Barack Obama elected 44th U.S. president in Landslide! 349!
In an extraordinary moment in America’s history, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has won the 2008 presidential election and will become the 44th president of the United States and the country’s first African-American leader. “Because of what we did on this day, in this election, in this defining moment, change has come to America,” Obama told 125,000 supporters gathered in Chicago’s Grant Park to celebrate his victory.“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer,” he added.
“A new dawn of American leadership is at hand,” Obama said.
Obama’s victory comes on the strength of projected wins in battleground states that went to President George W. Bush four years ago – Ohio, Florida, Virginia, Indiana, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada and Iowa – as well as a victory in Pennsylvania, a state that John McCain had hoped to turn blue to buoy his bid for an upset victory.
- from CBS
Barack Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States, opening a new chapter in the country’s history as the first African-American to hold the world’s most important job. “If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer,” Obama told more than 100,000 people who gathered for a victory celebration in Chicago’s Grant Park.
The Illinois senator capped his 21-month quest with a sweeping electoral victory that also enhanced the Democrats’ majority in Congress and marked the end of an era of Republican dominance in Washington.
Obama crossed the requisite threshold of 270 electoral votes to defeat Republican rival John McCain last night when television networks projected him winning the state of California. He had at least 338 electoral votes to McCain’s 145, according to the Associated Press and television network projections. Six states remained undecided.
His victory, along with his party’s gains in congressional contests, puts Democrats in firm control of the federal government for the first time since the early 1990s. That gives Obama an opportunity to turn his victory into a pivotal moment in the country’s political history.
McCain’s Concession
McCain, speaking to supporters in Phoenix, conceded the race and said he called his rival “to congratulate him on being elected the next president.”
“Senator Obama has achieved a great thing for himself and his country,” McCain said. “This is an historic election, and I recognize the special significance it has for African- Americans and the special pride that must be theirs tonight.”
McCain pledged to do “all in my power” to assist Obama and urged his backers “to find ways to come together” for the good of the country.
During their phone conversation, Obama told McCain that he hoped to work with him in the future, Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said. Obama told McCain, “I need your help, you’re a leader on so many important issues,” Gibbs said.
Obama also received a congratulatory call from President George W. Bush, who promised a “smooth transition,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.
Promising Change
Obama, 47, swept to victory by promising a change in Washington, inspiring millions of new voters and volunteers along the way. He persuaded the electorate that he could best handle the economic crisis facing the country. He raised more money than any presidential candidate in history, overwhelming McCain.
“He wants to be a transforming leader,” said presidential historian James McGregor Burns in a Bloomberg radio interview. Such a leader, like Franklin Delano Roosevelt, “knows how to proclaim great goals and summons the people to help him realize those goals,” said Burns, who has written biographies of Roosevelt and other presidents.
Having based his presidential bid on change and using that theme to create a new electoral coalition, Obama must now follow through or risk alienating those supporters, Burns said.
“He has made that so crucial to his campaign: change, change, change,” Burns said. “This man cannot escape now the responsibilities of trying to bring it about.”
No Guarantees
And while Obama will have the opportunity to build on his appeal to young Americans and energize their generation, there is no guarantee of success, said Scott Keeter, director of survey research at the Pew Research Center in Washington.
“The problems that George W. Bush has had, especially in his second term, have really hurt the Republican Party’s brand,” Keeter said. “There’s no reason to think that couldn’t happen if Obama has problems as well.”
The racial symbolism of Obama’s campaign was never far from the surface. He formally declared his candidacy in February 2007 in Springfield, Illinois, evoking the spirit of Abraham Lincoln and his call for the nation to overcome the divisions of slavery. Obama ended his campaign Monday night with a rally in Manassas, Virginia, the site of two Confederate Civil War victories.
At the same time, Obama generally avoided overt discussions of racial issues. The one exception was in March, when revelations of inflammatory remarks by his longtime pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, led him to deliver a lengthy address on the subject.
- from Bloomberg
Barack Hussein Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States on Tuesday, sweeping away the last racial barrier in American politics with ease as the country chose him as its first black chief executive.
The election of Mr. Obama amounted to a national catharsis — a repudiation of a historically unpopular Republican president and his economic and foreign policies, and an embrace of Mr. Obama’s call for a change in the direction and the tone of the country.
But it was just as much a strikingly symbolic moment in the evolution of the nation’s fraught racial history, a breakthrough that would have seemed unthinkable just two years ago.
Mr. Obama, 47, a first-term senator from Illinois, defeated Senator John McCain of Arizona, 72, a former prisoner of war who was making his second bid for the presidency.
To the very end, Mr. McCain’s campaign was eclipsed by an opponent who was nothing short of a phenomenon, drawing huge crowds epitomized by the tens of thousands of people who turned out to hear Mr. Obama’s victory speech in Grant Park in Chicago.
Mr. McCain also fought the headwinds of a relentlessly hostile political environment, weighted down with the baggage left to him by President Bush and an economic collapse that took place in the middle of the general election campaign.
“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer,” said Mr. Obama, standing before a huge wooden lectern with a row of American flags at his back, casting his eyes to a crowd that stretched far into the Chicago night.
“It’s been a long time coming,” the president-elect added, “but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment, change has come to America.”
Mr. McCain delivered his concession speech under clear skies on the lush lawn of the Arizona Biltmore, in Phoenix, where he and his wife had held their wedding reception. The crowd reacted with scattered boos as he offered his congratulations to Mr. Obama and saluted the historical significance of the moment.
“This is a historic election, and I recognize the significance it has for African-Americans and for the special pride that must be theirs tonight,” Mr. McCain said, adding, “We both realize that we have come a long way from the injustices that once stained our nation’s reputation.”
Not only did Mr. Obama capture the presidency, but he led his party to sharp gains in Congress. This puts Democrats in control of the House, the Senate and the White House for the first time since 1995, when Bill Clinton was in office.
The day shimmered with history as voters began lining up before dawn, hours before polls opened, to take part in the culmination of a campaign that over the course of two years commanded an extraordinary amount of attention from the American public.
As the returns became known, and Mr. Obama passed milestone after milestone —Ohio, Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Iowa and New Mexico — people rolled spontaneously into the streets to celebrate what many described, with perhaps overstated if understandable exhilaration, a new era in a country where just 143 years ago, Mr. Obama, as a black man, could have been owned as a slave.
For Republicans, especially the conservatives who have dominated the party for nearly three decades, the night represented a bitter setback and left them contemplating where they now stand in American politics.
Mr. Obama and his expanded Democratic majority on Capitol Hill now face the task of governing the country through a difficult period: the likelihood of a deep and prolonged recession, and two wars. He took note of those circumstances in a speech that was notable for its sobriety and its absence of the triumphalism that he might understandably have displayed on a night when he won an Electoral College landslide.
“The road ahead will be long, our climb will be steep,” said Mr. Obama, his audience hushed and attentive, with some, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, wiping tears from their eyes. “We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you, we as a people will get there.” The roster of defeated Republicans included some notable party moderates, like Senator John E. Sununu of New Hampshire and Representative Christopher Shays of Connecticut, and signaled that the Republican conference convening early next year in Washington will be not only smaller but more conservative.
Mr. Obama will come into office after an election in which he laid out a number of clear promises: to cut taxes for most Americans, to get the United States out of Iraq in a fast and orderly fashion, and to expand health care.
In a recognition of the difficult transition he faces, given the economic crisis, Mr. Obama is expected to begin filling White House jobs as early as this week.
Mr. Obama defeated Mr. McCain in Ohio, a central battleground in American politics, despite a huge effort that brought Mr. McCain and his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, back there repeatedly. Mr. Obama had lost the state decisively to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York in the Democratic primary.
Mr. McCain failed to take from Mr. Obama the two Democratic states that were at the top of his target list: New Hampshire and Pennsylvania. Mr. Obama also held on to Minnesota, the state that played host to the convention that nominated Mr. McCain; Wisconsin; and Michigan, a state Mr. McCain once had in his sights.
The apparent breadth of Mr. Obama’s sweep left Republicans sobered, and his showing in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania stood out because officials in both parties had said that his struggles there in the primary campaign reflected the resistance of blue-collar voters to supporting a black candidate.
“I always thought there was a potential prejudice factor in the state,” Senator Bob Casey, a Democrat of Pennsylvania who was an early Obama supporter, told reporters in Chicago. “I hope this means we washed that away.”
Mr. McCain called Mr. Obama at 10 p.m., Central time, to offer his congratulations. In the call, Mr. Obama said he was eager to sit down and talk; in his concession speech, Mr. McCain said he was ready to help Mr. Obama work through difficult times.
“I need your help,” Mr. Obama told his rival, according to an Obama adviser, Robert Gibbs. “You’re a leader on so many important issues.”
Mr. Bush called Mr. Obama shortly after 10 p.m. to congratulate him on his victory.
“I promise to make this a smooth transition,” the president said to Mr. Obama, according to a transcript provided by the White House .“You are about to go on one of the great journeys of life. Congratulations, and go enjoy yourself.”
For most Americans, the news of Mr. Obama’s election came at 11 p.m., Eastern time, when the networks, waiting for the close of polls in California, declared him the victor. A roar sounded from the 125,000 people gathered in Hutchison Field in Grant Park at the moment that they learned Mr. Obama had been projected the winner.
The scene in Phoenix was decidedly more sour. At several points, Mr. McCain, unsmiling, had to motion his crowd to quiet down — he held out both hands, palms down — when they responded to his words of tribute to Mr. Obama with boos.
Mr. Obama, who watched Mr. McCain’s speech from his hotel room in Chicago, offered a hand to voters who had not supported him in this election, when he took the stage 15 minutes later. “To those Americans whose support I have yet to earn,” he said, “I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your president, too.”
- from NYtimes
Barack Obama Wins Debate
Who’s gonna take it tonight?!
Greetings from Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, site of the 2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate. Folks from all over Tennessee have converged on this spot, not only to watch Barack Obama and John McCain spar over the issues but to ask their own question in this participatory format.
With each debate the choice we have in this historic election becomes clearer.
Barack arrived at the Curb Event Center earlier this afternoon to check out the stage and get a feel for the room. It’s a ritual that both candidates do before each debate.
- from Obama
Preceding tonight’s town hall presidential debate, the Obama campaign has put out a memo Tuesday morning both lowering expectations and accusing McCain of being “erratic,” launching nasty attacks, and lacking the character to even “look at Obama on stage.”
In an email to reporters, National Press Secretary Bill Burton, played the traditional pre-debate game, touting John McCain’s experience with the town hall format that the candidates will face tonight in Nashville.
“When it comes to sheer format, we enter today’s debate the decided underdog,” he wrote. “John McCain does extremely well in town hall settings. It’s been his favorite format throughout his career and we think that he will of course do very well.”
- from Huffpost
At least the ‘Town Hall’ format for today’s debate between John McCain and Barack Obama should play to some of McCain’s folksy strengths – which would be the first good news in a fortnight of terrible setbacks for the Arizona senator, many of them self-inflicted. The financial meltdown has sent the opinion polls moving in Obama’s favour, both nationally and in the swing states. So far, the personal smears about Obama consorting with terrorists have backfired on McCain, and the Sarah Palin candidacy is an accelerating disaster.
Like everything else McCain touches these days, the format for today’s debate could be a two edged sword. Yes, the two candidates will be up on stage with 80 supposedly uncommitted voters, interacting with them folksily, and answering their pre-vetted questions. While McCain usually does well in such situations, the format will expose a few of his limitations. Age, and temperament for starters.
One thing the financial meltdown has done, both in the US and in New Zealand, is move the election campaign away from the purely’presidential style’ issue of likeability ( a luxury possible only during stable economic conditions) into more urgent ones of competence. Like John Key, McCain will be under pressure today to show he can deliver solutions on economic management and policy direction, not just perky soundbites.
So far, McCain has been unable to shift the debate away from the tanking economy. It is hard to run as a Washington outsider when you represent the party that has been running Washington for the past eight years. Palin’s attacks on Obama as someone not like us ( dog whistle : he’s black) who ‘pals around’ with terrorists ( such as former Weather Underground activist Bill Ayers ) looked like a desperate attempt to get the economy off the front page. The effort seems to have backfired. Partly because if anyone has been keeping dubious company, it has been Palin and McCain.- from here
With so many people today suggesting that John McCain needs a “game-changer” in his debate with Barack Obama tonight, the Democratic Party is happy to hold the GOP’s presidential nominee to that standard.
After all, the DNC suggests, the “town-hall” styled format of tonight’s debate at 9 pm EDT in Nashville is signature McCain — the sort of format in which he has campaigned for many years. McCain called out Obama for more of these sort of town-hall encounters earlier in the campaign.
In other words, it’s McCain’s comfort zone, his home-field advantage.
- from here
First Debate Coverage Below:
The first presidential debate could not have come at a better time. We were afraid that the serious question of picking a new president in a time of peril, at home and abroad, was going to disappear in a fog of sophomoric attack ads, substance-free shouting about change and patriotism, and unrelenting political posturing.
The debate was generally a relief from the campaign’s nastiness. Both John McCain and Barack Obama worked to strike a more civil and substantive tone. And Americans could see some differences between the candidates on correcting the regulatory disasters that led to the Wall Street crisis, on how to address the country’s grim fiscal problems and on national security. There were also differences in the candidate’s themselves. Mr. McCain fumbled his way through the economic portion of the debate, while Mr. Obama seemed clear and confident. Mr. McCain was more fluent on foreign affairs, and scored points by repeatedly calling Mr. Obama naïve and inexperienced.
But Mr. McCain’s talk of experience too often made him sound like a tinny echo of the 20th century. At one point, he talked about how Ronald Reagan’s “S.D.I.” helped end the cold war. We suspect that few people under the age of 50 caught the reference. If he was reaching for Reagan’s affable style, he missed by a mile, clenching his teeth and sounding crotchety where Reagan was sunny and avuncular.
Mr. Obama has improved as a debater but needs to work on his counterpunch. Still, when Mr. McCain suggested that Mr. Obama was imprudent for talking publicly about attacking Al Qaeda sites in Pakistan, Mr. Obama deftly parried by reminding voters that his rival once jokingly sang a song about bombing Iran.
Mr. McCain came to the debate after one of the more ludicrous performances by a presidential candidate. With the markets teetering and Washington desperately trying to find a bipartisan solution, Mr. McCain tried to make the biggest question of the week whether he was actually going to show up for Friday’s debate.
- from NYtimes
Obama Wins Debate On Tactics and Strategies
Toward the very end of tonight’s debate—which was quite a good one, I believe—John McCain laid out his rationale in this election in just a few words: Senator Obama, he said, lacks the “knowledge and experience to be President.” The presidency will turn on whether the American people agree with McCain on that—but on this night, Obama emerged as a candidate who was at least as knowledgeable, judicious and unflappable as McCain on foreign policy … and more knowledgeable, and better suited to deal with the economic crisis and domestic problems the country faces.
But even if my verdict were reversed to grant McCain a slight victory, there was nothing in this debate that was a knockout blow—nothing that should change the current trajectory of the campaign. (Although it may staunch the slow bleed that McCain has experienced the past week). Obama seemed plenty presidential; McCain seemed more prudent and thoughtful than he has since he uttered the most important line of the campaign so far, “the fundamentals of the economy are good.” Neither man closed the sale, and I don’t think many votes, or opinions, were changed.
- from Time
John McCain wore the more presidential tie — that much can be said for him — but Barack Obama displayed the more presidential temperament, or the kind of demeanor people presumably would want in a president, when the two candidates met at the University of Mississippi last night for their first debate of the campaign. Both men seemed well equipped in terms of facts and figures — especially, as one would expect, dollar figures — and neither made an outrageous blunder, although McCain did misidentify the new president of Pakistan. More critically, he came across as condescending and even rude to his opponent, a bit of bad behavior especially evident because Obama may have overdone the fair-minded bit in many of his remarks and answers.
- from Washingtonpost
40% of uncommitted voters who watched the debate tonight thought Barack Obama was the winner. 22% thought John McCain won. 38% saw it as a draw.
68% of these voters think Obama would make the right decision
about the economy. 41% think McCain would.
49% of these voters think Obama would make the right decisions about Iraq. 55% think McCain would.- from Atlantic
Dick Morris’s grudging compliments:
“Unfortunately, I think Obama won this debate,” said Dick Morris on Hannity and Colmes.“I don’t know which debate you were watching, Dick,” said Sean Hannity. “It was book knowledge.”
Morris responded:”Obama showed himself to be more concerned about the average person, or at least acted that way.”
- from Politico
Wall Street hijacked the first presidential debate Friday night between Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain, who clashed over tax cuts, congressional spending and President Bush’s proposed $700 billion bank bailout in a forum that was supposed to be about foreign policy.
The candidates skirmished over the war in Iraq, with McCain sticking to his support for Bush’s troop “surge” last year and Obama repeating that he opposed the U.S. invasion all along. But the collapse of major financial institutions this month put foreign affairs — the stated topic of the first debate — firmly in the background as the men faced off at the University of Mississippi in Oxford.
Obama sought to tie McCain to the bank crisis, calling it “a final verdict on eight years of failed economic policies promoted by George Bush, supported by Senator McCain.”
- from MSNBC
John McCain accused Barack Obama of compiling “the most liberal voting record in the United States Senate” Friday night as the two rivals clashed over taxes, spending, the war in Iraq and more in an intense first debate of the White House campaign. “Mostly that’s just me opposing George Bush’s wrong-headed policies,” shot back the Democrat.
Obama said his Republican rival has been a loyal supporter of the unpopular president, adding that the current economic crisis is “a final verdict on eight years of failed economic policies promoted by President Bush and supported by Sen. McCain.”
The two men were polite but pointed as they debated at close quarters for 90 minutes on the University of Mississippi campus.
McCain accused his younger rival of an “incredible thing of voting to cut off funds for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan,” a reference to legislation that cleared the Senate more than a year ago.
Obama disputed that, saying he had opposed funding in a bill that presented a “blank check” to the Pentagon while McCain had opposed money in legislation that included a timetable for troop withdrawal.
Obama opposed the invasion of Iraq in 2002, before he was a member of Congress, while McCain voted in the Senate to authorize the war.
“You were wrong” on Iraq, Obama repeated three times in succession. “John, you like to pretend the war began in 2007.”
- from Yahoo
“There was one man who was presidential tonight, that man was John McCain. There was another who was political, that was Barack Obama. John McCain won this debate and controlled the dialogue throughout, whether it was the economy, taxes, spending, Iraq or Iran. There was a leadership gap, a judgment gap, and a boldness gap on display tonight, a fact Barack Obama acknowledged when he said John McCain was right at least five times. Tonight’s debate showed John McCain in command of the issues and presenting a clear agenda for America’s future.” –Jill Hazelbaker, McCain-Palin 2008 Communications Director
“This was a clear victory for Barack Obama on John McCain’s home turf. Senator McCain offered nothing but more of the same failed Bush policies, and Barack Obama made a forceful case for change in our economy and our foreign policy. While Senator McCain wants to keep giving huge tax cuts to corporations and said nothing about the challenges Americans are facing in their daily lives, Barack Obama will be a fierce advocate for tax cuts for the middle class, affordable health care, and a new energy economy that creates millions of jobs. While foreign policy was supposed to be John McCain’s top issue, Barack Obama commanded that part of the debate with a clear call to responsibly end a misguided war in Iraq so that we can finish the fight against al Qaeda in Afghanistan. John McCain needed a game-changer tonight, and by any measure he didn’t get it,” said Obama-Biden campaign manager David Plouffe.
John McCain accused Barack Obama of compiling “the most liberal voting record in the United States Senate” Friday night as the two rivals clashed over taxes, spending, the war in Iraq and more in an intense first debate of the White House campaign. “Mostly that’s just me opposing George Bush’s wrong-headed policies,” shot back the Democrat.
Obama said his Republican rival has been a loyal supporter of the unpopular president across the past eight years, adding that the current economic crisis is “a final verdict on eight years of failed economic policies promoted by President Bush and supported by Sen. McCain.”
The two men were polite but pointed as they debated at close quarters for 90 minutes on the University of Mississippi campus.
McCain accused his younger rival of an “incredible thing of voting to cut off funds for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan,” a reference to legislation that cleared the Senate more than a year ago.- from myway
Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain have taken part in their first televised debate.
Although the debate was scheduled to be on foreign policy, the opening exchanges addressed the economic crisis wracking Wall St and world markets.
Senator Obama, 47, vying to make history as America’s first black president, spoke first in the Oxford, Mississippi, debate.
“We are at a defining moment in our history,” said Senator Obama, who wore a dark blue suit, white shirt and red tie.
“We are going through the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. We’ve heard a lot about Wall Street, but those of you on Main St have been struggling.
“We have to move swiftly and we have to move wisely.”
- from ABC
We have a feeling. We know what’s going to happen — Barack Obama is going to win the Presidential Debate. John McCain is going to come off confused, behind of the time, a connection to the past — while Barack Obama is going to debate the main points, the economy, bailouts, the war in Iraq. This is will be the point where Barack shows the difference between him and John McCain. Will this presidential debate be the wake up call?
The critical first debate between John McCain and Barack Obama gained an even brighter spotlight Friday night as financial markets teetered and the contenders traded recriminations over McCain’s involvement in a possible economic rescue.
It wasn’t clear until late Friday morning that the 9 p.m. EDT debate at the University of Mississippi would take place. That’s when McCain, who had asked to postpone the forum until Congress and the Bush administration reached an agreement to stabilize U.S. markets, reversed himself and agreed to go ahead.
Obama had said he would attend no matter what McCain decided to do.- from AP
“At this defining moment, we have the chance to finally stand up and say, enough is enough,” Mr. Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, told a ballpark packed with 11,000 people here.
Two hours later, after Senator John McCain, the Republican nominee, said he would temporarily stop campaigning because of the economic crisis, Mr. Obama looked downright unflappable at a news conference. Referring to this week of economic peril — and tweaking his Republican rival — Mr. Obama said flatly, “Presidents are going to have to deal with more than one thing at a time.”
- from NYtimes
Tonight’s debate is the first side-by-side match up between John McCain and Barack Obama and while the topic is foreign policy and national security, with the economy in turmoil, talk will most certainly turn to Wall Street.
During the past week, the stylistic differences between the two candidates have come into sharper relief, with McCain suspending his campaign and calling for the debates to be postponed pending a $700 billion bailout agreement for the nation’s banks and Obama saying that he would debate and that a president would have to handle more than one crisis at a time.
Tonight the candidates, with 25 years between them, will likely offer a further study in contrasts — hot versus cool, fire versus ice.
The Obama campaign spent much of the day lowering expectations for the Illinois senator, who has often struggled in debates, partly because of his aversion to sound bites and zingers. In their previous back-to-back appearances, first at a faith forum last month and then at a service forum earlier this month, McCain seemed to fare better, offering up succinct answers to Obama’s more professorial responses.
- from Newsday
It’s fight night in Oxford, Miss., for Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain.
Though the main event is set to take place down South in the form of the first presidential debate between the two presidential nominees, sparring over a massive financial bailout package back in Washington and the nation’s economic turmoil loom large.
The official topics of the debate hosted by University of Mississippi are foreign policy and national security, but veteran debate moderator Jim Lehrer of PBS is widely expected to expand the debate to include questions about the floundering economy and possible remedies to the current crisis.
ABC News political director David Chalian said tonight’s presidential debate could prove to be as historic as the famous Nixon-Kennedy debate in 1960.
“When you’re gonna have more people tuned in to this than anything else they’ve tuned in to this entire election year, it’s impossible to say the stakes are anything but high,” Chalian said.
Both candidates have spent countless hours preparing for the debate.
Earlier this week, Obama’s advisers put him through intense debate preparations in Tampa, Fla., with Greg Craig posing as McCain. The veteran Washington attorney defended former President Clinton during his impeachment proceedings.
- from ABC
Tonight’s on-again, off-again presidential debate is officially on again, with Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama set to square off in Oxford, Miss. for the first time.
McCain’s announcement Friday morning that he would attend the debate — he suspended his campaign earlier this week and said he would not attend unless substantial progress was made on a financial rescue package in Washington — cleared up any doubt that the session would go on as planned. The 90-minute debate will be nationally televised from the University of Mississippi campus in Oxford, a southern crossroads rich in literary and civil rights history.- from USAtoday
It may be on-again, off-again, but it’s on again, and tonight’s presidential debate between John McCain and Barack Obama may be the most-watched debate in American history.
The uncertainty of whether it would go on, whether McCain would attend while Congress struggled with a bailout plan, may help bring the exchange a Super Bowl-like audience.
And this first debate will be just the beginning.
“It could well be that the cumulative audience (for all the debates) will be the highest ever.” said Mitchell McKinney, a nationally-known presidential debate expert and professor at the University of Missouri.
Interest in the presidential race, reflected in record numbers of viewers for both political conventions, may be nearing an all-time high.
A poll this week by Rasmussen Reports — taken before the McCain gambit — said three out of four voters claim they’re “very likely” to watch the debates, which begin in Oxford, Miss.
If all those voters tune in — and the projection of 125 million voters this year is also accurate — almost 94 million people will watch McCain and Obama battle it out, smashing the old record of 81 million viewers.
This year’s Super Bowl drew about 97.5 million viewers, according to Nielsen estimates.
“Huge numbers of people tune in and watch a pretty good chunk of (these debates),” said Mark Blumenthal of pollster.com.
- from Kansas
I just got this text message on my cell phone–the Obama campaign is urging people to watch the first presidential debate tonight on CNN. Why did the Obama campaign want to endorse one outlet when so many are showing the debate here at the University of Mississippi?
“Watch Barack Obama debate John McCain tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern on CNN,” the message said. Also, remind friends to register to vote at VoteforChange.com. Please forward this message.”
The Obama campaign has a giant list of text message numbers, gleaned in part from the run-up to the announcement of Barack Obama’s running mate; Obama’s team bolstered their lists by saying they would break the vice presidential pick news first via text message.
- from Suntimes
4 Year-Old Princesses for Barack Obama
A 4 year-old princess endorses Democrat Barack Obama for President, and Joe Biden for Vice President. And she shares her thoughts on Republican nominee John McCain and Sarah Palin.
Tina Fey bitchslaps Sarah Palin AGAIN on SNL
Tina Fey nailed Sarah Palin for a third time in a parody of the vice presidential debate where Queen Latifah played moderator Gwen Ifill. A cast member, Jason Sudeikis spoofed Joe Biden.
Ifill was given quit a ribbing in the skit–shown as hawking her upcoming book, which she did not do at the debate–promising not to ask follow up questions in order to “not to appear biased for Barack Obama in light of my new book, “Breakthrough, Politics of Race in the Age of Obama.”
From Latifah as Ifill: “Due to the historically low expectations for Gov. Palin, were she simply to do an adequate job tonight, at no point cry, faint, run out of the building or vomit, you should consider the debate a tie.”
The real debate at Washington University in St. Louis featured a question about same sex benefits. Fey/Palin had this zinger, playing off Palin’s unwed pregnant teen daughter whose marriage to the father of her baby was announced when Palin was tapped by McCain to be his runningmate.
Said Fey/Palin, “You know I would be afraid of where that would lead. I believe marriage is meant to be a sacred institution between two unwilling teenagers.”
- from Suntimes
Tina Fey continued her dominance as late-night’s favorite character in yet another killer portrayal of Sarah Palin on this evening’s “Saturday Night Live.” Last night, she joined Queen Latifah as Gwen Ifill and Jason Sudeikis as Joe Biden in a great opening sketch mocking Thursday’s Vice-Presidential debate. The host was Ann Hathaway, who gave a strong opening monologue about her con ex-boyfriend, playing off on how gullible she must be (about her new boyfriend, met over the internet: “I mean, how often does someone meet a Nigerian prince?”). – from Huffpost
It’s no surprise that the opening of Saturday Night Live was devoted to the vice presidential debate.
Queen Latifah played Gwen Ifill. There were two brief references to Ifill’s conflict of interest in the debate — her new book, The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama.
As usual, Tina Fey was Sarah Palin. Jason Sudeikis played Joe Biden.
When it came to Fey as Palin, it was the same old, same old.
FINALLY, SNL gave Biden some attention. Of course, there was no way to avoid it this week.
Sudeikis was very funny as Biden.
It was obvious that the jokes at Biden’s expense had very little to do with the issues or his qualifications to be vice president. In fact, Biden’s lines included actual attacks on McCain. I would have liked to see some jokes about Biden as a serial liar and Biden’s freakish, frozen, creaseless forehead. Sudeikis’ Biden didn’t smirk much or sigh condescendingly, though he was portrayed as an arrogant jerk and a slick politician.
- from here
Tina Fey portrays Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, for the 3rd time, exclusively for Saturday Night Live to spoof the VP debate with Joe Biden (Jason Sudeikis), which was moderated by Gwen Ifill (Queen Latifah).
I can’t believe Tina did it again! She is absolutely fabulous, from the speech to the winks… OMG, Latifah’s face to Palin’s answers was just hilarious! I loved everything about this debate… best job ever! This is absolutely my favorite Palin sketch!
- from here
It’s starting to feel like Tina Fey is running for vice president.
Fey again returned to “Saturday Night Live” to play Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin as the sketch comedy show continued to pull out all the stops in its election year season. Queen Latifah dropped by to portray Thursday’s debate moderator, PBS’s Gwen Ifill, and cast member Jason Sudeikis stepped into the role of Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden.The “SNL” take on the week’s political events has become a dependable part of the news cycle this fall, offering near-immediate parodies of the presidential candidates, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain, and their running mates. The show—particularly the opening sketches—have resonated with higher ratings for the NBC program and increased traffic on its Web site where early-to-bed viewers catch the talked-about sketches in the days after.
Saturday night’s opening sketch of the VP debate appeared likely to garner similar buzz thanks to Fey’s popular Palin impression. Winking and giving answers not always directly related to Queen Latifah’s questions, Fey’s Palin said that if she was elected, her decisions would be guided by considering “what would a maverick do?”
At the end of the segment, she asked with flute in hand, “Are we not doing the talent portion?”
Palin was runnerup in the 1984 Miss Alaska contest.
- from here
It was inevitable.
“Saturday Night Live” offered their take on Thursday night’s vice presidential debate between Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Delaware Sen. Joe Biden — hitting all the high notes of the back and forth between the two number twos.
Palin was played — as always — by the incomparable Tina Fey. Jason Sudeikis played Biden while Queen Latifah played moderator Gwen Ifill.
- from Washpost
Sarah Palin Crazy Sexy Cool News of the Day
Here’s the latest…. Oh, and then there’s our post It’s kinda hot to see official Sarah Palin banner ads on our site
Sarah Palin says Obama friendly with terrorists
Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin accused Democratic candidate Barack Obama on Saturday of “palling around with terrorists,” in the latest sign the campaign is turning increasingly nasty.
The comment by Palin, whose running mate John McCain is vying against Obama for president in the November 4 election, was dismissed by the Obama campaign as “gutter politics” and came shortly after the McCain campaign had already called the U.S. senator from Illinois a liar.
With polls showing McCain trailing Obama in many battleground states, including several won by Republicans in the 2004 election, Palin said “There is a time when it’s necessary to take the gloves off and that time is right now.”
Speaking at a fund-raiser in Englewood, Colorado, she launched an assault on Obama just days after both candidates urged Congress to set aside partisan politics to pass a $700 billion bad-debt securities package in a bid to free up frozen credit markets.
“Our opponent though is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough that he is palling around with terrorists who would target their own country,” Palin said of Obama, also calling him an embarrassment.
Sarah Palin On Fox News: Couric Annoyed Me
Appearing on a friendlier news outlet, Gov. Sarah Palin said she was “annoyed” with the way Katie Couric handled their interview and complained that the CBS Evening News host failed to give her the opportunity to take a proverbial axe to Barack Obama.
In a portion of her sit-down with Fox News correspondent Carl Cameron, Palin claimed that Couric’s questions — which produced a series of staggeringly embarrassing responses — put her in a lose-lose position.
“The Sarah Palin in those interviews was a little bit annoyed,” she said. “It’s like, man, no matter what you say, you are going to get clobbered. If you choose to answer a question, you are going to get clobbered on the answer. If you choose to try to pivot and go to another subject that you believe that Americans want to hear about, you get clobbered for that too.”
Sarah Palin Web Ad Cites Thumbs Up from ‘Famous Person’
This morning on news sites, the McCain campaign appeared to be in need of a copy editor when it attributed a positive review of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s debate performance last night to a “Famous Person.”
The ad — viewable here — couples a photo of a smiling Palin with the quote: “She killed. It was her evening. She was the star. — Famous Person (10/2/08)”
Now, there was one famous person who actually did say that about the GOP vice presidential candidate, though it’s not clear from the campaign’s ad: Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan. Who also previously has ripped into Palin’s selection as the vice presidential nominee.
“She killed. It was her evening. She was the star,” said Noonan last night on NBC, according to a round-up of debate reactions posted online by the McCain campaign this morning.
Here’s why Palin doesn’t make the grade:
1. She’s too pretty. This is very bad news. At school, pretty girls tend to be liked only by other pretty girls. The rest of us, whose looks hover somewhere around underwhelming, resent them and whisper archly of their “unearned attention.” So, if everyone calls your candidate “hot,” you’re in a whole mess of trouble. If the Pakistani head-of-state more or less hits on her, well, yes, she’ll get a sympathy vote, but we’re in Dukakis-in-the-tank territory. It’s an admiration vaporizer. (Of course a candidate can’t be too ugly, or it will scare the men, who are clearly shallow as a gender.)
2. She’s too confident. This also bodes ill. Women have self-esteem issues. But they also have other-women’s-esteem issues. As almost any woman — from the head of the Budgerigar Breeders association to Queen Elizabeth — can attest, it’s almost impossible to get confidence right. Too timid and you’re a pushover. Too self-aggrandizing and you’re a bad word unless it’s about a dog, or Project Runway’s Kenley. Or Michelle, my best friend until 9th grade, after she won that debating prize and got cocky.
3. She could embarrass us. History is not on Palin’s side. Every time a woman gets a plum job, be she Hewlett-Packard’s ex-boss, Carly Fiorina, or CBS’s Katie Couric, there’s always that whispery fear that people will think she got the job just because she’s a woman. So if things don’t go well — and a couple of YouTube clips have suggested that they’re certainly not going well for Palin — women are the first to turn on her for making it harder for the rest of us to louse up at work.
Fox News: Hey Look, Palin has a bigger flag pin than Biden!
This morning, the hosts of Fox and Friends discussed last night’s vice presidential debate, concluding that Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) was the “big winner.” As evidence, they said that she looked “relaxed.” “You saw somebody who was talking to you like she was just sitting at the kitchen table,” concluded Gretchen Carlson. “She seemed to want to be there,” said Brian Kilmeade, before adding that “Joe Biden did well.”
Steve Doocy then jumped in by pointing out the fact that although both Biden and Palin were wearing flag pins, Palin’s was “about three times the size of his.” “So I would say flag-pin wise, she is a hands-down winner,” said Doocy. Carlson noted that her pin had “a few more jewels” too. Watch it:
Although Fox and Friends may have been trying to imply that the greater the size of the pin, the greater one’s patriotism, the real reason Palin’s pin was big and sparkly is because she was wearing a brooch. They are often ornamented with gemstones and more typically worn by women, explaining why Biden did not wear the same item.
Say It Ain’t So: Sarah Palin Smears Obama With Discredited Attack
During an appearance on Fox News this Friday, Sarah Palin claimed that Barack Obama should be disqualified from serving as president because he had once proclaimed that troops in Afghanistan were “air raiding villages and killing civilians.”
If the charge seemed oddly and painfully familiar it’s because it has been levied at Obama – and subsequently dismissed – several times before during this election season.
The issue stems from a remark the Illinois Democrat made in August 2007, in Nashua, New Hampshire. Speaking to supporters, the Senator called for an increase of U.S. troops in that war zone because, without the influx, operations were being limited to air raids that resulted in many preventable civilian deaths.
“Now you have narco drug lords who are helping to finance the Taliban,” Obama said, “so we’ve got to get the job done there [in Afghanistan], and that requires us to have enough troops that we are not just air raiding villages, and killing civilians, which is causing enormous problems there.”
When the comment was first made, Republicans were eager to mold it into an electoral liability. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and the RNC called it disrespectful and unbecoming of a presidential aspirant.
Joe Biden Brings Substance, Sarah Palin Beauty Pageant Parlor Tricks
In an hour and a half of debate, both Senator Joe Biden and Governor Sarah Palin claimed there were “fundamental” differences between themselves and their respective presidential tickets. But above all, one primary disparity between the two stood out: the former was about substance, the latter was not.
From the very beginning, Palin countered the Delaware Senator’s substantive points with the same kind of tactics utilized by beauty pageant competitors everywhere- winks, smiles, “darn rights,” “don’t ya knows,” and “heck of a lottas”. She stepped out onto the stage and kicked off her performance with a cheap parlor trick, leaving her microphone on while she made a cute comment: “Hey, can I call ya Joe?” And it’s no wonder she resorts to that kind of approach. It’s the same thing that made her a successful pageant girl herself back in the 1980s.
In contrast, Biden fired back with numbers, historical references, and relevant comments that went to the heart of moderator Gwen Ifill’s questions. His presentation was informative. He came across as a guy who was confident enough in the facts and figures that he brought to the table. Compare that to Palin, who cloaked half answers and two-bit policies with defense mechanisms that more closely resembled the stereotypical sleezeball politician with the perfect smile, meticulously manicured hair, and impeccable business suit. The only difference is that this time, the politician was a woman.
Sarah Palin demonstrated her purpose on the Republican ticket last night perhaps more than she has in the five weeks since she was chosen as McCain’s running mate: in short, she’s a feel good story. She’s heavy on folksy euphemisms and lame jokes. But that’s not enough anymore. George Bush loved to tell heart-warming stories and crowd-pleasing jokes, but even he laid out some semblance of prospective policy and concrete planning when he was running. And if eight years later, we can look back and realize that the feel good stories simply weren’t enough, you can be sure that Sarah Palin falls far short of what the “Joe-Six-Pack” really needs: the resources to fill his gas tank, to keep the lights on in his home, and to keep his family fed, sheltered, educated, and covered with health care if they get sick or injured.
The Sarah Palin Show – Highest Rated Debate Since 1992
Thursday’s highly anticipated face-off between Alaska governor Sarah Palin and Delaware senator Joe Biden may be the most-watched debate in 16 years.
Last night’s event totaled a 45.0 overnight meter-market household rating, according to Nielsen Media Research.
That’s 42% higher than Friday’s presidential debate between top-of-the-ticket contenders John McCain and Barack Obama, which scored a collective 31.6 rating among broadcast and cable networks.
It’s also a stunning 60% higher than the 2004 debate between Dick Cheney and John Edwards. In fact, the early figure surpasses any presidential debate since 1992’s second bout between Bill Clinton, Ross Perot and George Bush (which received a 46.3 rating).
The 55-market measurement will likely decrease slightly when Nielsen releases total national viewers later today. If the rating stays above 43.6, it will mean Thursday night was the highest-rated vp debate in TV history, surpassing 1984’s most-watched record holder between George Bush and Geraldine Ferrarro.
- from Here
Last night’s Vice Presidential debate between Sarah “Kids’ Hockey Game” Palin and Joe “Downtown Wilmington” Biden was nothing short of adorable. We simply couldn’t decide which candidate would make the better leader we’d rather have a beer with! So, in an effort to determine whose really the best fit for this nation, we’re going to do as pundits Hillary Rosen and Ed Rollins did last night and tally up points for each candidate for no real discernible reason. Folksy colloquialisms? Point! Mentions of familial anecdotes? Point! Regional pronunciations? Point! Dead babies? Point, point, point! – from here
Last night, as Sarah Palin winked at the camera during the first and only vice presidential debate – at one point I thought she was trying to flirt with the folks back home. I know from a logical point of view she was just trying to lighten a comment she made about Joe Biden using the words ’say it ain’t so, Joe’, but having more than one meaning is always a trademark of a good politician. – from here
Sarah Palin loses VP debate, Joe Biden wins
I think it is fairly obvious, isn’t it? Still, I’d vote for her, switch to the dark side, if she gave me a blow job ;)
The consensus from the debate seems to be that while Sarah Palin exceeded the exceedingly low expectations set for her, Joe Biden won the night. The word comes from former members of the Bush administration and even John McCain’s former press secretary.
Torie Clarke, who worked with McCain back in Arizona and with the Bush Administration’s Department of Defense, had the following remarks on ABC:
“I’m so surprised at what we are talking about before and after the debate. Before the debate the speculation was all on Sarah Palin, how well can she do, can she answer the tough questions? Nobody was paying attention to Joe Biden. I think Joe Biden had his best night tonight. He came with one mission, and that was to go after John McCain, and he did it, backed up by facts. I think he did a better job tonight of tying McCain to the Bush administration than Obama did last week.
Matthew Dowd, who worked for George Bush’s communications team while in the White House, followed Clarke and he too agreed that the Delaware Democrat took the evening.
“I think, you know, I agree with her on this. I think Sarah Palin did reasonably well. The death spiral she has been on for the last week, she survived. She’s lived another day. She did well. But I think, when the polls come out in the next two, three days, Joe Biden won this debate.”
- from huffpost
The matchup of Joseph Biden and Sarah Palin started out as the vice presidential debate to end all vice presidential debates, one that would really matter. “Easily the most anticipated,” declared Brian Williams.
Instead, Thursday’s St. Louis, Mo., debate was a reminder once again that it really is all about the top of the ticket.There is no doubt that there was drama, not the least of which was the face-to0face encounter of a female political sensation with a male experienced political pro, a dynamic not seen since Vice President George Bush debated Rep. Geraldine Ferraro in 1984.
But this debate had much more tension that that one, as poll numbers continued to sink for John McCain and the latest of the not-so-flattering Palin interview segments aired on “CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.”
On the other side, there was the possibility of Biden making a long-winded fool of himself, as he has done before, like his assertion that President Roosevelt appeared on television in 1929. Even worse, he could come across as a patronizing know it all.
But none of that happened.
Instead, both candidates were largely kept in check, and, as much as they attempted to bring in their own personal stories into the proceedings, ultimately were forced to focus on McCain and Barack Obama. Moderator Gwen Ifill by and large avoided asking specific issues in the running mates’ pasts, and didn’t seem to be all that interested in many followups, either.
With Tina Fey’s devastating impersonation settling into the public’s mindset, Palin undoubtedly exceeded expectations. How could she not?
Moreover, she was downright defiant when it came to answering questions, often dodging Biden’s comments or Ifill’s queries.
Wasn’t it McCain who has been calling for deregulation? “I may not answer the question that you or the moderator want to hear,” she said.
Later, she said she was thankful for the chance to debate because, “I like to answer these tough questions without the filter of the mainstream media.”
She did make mistakes, calling Gen. David McKiernan, the top commander in Afghanistan, “General McClellan.” And some of her answers were rambling.
But she didn’t come off, as she did with Couric, as just plain stumped. Instead, displaying an every-smiling face, she offered coherent talking points and a few sharp retorts.
Her most effective portions came when she combined her folksy charm — there were so many “doggone its” and “god bless hers” and “betcha” that you would have thought Marge Gunderson prepped her — with harsh attacks and a fighting persona.
- from Variety
Anyone looking for a knockout punch or big-time gaffe from either Sarah Palin or Joe Biden is still waiting.
But still, the first and only vice presidential debate was the most compelling 90 minutes of TV on a Thursday night in quite some time. For sheer drama, it beat “Thursday Night Football” and anything the networks could cook up. It was, despite an upbeat opening, an unremittingly tense and sometimes testy exchange between Palin and Biden.
And because of the Palin Factor that has drawn so much attention to this race, the debate is likely to have been watched by more people than reigning Thursday dramas “Grey’s Anatomy” and “CSI” combined.
- from THR
A lot of people are asking whether tonight’s Vice Presidential debate will be a better forum for Sarah Palin to shine then her recent disastrous interviews. Okay, maybe not a lot of people but every talking head I see on cable news. Since they are asking, I’ll answer.
No.
Palin has one obstacle to success. It’s not the format of a debate. It’s not Joe Biden. It’s not Gwen Ifill.
The problem is that Sarah Palin doesn’t have sufficient knowledge of national and international affairs to hold the office of Vice President of the United States of America.
She seems to have done well enough in her debates in the 2006 Alaskan gubernatorial race but that’s not because the debate format suited her better. It’s because the debates weren’t about national or international affairs.
- from huffpost
Sarah Palin vs Joe Biden The Vice-Presidential Debate
Well tonight’s the night when the Barracuda gets to take on the Bloviator on the big stage in front of an anxious nation. The left is hoping she falls on her face and the right is just waiting for gaffe a minute Biden to just open his mouth. I know one thing is sure, Sarah Palin is no light weight in debate and she should not be underestimated.I have seen a lot of flap around the net that Gwen Ifil is writing a book about Obama and other black politicians due out on inaugeration day and therefore she has a conflict if interest as moderator. I am not to worried about it but I think it would be wise of Palin to call her on it in her opening remarks by congratulating her for it. She could also slip in an underhand dig at Biden’s known plagirism by saying at least Gwen is writing it herself. Sarah Palin has a quick wit and can stick the knife in with a smile as her opponents in Alaska have acknowledged. – from here
The stakes were sky-high for Sarah Palin, not to mention Republican presidential candidate John McCain, as she debated Democrat Joe Biden Thursday night amid falling poll numbers and growing voter skepticism.
The Republican governor of Alaska faced off against the Democratic senator from Delaware in the most-anticipated vice presidential debate ever as surveys showed Barack Obama and Biden in a strengthening position for the Nov. 4 election.
The powerful boost McCain got from choosing Palin as his running mate is fading fast, and they looked to the debate at Washington University in St. Louis as a chance to restore some of that luster.
McCain mentioned the evening’s debate as he took the stage for a town hall meeting with several hundred women voters in Denver and was rewarded with a standing ovation and loud cheers.- from here
Listening to surrogates and aides to John McCain on Thursday, one is left with the impression that there is no great need for Gov. Sarah Palin to actually answer questions during tonight’s vice presidential debate.
Indeed, the spin coming from McCain surrogates and strategists is that all Palin has to do is pass a sort of artificial personality test, in which she strikes an emotional thread with the average voter — question, answers, or intellectual capacity be damned.
Such were the talking points mere hours before the debate in St. Louis, which peaked with Sen. Joe Lieberman – a man not unaccustomed to the pressures of such a forum – actually proclaiming that Palin’s relative ignorance helped her relate to “regular people.”
“She’s not lived in the world of Washington, so she doesn’t know every detail of all the questions senators deal with,” Lieberman told NBC’s Andrea Mitchell. “But, frankly, that’s her strength. I think that’s why a lot of regular people out across America think she’s going to be their voice.”
- from Huffpost
Granholm On Playing Palin: The Michigan governor tells Newsweek about helping with Joe Biden’s debate prep. “I do think, generally, it is more difficult for a man to debate a woman. I think that citizens have certain expectations still ingrained in them about how men and women should behave and comport themselves. And for both sides, there are pitfalls.”
Palin To Go On Offense Against Biden: “Sarah Palin plans to go on the attack in tonight’s debate,” Politico reports, “hitting Joe Biden for what she will call his foreign policy blunders and penchant for adopting liberal positions on taxes and other issues, according to campaign officials involved in prepping her for tonight’s showdown.”
The Palin camp is projecting surprising self-confidence in the pre-debate hours, despite the vice presidential nominee’s uneven — and, at some points, peculiar — performances in recent television interviews, the officials say. Top advisers to John McCain privately say Palin’s recent CBS interview was a borderline disaster, especially since it played out in several segments over several days. Tonight will be different, they say.
“This is going to finally put her back into a position where we see her like we saw her the first couple weeks,” a McCain official said. “She was herself. She was authentic, and people related to that. … Tonight, she’ll get into a rhythm. You’re going to see her in a way that you haven’t seen her yet.”
- from huffpost
Entertainment value ‘huge’ for Sarah Palin / Joe Biden Debate
Talk about must-see TV. Maybe the first McCain-Obama go-round wasn’t as widely watched as expected, but Thursday night’s vice presidential debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden looks to be everything that their running mates’ was not.
After a series of interviews with “CBS Evening News” anchor Katie Couric that raised eyebrows and blood pressures from all sides of the political spectrum as well as Tina Fey’s caricature on “Saturday Night Live,” there is growing evidence that Palin will be a big draw when she and Biden meet for the only time beginning at 9 p.m. ET at Washington University in St. Louis. The fact that it’s being held on a Thursday, one of the most popular nights for TV, almost certainly will help in the way that a low-rated Friday night didn’t for John McCain vs. Barack Obama.
“A lot of people are anticipating this to be almost a ‘Saturday Night Live’ live,” said Tammy Vigil, an assistant professor of communications at Boston University and a co-author of the upcoming book, “The Third Agenda in U.S. Presidential Debates.” “The entertainment value on this debate is going to be huge.”
- from THR
“Vice Presidential Questions” with Sen. Joe Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin debuts tonight (1) on the CBS EVENING NEWS WITH KATIE COURIC. Following is the transcript from tonight’s broadcast. The series continues tomorrow (2) on the CBS EVENING NEWS.
Mandatory Credit: the CBS EVENING NEWS WITH KATIE COURIC
COURIC: Joe Biden and Sarah Palin have put in some very long days, preparing for tomorrow night’s debate. Tonight, to give you a better sense of who they are and their views on a number of issues, we’re beginning a new series, “Vice Presidential Questions.” We begin with an issue that’s divided this nation for decades.
COURIC (to Biden): Why do you think Roe v Wade was a good decision?
BIDEN: Because it’s close to a consensus that can exist in a society as heterogeneous as ours. What does it say? It says in the first three months that decision should be left to the woman. And the second three months where Roe v Wade says well, the state, the government has a role. Along with the women’s health They have a right to have some impact on that. And the third three months they say the weight –of –of the government’s input is on the fetus being carried. That’s sort of reflected as close anybody is ever going to get in this heterogeneous, this multicultural society of religious people as to some sort of not consensus but as close it gets. I think the liberty clause of the 14th amendment is–offers a right to privacy. now that’s one of the big debates that I have with my conservative scholar friend that they say you know unless a right is enumerated unless it’s actually, unless uses the word privacy in the Constitution, then no such constitutional right exists. Well, I think people have an inherent right.
COURIC: (to Biden): What are the Supreme Court decisions you disagree with?
BIDEN: You know, I’m the guy who wrote the Violence Against Women act. And I said that every woman in America if they are beaten and abused by a man should be able to take that person to court. Meaning you should be able to go to federal court and sue in federal court the man who abused you if you can prove that abuse. But they said no that a woman, there’s no federal jurisdiction and I held, they acknowledged, I held about 1,000 hours of hearings proving that there’s an effect in interstate commerce. Women who are abused and beaten and beaten are women who are not able to be in the work force. And the Supreme Court said there is an impact on commerce but this is federalizing a private crime and we’re not going to allow it. I think the Supreme Court was wrong about that decision.
COURIC (to Palin): Why, in your view, is Roe v Wade a bad decision?
PALIN: I think it should be a states issue not a federal government–mandated–mandating yes or no on such an important issue. I’m in that sense a federalist, where I believe that states should have more say in the laws of their lands and individual areas. Now foundationally, also, though, it’s no secret that I’m pro life that I believe in a culture of life is very important for this country. Personally that’s what I would like to see further embraced by America.
COURIC (to Palin): Do you think there’s an inherent right to privacy in the Constitution?
PALIN: I do. Yeah, I do.
COURIC: the cornerstone of Roe v Wade
PALIN: I do. And I believe that –individual states can handle what the people within the different constituencies in the 50 states would like to see their will ushered in in an issue like that.
COURIC: What other Supreme Court decisions do you disagree with?
PALIN: Well, let’s see. There’s –of course –in the great history of America rulings there have been rulings, that’s never going to be absolute consensus by every American. And there are–those issues, again, like Roe v Wade where I believe are best held on a state level and addressed there. So you know–going through the history of America, there would be others but–
COURIC: Can you think of any?
PALIN: Well, I could think of–of any again, that could be best dealt with on a more local level. Maybe I would take issue with. But you know, as mayor, and then as governor and even as a Vice President, if I’m so privileged to serve, wouldn’t be in a position of changing those things but in supporting the law of the land as it reads today.
COURIC: Thomas Jefferson wrote about the First Amendment, building a wall of separation between church and state. Why do you think that’s (so) important?
PALIN: His intention in expressing that was so that government did not mandate a religion on people. And Thomas Jefferson also said never underestimate the wisdom of the people. And the wisdom of the people I think in–in this issue is that people have the right and the ability and desire to express their own religious views–be it a very personal level, which is why I choose to express my faith in a more public forum. And the wisdom of the people, thankfully, engrained in the foundation of our country is so extremely important. And Thomas Jefferson wanted to protect that.
BIDEN: The best way to look at it is look the every state where the wall’s not built. Look at every country in the world where religion is able to impact the governance. Almost every one of those countries are in real turmoil. Look, the founders were pretty smart. They had gone through — you know– several hundred years of wars. Religious wars. And they were in the midst of religious wars in Europe. The best way to do this is to keep the government out of religion. They took religion out of government. But they didn’t mean religion couldn’t be in a public place. In the public square.
- from Suntimes
Amid all the chaos of the financial crisis, it’s been easy to overlook a simple, stark trend: Sarah Palin is killing the Republican ticket. Beyond becoming a national joke, Palin has been driving independent and moderate voters in key battleground states away from John McCain, and that fact is going to frame how she debates Joe Biden tonight.
From late August, when Barack Obama and McCain named their running mates, through mid-September, when the Wall Street meltdowns began, the national polls hardly changed. But the composition of each candidate’s support shifted. McCain increased his standing among Republicans, white men, and voters over the age of 65, according to CBS News/New York Times poll data. But he lost votes among moderates, independents, and women, particularly women under the age of 45. Even before Palin’s Titanic interview with Katie Couric, she was alienating non-right-wingers and the Tina Fey vote.
- from NYmag
Sarah Palin – Joe Biden VP debate could make ratings history
Forget the presidential debates. The veepstakes has all the action, and this week’s match between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin could make ratings history.
“I love the vice presidential debate; it’s always the one I look forward to the most,” says Alan Schroeder, author of “Presidential Debates: 40 Years of High-Risk TV” and a journalism professor at Northeastern U. “The stakes are lower, so the candidates usually attack harder. It’s much better political theater.”Anyone not remember Lloyd Bentsen’s stinging put-down of Dan Quayle in the 1988 veep debate when Quayle compared himself to JFK? “Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.”
“The vice presidential debate usually draws the lowest ratings, but this could be the year that changes all that,” Schroeder says, mainly because of the Palin factor. “This is the mystery woman meeting the public almost for the first time. We’ve never had such a thing with a vice presidential candidate in history.”
- from Variety
Sarah Palin naked?
Who cares about Republicans vs Democrats. We’re too dumb for all this political talk, unless it has to do with Lindsay, Samantha, Dina and Michael and…. We just know one thing, Sarah Palin is kinda hot. Yeah, we’re all nodding, we’d tap it. A lot hotter than frackin’ Joe “Jerry Van Dyke” Biden. Sarah Palin, John McCain’s Vice President pick for the Republicans, is totally MILFy GILFy. Just look at her, ya know it, she’s totally naughty, kinky, and takes no bullshit. Mmmm, Sarah could be MY VISE President any day.
And you know, she’s totally gotta have a naked picture out there someplace. And if not, someone should quickly photoshop one up. I tell ya, she’d win hands down with a leaked naked picture. (Mmm, a little leather collar, riding boots and a whip….) We’d all, guys I mean, have boners for her, which would control our voting decisions. She’s the anti-Hillary Clinton — who was a major boner deflater. The cock controls the decision of men, and we do dumb stuff for chicks, which includes voting for a Republican in 08.
Hey, have a hot, PG/R (but no X) pic of Sarah Palin — fake or not, please click on Tip US.
Updated Sept 10: Sarah Palin Contest Pics here!
