For all intents and purposes, I would have to say that Sarah Palin bounced back from her flubs as she was interviewed by Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric in Thursday’s vice presidential debate. A good debater no less, but still there is a disconnect with me. Who is she really? Is she the pit bull with lipstick who showed up to this debate or is she the woman who said something to the affect of “Putin rearing his head?” While she was great at spitting out various talking points such as energy a topic that she is most comfortable in speaking of, I could not forget those interviews. If I heard one more time the words reform or maverick as it pertained to John McCain, I was literally going to tear out my hair, or I was going to scream out the window and wake the neighbors. Not a good thing to do given the time of night.
To touch upon briefly of the two-sides that have been presented to the American people: I wonder what foreign leaders are thinking. Are they thinking will we get a Vice President Palin who can’t answer what reading material she reads or the different woman who showed up last night. At least they DO KNOW, Senator Joe Biden! That is important as we try and mend the fences that have been broken during these past eight years.
I cheered when Senator Joe Biden put to rest her use of the term maverick to describe John McCain when Biden said stated, “he has been no maverick on the things that matter to people's lives.”
Biden was effective in reminding all of us that McCain, “voted four out of five times for George Bush's budget, which put us a half a trillion dollars in debt this year and over $3 trillion in debt since he's got there.” I do think that pertinent given the crisis on Wall Street which is trickling down to Main Street. It served to remind all that economics is not John McCain’s strong point. Biden also laid to rest that McCain is not a maverick when he voted against bills concerning health-care, education and most importantly our soldiers.
If elected, which Sarah Palin will we get; the woman who said at one campaign rally, “Let’s play stump the candidate” or this woman who effectively stayed on message? Which Sarah Palin will meet various heads of state? While I have read that she turned on the ‘folksy charm’, is it that folksy charm she would be using when meeting foreign dignitaries and heads of state? We have seen where a similar charm coming from Bush has landed us during these past eight years. She will not always have the bounce-back of cheering crowds to feed off of. Is she the candidate able to spit out the rhetoric coached to her and then become someone entirely different when not debating and in front of cheering crowds? If she is elected, which Sarah will be present?
When Palin said that people want a government that gets out of people's way and they want a government that can, "create jobs and bolster our economy and win the war or you're going to be supporting a ticket that wants to increase taxes, which ultimately kills jobs, and is going to hurt our economy." She offered no specifics as to how a McCain/Palin administration would accomplish this feat.
While she chided Biden by saying, "Enough is enough with your ticket," on constantly looking backwards, and pointing fingers, and doing the blame game." The age-old phrase came back to me of "Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it." So, I was glad that Biden reminded Palin that McCain did not differ, "On taxes, on Iraq, on Afghanistan, on the whole question of how to help education, on the dealing with health care." This is what Americans must take away from this debate and that is another four years of a Bush presidency.
When she reminded Biden of countries headed up by dictators as it pertains to woman's rights, one of our rights here in this country is a woman's right to choose. I really wish that Gwen Ifill had brought up how victims of rape in Wasilla had to pay for the rape exam under a Palin administration.
I cannot stress this enough to woman who have yet to make up their minds and are pro-choice: Will McCain appoint more conservative judges to the Supreme Court thereby turning over Roe V. Wade?
I had to cheer Joe Biden as he reminded the American people given our grave economy where we will be bailing out Wall Street of these facts that, “We're spending $10 billion a month while Iraqis have an $80 billion surplus. Barack says it's time for them to spend their own money and have the 400,000 military we trained for them begin to take their own responsibility and gradually over 16 months, withdrawal. John McCain -- this is a fundamental difference between us, we'll end this war. For John McCain, there's no end in sight to end this war, fundamental difference. We will end this war."
When Palin asserted it would be sending up the “white flag” and something our troops do not need to hear right now. Well the American people are waving their own white flags surrendering everything as this crisis hits Main Street. What our troops need to hear is that a new president is coming to town in Barack Obama who will responsibly end this war instead of American tax payers endlessly paying for it.
By the way, Joe Biden once again reminded undecided voters out there of Osama bin Laden when he said, “we will go at him if we have actually intelligence.” That served to remind all of yet another Republican failure. The attacks of 9/11 befell our nation happened seven years ago and Bush has failed at capturing him and not once did McCain or Palin mention him in their acceptance speeches. Only Barack Obama and Joe Biden have mentioned him and I as an American citizen want Osama bin Laden captured, tried and be made to pay the ultimate price.
I was literally thrilled when Biden reminded all how we got into this financial mess on Wall Street and it was partly due to deregulation something that McCain has always been a champion of.
I really do not think that this one debate was a homerun for the McCain/Palin ticket given the fact that a Fox News online poll has stated that Biden won the debate by 60 percent to Palin’s 40 percent.
Politico.com also has on its web site asking readers who won the debate and Biden won big when 84 percent thought he did compared to the 15 percent who said that Palin did. I realize that these polls are not scientific, but merely a snapshot of people’s opinions but it does say something. It says to me that there is a deep-seated anger towards President Bush and they want to take it out on someone and that someone is John McCain.
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