definitely thought I'd vote for her opponent, but she talked like those other lying Republicans. Lied with a straight face and all sentence parts in order.

She threw in the topics designed to ignite her base-- the hunting stuff. That's typical Republican crap she will do again. She'll toss in the gun stuff this time. And some God stuff for sure.

That's all we're saying about those gubernatorial debates. She made full sentences. Her opponents sounded much smarter than she did but she rolled out some paragraphs, so she can indeed do that.

But the bar has been lowered so much that people don't realize she can do the standard lazy Republican drivel and she can. That's all we're saying.

[Solomon]

10. It's a trap!

[Erin Elizabeth]

11. Concern.

It's concerning.


I'm not worried about that. Joe will do just fine. Great, even. Don't worry about it, pop some popcorn. (Not now, it'd be stale by then. Pop it later.)

[blogslut]

13. He's going to have to hold back a lot

She's going to say some pretty snide things tonight. I'm pretty sure that's the only way she knows how to defend herself.

[npincus]

14. debate rules- don't think they are allowed to confront each other

they have a couple of minutes to say thier schpiel and that's that.

Don't worry.

[AspenRose]

15. Fear not

[Blue_Roses]

17. I'm nervous too...

I need to take a break I guess until it's time:D

[eissa]

25. Me too

for the reasons mentioned before. Expectations for Failin can't be any lower which all work in her favor. If she's able to stick to her talking points and Joe makes even one little gaffe, we all know how that will be spun.

[AndyA]

19. I keep thinking that Joe should just IGNORE PALIN.

She's a nit wit, all of America knows that.

I think he should attack McSame, the GOP, their policies, etc., but just more or less ignore Palin.

Yes, he should be polite (but firm) with her, so he doesn't appear to be condescending, he should engage her when necessary, but the big attacks should be directed at McSame, which would tend to make Palin even more irrelevant than she already is.

It just seems to me this would be a good approach. Give Palin enough rope so she can hang herself. Biden doesn't really need to do anything. :shrug:

[NotThisTime]

40. This is EXACTLY what I'm thinking.... be sure to look at her occasionally though

[Ichingcarpenter]

22. I thought you meant this JOE

[ecstatic]

23. this is so frustrating. Joe should be able to be expose

her as the incompetent hack she is. Why are Americans so stupid and sexist?

[Bake]

29. Hell, I hope he DOES confront her directly!

Somebody's got to do it! I hope he does (but in a gentlemanly fashion).

Bake

[AlCzervik]

35. He just needs to attack McCain and marginalize her as much as possible, not in

a mean way of course and Biden isn't mean, he's a gentlemen to the core so i expect that's what you all will see tonight, McCain being attacked and Palin sent to the children's table.

[Lucky 13]

37. He'll be on his best behavior.

The man has the substance down. Instead of spending time cramming him with facts they've been hammering the do's and don'ts. He's gonna do great.

[northernlights]

41. While Palin has been trying to cram

easy soundbites on 200 years of history, plus world politics, plus how to pronounce names, plus global economics, plus health care, plus Iraq, plus Afghanistan, and so on, Biden has doubtless been watching her earlier debates AND her recent interviews.

Doubtless he has a general strategy, and doubtless he's gifted and experienced enough to be able to change tactics as needed.

Doubtless he has some idea of where rethugs pre-packaged attacks will come from and has a defense readied. Much as his brilliant answer of "Yes." undercut the "loves to hear himself talk" crowd.

Frankly, I think less hinges on his performance than Gwen Ifills. I've been disappointed in her as an interviewer in the past. Talk about easy, softball questions that anyone with half a brain can answer.

Hopefully she will ask questions that require some actual knowledge and thoughtfulness, instead of soundbites you can cram off of headlines.

[rvablue]

42. From the looks of this post, I'm scared you've already lost your's n/t

[Egnever]

45. Could be

[karynnj]

43. You forget that he has to deal with Senators Inhofe, Cochran, Coburn, and Sessions

to mention just 4. He also had Allen on the SFRC for years and still has Murkowski there. He has always been polite to all of them.