Reply #28: Palin's only debate hurdle may be a chalk mark on the stage floor

[radfringe]

Gov. Sarah Palin came off of a series of interviews, which have left most of us saying "WTF???!!! You have to be joking", even some respected conservatives are balking at drinking this koolaid. Like, many of you, we are gleefully looking forward to the Vice-Presidential debates on Thursday, October 2. This is going to be good.

Well, not so fast. The debate hurdle is being lowered for Palin, at the moment the hurdle is about 6 inches off the floor - by debate time, the only hurdle may be a chalk mark on the stage floor.

From Crooks and Liars:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/tag/vice-president-debate /

At the insistence of the McCain campaign, the Oct. 2 debate between the Republican nominee for vice president, Gov. Sarah Palin, and her Democratic rival, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., will have shorter question-and-answer segments than those for the presidential nominees, the advisers said. There will also be much less opportunity for free-wheeling, direct exchanges between the running mates. McCain advisers said they had been concerned that a loose format could leave Ms. Palin, a relatively inexperienced debater, at a disadvantage and largely on the defensive.

This morning on CNN - a blatherhead was asked about expectations for Palin, and what did Palin have to do in the debate for it to be considered a win.

The blatherhead stated Palin needs to be herself, that with all the talk of Main Street vs Wall Street, Palin was Main Street and Biden was Wall Street. Palin is regular people and just has to give her down to earth Main street answers. She went on to talk about how Palin "connects" with Main Street.

In other words, Palin doesn't have to score, she doesn't have to shoot, she doesn't even have to wave a pom-pom, and it doesn't matter what she says as long as it's "folksy" and she "connects".

From Capital Chronicles:
http://blog.mlive.com/capitolchronicles/2008/09/sarah_palin_and_the_lowered_ex.html

Sarah Palin wins the lowered expectations game
Posted by Susan J. Demas. Chronicles September 28, 2008

Why? Lowered expectations. No one expects her to know as much as Biden. But traditional debates favor talking points, which Palin can memorize, and attacks, which she lands with glee. America might just love the comely mom of five telling off the blowhard senator. Stick it to the man, Sarah!

Coupled with the fact that it will be viewed as a huge victory that she can just pronounce the name of Waziristan, it looks like Sarah Palin will be declared the winner just by showing up.

For the past eight years we've been been "led" by a guy most people wanted to have a beer with - eight years later, most of those same people are wondering if they can even afford a beer. We have a republican presidential candidate who not only flip-flops on issues, but lurches irratically in all directions at once. Standing next to him, is a republican machine styled "hockey mom", being sold as "one of us", someone many would like to to have a cup of coffee with and just chat.

http://jamesfallows.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/09/the_looming_problem_for_biden.php

I'm not joking about this: in the wake of her catastrophic performance in the Katie Couric interview, Sarah Palin has set expectations so low that she is very likely to do "surprisingly" well against Joe Biden on October 2.

That is, to seem more flustered and incoherent than she did against Couric, Palin would have to move herself into "Eagleton zone," where her presence on the ticket would no longer be sustainable.

Any informed-seeming answer she gives will be her first such answer under press questioning -- which in practice means the Gibson and Couric interviews. This is especially true if it's to a "but what about....?" or "are you saying...?" follow-up question. Those follow-ups, from Couric, were the truly lethal ones. Odds are that Palin will manage to handle at least one exchange of this sort, maybe more, and therefore show "improvement" and beat the expectations game.

Either that, or she and the ticket are mortally wounded.