Skepticism Growing
Washington Post, the latest unwitting dupe in the diabolical right-wing plot.*
With the vice presidential candidates set to square off today in their only scheduled debate, public assessments of Sarah Palin’s readiness have plummeted, and she may now be a drag on the Republican ticket among key voter groups, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Tonight’s heavily anticipated debate comes just five weeks after the popular Alaska governor entered the national spotlight as Sen. John McCain’s surprise pick to be his running mate. Though she initially transformed the race with her energizing presence and a fiery convention speech, Palin is now a much less positive force: Six in 10 voters see her as lacking the experience to be an effective president, and a third are now less likely to vote for McCain because of her.
A month ago, voters rated Palin as highly as they did McCain or his Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama, but after weeks of intensive coverage and several perceived missteps, the shine has diminished.
Washington Post neglects to note that Palin’s high rating followied a stellar personal performance after a week of relentless partisan media bashing. Sheesh, are these people reporters or what?
No unkind “or what” jokes, please.
What the heck, have at it.
Update: Something else growing with the skpeticism. A sense of panic. Moderate Voice:
Biden must do three things tonight.
1) Discipline himself. The debate format, with limited response times, may help him a bit. But he needs to keep his answers succinct and on-message. He knows how to do this, but doesn’t always follow through.
2) Ignore Sarah Palin. Speak to the American people and to Gwen Ifill. Stick to the message of the Obama campaign. The format prevents back-and-forth discussion so Biden will have few chances to martyr Palin by “bullying” her. That’s fortunate. Biden should pretend Palin is not in the room.
3) Attack John McCain. Biden has been very strong at this. Palin will undoubtedly attack Obama, so Biden must get his zingers in at McCain.
If Biden stays disciplined, ignores the Palin distraction, and goes after John McCain, then he wins.
Good luck with the discipline part. The short format is not the answer, but the problem for Biden. Especially because it puts pressure on him to make it short and sweet, which is where he is … shortest and sweetest.
That “ignore Palin” part is curious. I thought the big lefty hit on McCain was his grump, sterm condescending refusal to look at Obama.
Meanwhile, the attack McCain advice caps it. Surefire debate loser that gives Palin a big opportunity to make it all about the boss. See, while Biden is a partisan hack of long standing, McCain is a known bi-partisan maverick with principles. His own man.
* Either that or dead on. We’ll see tonight.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 1:39 pm on Thursday, October 2, 2008
One Response to “Skepticism Growing”
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October 2nd, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Anything that limits the amount of time Biden has his mouth open can only help him.
The Washington Post reporting staff should go ahead and declare itself a wing of the Democratic Party and give up any pretense of objectivity. Their coverage could not be any more partisan, even if they just printed press releases straight from the DNC. Yes, it’s really that bad.