I think there's going to be a debate Thursday night. How do you think they'll coach Palin?

[terrya]

Will she come off as aggressive with a few talking points that they'll try to drill into her? Will she stutter and stammer the entire time? Will she just stand there, sort of comatose?

[Raven]

1. Ear piece...the only thing that will save her. n/t

[CakeGrrl]

32. At this point, I don't see how even an ear piece could help

Her interview with Couric demonstrated that she doesn't know why she's saying the things she says.

I'm sure she was given some core talking points to make. But she couldn't get out a coherent sentence because she was too busy trying to fit the 'buzzwords' into her response. That told me that you can't just give her a hint as vague as "discuss what you and Karzai talked about" because she doesn't know how to expand on that idea.

What jumped out at me was the response to the $700 billion bailout that Cafferty replayed. When she starts listing the reasons it's needed, she suddenly says "Oh! And job creation...", as if she suddenly remembered she was supposed to fit in a mention about creating jobs.

Her thought process wasn't fast enough to allow her to finish the statement coming out of her mouth before she figured out how to work in the next idea.

The best example I can think of is the scene in "Broadcast News", where Holly Hunter's producer has to guide William Hurt's newscaster through a special report. She feeds him the concepts through his earpiece and he seamlessly incorporates them into his ongoing commentary.

I don't know Palin's mental processing will stand up to a mic feed. I'd almost want them to go ahead and try it.

[torbird]

41. Agree. NO earpiece

Palin couldn't continue speaking with a voice in her ear. Blank stare. Disaster.

[janx]

2. She will be incoherent, as always.

They'll ask her a question and she'll spout talking points that have nothing to do with the subject at hand, the way she did in the Couric interview.

[LonelyLRLiberal]

3. Note cards like she had with Katie Couric?

She might be able to memorize some set lines, but she won't know when to use them!

[jillan]

4. Talking points. Remember the way the debate is set up, I don't think Biden is going to be able to

challenge her.

[madaboutharry]

5. Maybe all three,

depending on the question.

Energy = aggressive

Foreign policy = stutter and stammer

Bailout = comatose

Seems like a plan.

[azmouse]

6. I'd say based on the few interviews Palin has done,

her handlers want her to say as little as is humanly possible.

Maybe she'll try to distract Americans from her lack of intellectual horsepower with a new color of lipstick.... :evilgrin:

[trueblue2007]

39. NEW lipstick on a pit bull = Sarah the Slut Palin

[TheCowsCameHome]

7. Showing excess cleavage couldn't help her this time.

She not ready for the big leagues IMHO.

[PsN2Wind]

28. My thought too

Tell her to show more leg.

[msallied]

8. You know, if I weren't getting so much entertainment off this witch's misfortunes

I'd almost feel sorry for her. But then I think... she made people pay for their own rape kits. Fuck her. I hope she falls HARD on her face. And she will.

[terrya]

18. I don't feel a damn bit sorry for her.

I agree. Fuck her. There's too much shit out there about her. Plus, I'm offended over the idea that she's even slightly qualified for this.

[Wapsie B]

She'll be coached with a few talking points.

She's not intellectually equipped to handle this and everyone knows it.

[Barack_America]

9. No, they'll teach her some canned statements....

That she'll repeat, regardless of the question at hand. Given the keywords of "Iran", "Russia", "taxes", etc. she'll just rattle off some rehearsed statement.

It will be Ifill and Biden's task to press her to actually answer the questions posed to her.

[sunnybrook]

22. I am not sure about Ifill

Don't think she will be tough enough

[Barack_America]

43. That's why Biden has to be prepared to pose follow-up questions directly to Palin.

Even if that is against the format.

[backscatter712]

33. She's gonna be the human parrot!

BRAWK!!! Palin want a cracker!

[Vanje]

10. They will ask to change the debate format...

...to include a swimsuit competition , which Palin will totally kill!

[holiday]

12. I think they will equip her with talking points like they did McCain

last night. I also think they will give her short answers to everything.

[madaboutharry]

20. That should be a SNL skit!

:popcorn:

[ailsagirl]

11. As someone said, she couldn't even stand up to Katie Couric...

how is she going to stand up to Joe Biden??

But, she may surprise us (hope not). We have such low expectations for her she may do passably well. :(

[calico1]

13. Lots of talking points and soundbites that she

will repeat over and over again. Like those dolls that talk when you pull a string.

[me b zola]

49. Yes, but some of them could be dangerous if Biden's not ready for them

Credit cards. That will be tied into, used as a contrast to, her faux populist shtick.

I have faith in team Obama/Biden. I'm sure that they'll be prepared for this.

[OmahaBlueDog]

14. Her problem so far is that she can't even regurgitate the talking points well

..that said, they will keep it short and keep it dumb.

I'm very nervous about that debate. If Palin delivers a coherent performance, it will be hailed as a turning point. Biden is very gaffe-prone, and a coherent Palin combined with a Biden gaffe could be a huge disaster for us.

[sunnybrook]

15. she'll have answers that combine everything she has been studying

that will make no sense in relation to the question being asked. They are giving her a few soundbites to throw in there like their big hit about "community organizers." Will try to connect with ordinary folks by bashing Obama, i.e. religion, guns.... Maybe they will ask her to constantly interject that she is a mom... I seriously don't know what they have... name dropping the world leaders she met who thought she was a babe? Seriously, I would hate to have that job... they must have some plan to attack Biden that will make him look mean and elitist for making fun of her lack of knowledge. She has not had a chance for alot of "education" like these damn liberals, she has been busy working! When all else fails she could recite the Pledge of Allegiance

[fugop]

16. She'll be vicious

I think she'll come out there just like in her speech and toss red meat, figuring to get points with the pundits for snarky, vicious (but "funny") one-liners. Watching the pundits last night and throughout the conventions, that's what gets their juices flowing. She'll come out being the ultimate mean girl. But she'll be funnier than McCain's mean persona. I hope Biden is just his smart self, allowing his own humor to come through, even laughing at her jokes. Then he can hammer her right back. "Verb, noun ... I can see Russia from my house!"

[Greg K]

24. yep. she'll be going on the offensive to try to distract from her own ability to answer. nt

[sunnybrook]

27. being vicious could backfire

The tossing of "red meat" will not have the same effect with a silent audience. She gets too mean she turns people off, i.e. Ann Coulter

[gravity]

31. Her attacks are mostly used for firing up the base

They are classic right wing talking points and inside jokes. I don't think that independents will be as receptive to them, and they could backfire if she doesn't have any substance to back them up.

[fugop]

38. My thought as well

I do think, as I saw last night, that indies will react negatively to that crap. I don't usually watch CNN for debates, but I absolutely LOVED watching the bio-reaction lines. I lost track of the debate sometimes because I was laughing to my husband about how there were no big spikes really, but Obama had a constant line which would immediately slide down as soon as McCain would speak. The indies and Dems would just drop every time he opened his mouth. The Republican line barely moved. I think there were all sedated to get through it! Anyway, yes, I think if Palin goes mean, it could (should) turn off indies again ... some more. Hope so, anyway! Then again, I hated her nomination acceptance speech and all her nasty poo-flinging since, but pundits seem to think it's AWESOME!

[Bucky]

17. I'm guessing pavlovian training. Sugar cubes for right answers, elctroshocks for bad ones.

No, bad Palin. Bad, bad Palin. *ZAP!*       Now start over, Eliza.

"The tax on smoke stacks falls mainly on the relaxed."

By jove, I think she's got it!

[TNMOM]

19. Unfortunately for them, her most powerful weapon with the GOP base

is also her most damaging with the rest of the country.
The fundies love her sharp jabs, the fact that she can field dress a moose, that she claims to be a "pitbull with lipstick" and "never blinks."

For the rest of the nation, however, she is Cheney in a skirt.

The GOP coaches have to pick their poison. Is she does a 180 and starts acting "Feminine" - they will lose the base, and risk looking weak and unknowledgeable to everyone else.

My guess is they'll tell her to keep the smear machine greased so as to not lose the base. There is no way she can win the educated vote. Best go for the fake macho/bully vote.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

21. She'll talk about things she knows: taxidermy, moose hunting, beauty queening, PTA

I think she should stick to that, no matter what the question is. She'll be more relaxed.

[kestrel91316]

23. Well, she won't be answering any of the questions asked in any meaningful sense.

She'll spew talking points left and right, and string words together into incomplete sentences, and get a few blank looks on her face, and break out into a cold sweat when she realizes she doen't have those nifty 3x5 cheat sheets anymore.

It will be like that vacuous teen beauty contestant who melted down with her nonsensical gibberish about maps and Americans and Iraq.

[cui bono]

25. They'll have her practice the following:

1. talking in a raspy voice
2. blocking off her nasal passage so it sounds like she has a stuffed nose
3. fake sneezes
4. coughing so that it sounds like she's congested
5. sleight of hand to swap the thermometer from the light bulb to the one in her mouth without anyone noticing.

[CTyankee]

26. I think she's being drilled now on one liners on each topic that might come up.

They will be generalities, of course, and they'll be written out for her to take to her podium.

She's also being drilled on one line "zingers," little cheap shots to get her the sound bite, designed to throw Biden off his game (which I think is close to impossible).

That's about all they can hope for. She will probably start wallowing in patriotism and her son in Iraq and her compassion for other parents of special needs children.

I doubt if she'll mention moose gutting or shooting wolves from a plane.

I do hope the rape kits will come up. Biden will sail into that one easily as the author of the Violence Against Women Act. He should bring it up.

We'll prolly get a few long, rambling incoherent statements like the Russia one from the Couric interview. There might be a lot stunned silences.

That's about it, as I see it...

[demokatgurrl]

29. They'll have her memorize the talking points

and use them to answer any question that is asked. And she'll get away with it- they always do at debates.

[smoochpooch]

30. I think they're done trying to train her, it obviously isn't working.

At this point, they may just figure, "we can't change her so just let her be herself and hope she comes off as an everyday person."

[RoadRage]

34. Diarreah of the mouth...

She'll start talking... and won't know how or when to stop. Look at her 2 "real" interviews so far... they had to explain questions (Bush doctrine) and provide answers (like "mock") for her.

[sammytko]

35. there are clips of her Alaska gov debates - she

sticks to the energy/oil lines and gets in a mean jab at Tony Knowles - former gov. When asked if either of the 3 candidates would hire one of the other two - she said Yes. she would hire Knowles

as a COOK, since she heard that is what he like to do....

[Lochloosa]

36. Biden has already said he will be talking to the Public. Let her rattle on.

She's toast.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

37. zingers. one line attacks. no substance. no policy.

[Cleita]

40. For one thing she won't be able to flirt with Gwen Ifill anymore than she

could with Katie Couric so I'm sure Gwen won't try to help her like Charlie Gibson did. The only thing to watch for is that she's wired like * was.

[torbird]

42. She will only talk about Alaska

It's what she "knows" or can remember

[bulloney]

44. She'll try to throw out her opposition to the Bridge to Nowhere bullshit.

She'll tell how she's such a fiscal conservative.

She'll talk up her foreign policy credentials by reminding us that Alaska sets closest to Russia than any other state. (Never mind that New York City is only 110 miles farther from Moscow than Juneau.)

She may even try to slip in the E-bay plane bullshit.

She'll try to impress us with her U.N. visit, saying that she is now vetted for foreign policy.

[Mz Pip]

45. Give her a Kareoke mic

and maybe she'll sound better.

[mitchum]

46. She will take her blouse off and sing "Jesus Loves Me"

[BumRushDaShow]

47. She will do a RNC repeat - mean, ugly, condescending, nasty, and arrogant.

And she'll again win her "base" and the gushing from the lunatic fringe RW hate talk radio blowhards.

[JackBeck]

48. If she's not wearing an ear piece, she'll be fully scripted.

I'm dying to see Biden pitch a curve ball and then watch Palin swing and miss.

And I used to think that Bush was the epitome of a Manchurian candidate.

[crazy_vanilla]

50. show some leg, show some cleavage, speak as little as possible

That might save you, dummy.

[pipi_k]

51. I suspect they will probably pay

Tina Fey to dress up like her and go to the debates in her place.


That might be the only way they could get coherent answers


then again, it would be a total hoot if Tina Fey pretended to be her and spent the entire time just staring in terror at the cameras....

maybe even make a little wee-wee puddle on the floor underneath her...


:evilgrin: