She --flat lined-- after 15 minutes. Biden weathered that and then scored huge (watching CNN)

[underpants]

CNN had a running graph at the bottom of the screen of Ohio Independent voters-a Men and Women line.

IRAQ is killing them. Any mention of it by Biden saw the line shoot up and any mention of it by Palin saw a sharp drop. This still resonates.



After the aw shucks downhome stuff of the first 15 minutes she flat lined usually right at the middle both men and women. She scored when she mentioned Wall Street greed and drilling (they have sold that well) but for the most part even if she could raise the line it usually just sat there. It did surge up at the end of her segments but that could have been the corny "proud to be an American" red-white-and-blue stuff. In fact Ifill just mentioning "Governor Palin" saw a sharp drop. "Maverick" wore off and was detrimental after the first 15 minutes for her.

Her negatives attacks actually took the line UNDER the middle something that never happened to Biden. Her negative attacks on Obama didn't register, his on McCain and Bush (he could have mentioned Cheney more) registered.

She did do well in terms of connecting with the camera. She is clearly comfortable in front of the TV. Biden didn't look at the camera at the beginning at at all.

Biden ravenously attacked McCain and smartly let any prickly points (his previous statements about Obama) pass and moved on. Biden was clearly more in more control of specifics while Palin just used rah-rah talk radio blabber over and over and over. Watching the CNN line at the bottom of the screen it didn't register after the third time. He did leave some lines sitting like "Yeah Obama voted 96% of the time AGAINST Bush" but that, especially at the beginning could have come off as too mean towards her.

Biden showed himself to be an elder statesman and she basically got herself back up to the waterline. Palin did not show relevance or gravitas but she did get back to where she should have been, her staying power seems to have been about 2 weeks, but that is not at the level most people are going to expect for that position.

[OneGrassRoot]

1. It's be surprised if most people watched beyond the first 10 minutes.

She lived up to her caricature immediately. It was painful to watch. I think those who aren't REALLY into politics saw what they see on SNL and turned the TV off. They tuned in out of sheer curiosity. Nothing to see here. :)

[CarbonDate]

10. I sat through 74 minutes....

...on my laptop. Unfortunately, being on Guam, I was at work while the debate was on.

Still after 74 minutes I ripped my headphones off my head for the third and final time. I couldn't take her yammering anymore.

[OneGrassRoot]

13. It was painful. I agree. :) n/t

[dipsydoodle]

2. I'm still trying to figure out

did she have any feeds or was she just using notes on paper ?

[underpants]

4. Notes and just falling back on RW/talk radio spew

and it came off as hollow

[underpants]

3. EDITED and added some more stuff

sorry

[annabanana]

5. I like how broadly Biden smiled at her most vicious attacks...

It was the smile of a loving Uncle when the toddler is trying to get a rise out of him.

[underpants]

9. I commented to my wife that he took an extra beat and passed on the first obvious response to her

Very wise. He wasn't there to go after her he was there to be the muscle on McCain. When he did take her on, aside from "We didn't hear a plan", it was by saying that she agreed with them especially on windfall profits tax. The first response there was to point out that 85% of Alaska's budget is paid by oil companies but he deferred to pointing out the McCain tax breaks to Exxon Mobile--he dropped that after 4 references which was good because even I was getting tired of hearing it.

[PA Democrat]

12. And Biden managed not to look condescending at the same time.

He looked like someone who actually was enjoying the give and take of the debate. His friendliness toward her and her family AFTER the debate confirmed that impression. Biden came across as likable, as someone you could disagree with on issues and still be friendly with.

I though Palin came across as a scold, especially when she was lecturing Biden about not looking back. I think most people saw that for what it was- an attempt to make people forget that McCain has supported the Bush policies more than 90% of the time.

[underpants]

14. Biden didn't take her on point by point

which was good because then he is just counterpunching and she controls it and draws him down into talk radio word-crafted BS

He wasn't condescending he just let her speak and then got back to taking on McCain.

[ps1074]

6. I agree

As a whole Biden's lines (men and women combined) were 8-10 points higher during the debate than Palin's. I also felt quite good that men didn't buy her bullshitting and dodging questions. If these lines were any indicator - Joe won both the men and the women in the group and won handily.

[underpants]

8. Biden's closing statement was GOLD

Time for America to "get back up". Reagan's "morning in America" theme came to mind for me.

You are right he was at the top for the last 50 minutes almost every time.

I don't want to sound condescending but her upticks at the end of her statements could have just been...uh...pity isn't the right word..relief that she sort of pulled it back together.

Biden took "Maverick" off the table and her motherhood card got ripped up and put in the ashtray. According to how the line went and from a debate/campaign analysis point of view. They will still use it because that is all they have.

[MiniMe]

16. Biden took her motherhood off the table with that excellent story about his

first wife and his children, actually tearing up and choking up when talking about them. Palin didn't even acknowledge the story or show any sympathy.

[underpants]

17. My wife said that she came off as ...um...

lets say a rather hard women to deal with (my wife said that by the way)

She showed no warmth to him (you know-a motherly way) just a cold spokesperson moving on to show how you should buy these *wonderful* updgrades on the product you are not happy with anyway

[dkf]

7. I guess a flat line is all you can get when people can't understand what you are trying to say.

[City Lights]

11. Thank you for the excellent summary. I was watching on PBS.

I'm glad most people aren't buying what she's selling.

Her voice and delivery style got to me and I ended up hitting "mute" every time it was her turn to speak. Reading the closed captioning was interesting in that it couldn't always keep up with her super fast delivery.

[underpants]

15. I think she toned down the high-pitch and her accent last night

she tried to come off as "country" in a way but it didn't work according to the CNN line.

[workinclasszero]

18. People really hated the Iraq war bullshit the thug party sells so hard

I hope the assholes keep talkin about Bush's war cause its a sure loser for them!

[jpgray]

19. Do you remember how the "white flag of surrender" bit went over?

I thought that was foolish of her in the extreme.

[underpants]

20. *THUD*

canned and rehearsed. Iraq would be avoided at all costs in their speech (as it should have been from the start as we tried to tell them)

If you aren't indoctrinated into the world of talk radio it sounds rather out there, most people aren't

[RichGirl]

21. Here's my canned answer to any question regarding Palin.

Think of all the bad actresses you know, soap operas, B movies, Life Time movies, Tori Spelling....EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM COULD HAVE DONE WHAT SARAH PALIN DID LAST NIGHT. They could have spent weeks memorizing answers written by other people. When asked a question that they didn't have an answer for, they simply fill in with a canned answer or lines from speeches.

Paris Hilton has been in movies...she could have done that debate last night if she was memorizing lines and had time to rehearse. Nobody can deny that.

[underpants]

23. B movies????

[Vinca]

22. I watched CNN, too. I'm curious to see if the McCain campaign

continues to use the term "maverick" anymore. Each time Palin said it, the graph sank.