The first female vice-presidential candidate in Republican history, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, stunned her critics last night by delivering a strong and confident performance against Democratic rival Senator Joe Biden in the vice-presidential debate.
After enduring intense and often questionable scrutiny by the media, the likeable Alaskan Governor dispelled the prevailing notion that she has no grasp of the issues by offering sharp answers to questions posed by pro-Obama moderator, Gwen Ifill of PBS.
“Pit Bull Sarah Shows Her Bite” shouted the headlines in this morning’s issue of the New York Post, reports Newsmax.
Their article began: “Sarah Palin used folksy language, winks, smiles and sharp elbows to try to put seasoned rival Joe Biden on the defensive in last night’s vice-presidential debate.”
Even the ultra-liberal New York Times grudgingly admitted that Palin scored points in the first and last vice presidential debate.
“Gov. Sarah Palin made it through the vice-presidential debate on Thursday without doing any obvious damage to the Republican presidential ticket,” their coverage began. “By surviving her encounter with Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. and quelling some of the talk about her basic qualifications for high office, she may even have done Senator John McCain a bit of good, freeing him to focus on the other troubles shadowing his campaign.”
Michael Goodwin, writing in the New York Daily News, gave Palin a “slim” victory over Biden.
“She sometimes sputtered nonsense, seemed like a Thanksgiving turkey stuffed with facts and was no match for his knowledge and experience on foreign affairs,” Goodwin wrote. “But Sarah Palin demonstrated a remarkable political skill Thursday night: She looked into the camera and talked to people as one of them, while Joe Biden talked mostly to the moderator as a teacher to a student.
“On her ability to connect with the audience, and because the expectations for her were so pitifully low, Palin was the victor.”
Even the most unlikely television pundits, such as George Stephanopoulos, had to admit the underdog performed well in the debate. While giving the overall win to Biden, Stephanopoulos said, “ . . . But boy was this close. I think that Governor Palin did an awful lot to help herself tonight. There is no question that she beat expectations, that she was fluent, that she showed she could stand up there on the stage.”
ABC, a network currently being boycotted by the powerful American Family Association because of the pro-Obama bias in its election coverage, actually praised the Governor. Anchor Diane Sawyer found that Palin, “after a bruising time in the media, showed up not just with confidence, but cheerful confidence that might surprise a lot of people.”
However, not everyone was so willing to give Palin the victory. MSNBC’s Chris Matthews said Palin seemed like she was appearing “at a spelling bee.”
CBS, a network also being boycotted for its biased election coverage, was quick to post an instant survey claiming “independents” believed Biden had won the debate.
An anchor at NBC, which is also being boycotted for its slanted election coverage, complained to Missouri Senator Clair McCaskill about a double-standard in the debate performers. “ . . . She called him ‘Joe,’ he called her ‘Governor,’” complained anchor Ann Curry. “She attacked him, he didn’t attack her. Do you think there was a double-standard at play here? Did Joe pull down his full game, and did that hurt him last night–and his ticket?”
The most important opinion, however, comes from the voters. Fox News pollster Frank Luntz conducted a focus group during the debate that was evenly divided between supporters of George Bush and John Kerry in the 2004 election. After the debate, Luntz asked who had won the debate in their opinion.
The majority chose Palin.
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