Round 1: Forget the bailout, what’s up with the bailout process?
Ifill, not the most competent moderator in the world, opens by saying that the House passed a bailout bill this week. She corrects herself.
Biden says that he and Obama will fundamentally change the focus of economic policy to the middle class. Palin says you should measure economic health by asking people on the sidelines of a youth soccer game what they think about their financial positions.
Round to Biden
Round 2: Biden, how will you solve the partisan rancor in Washington?
Biden says that some of his best friends are Republicans! But going back to the first question, he hits McCain for saying that the fundamentals of the economy are strong.
Palin says that she and John McCain are mavericks and that John McCain has made a career of reaching across the aisle.
Round to Biden
Round 3: Whose fault is this sub-prime mess, anyway?
Palin says that predatory lenders and greedy Wall Streeters are at fault and that Joe Sixpack and Hockey Moms need to band together to say “never again” by taking personal responsibility and living within our means. She uses “heck” and “darn” in the same answer.
Biden says that Obama warned about the sub-prime problem two years ago. And that McCain is beholden to deregulation, while Obama will introduce all sorts of new regulation in our economy. He demagogues the free market. These, evidently, are selling points.
Round to Biden
Round 4: Palin and McCain want to take health insurance away from people and make them poorer. Discuss.
Biden gamely avoids Ifill’s ridiculous question in favor of assuring viewers that Obama absolutely won’t raise taxes on people making under $250,000. Palin says she doesn’t like Biden’s redistribution of wealth principles and then makes the smart point that businesses will be more heavily taxed.
Ifill, her voice dripping with disdain, goes back in, asking, “Governor, are you interested in defending Sen. McCain’s healthcare plan?” Palin says yes and then responds with details of McCain’s proposal.
Round to Palin
Round 5: What programs will fall under the axe to pay for the bailout?
Biden says that foreign aid will have to slow down–one assumes that the rest of the world will be happy to accept President Obama’s smiling face in lieu of greenbacks. Palin says that Biden and Obama voted for the energy bill that created the tax breaks for Big Oil and that as governor, she had to then whip those Big Oil companies back into line.
Round to Palin
Round 6: Gov. Palin, Congress passed a bill last year making it harder for poor people to declare bankruptcy; McCain voted for that bill, would you have?
Palin says yes and that John McCain was one of the people calling for the reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac two years ago, but that others in Congress wouldn’t listen.
Ifill then says to Biden, you also voted against the bill while Obama voted for it–why were you so wrong? Biden says that he saw the glass as half full while Barack saw it as half empty. Also, that Obama wrote a letter to the Treasury warning of the coming sub-prime meltdown.
On redirect, Palin jumps straight back to energy issues.
Round to Biden
Round 7: What are the causes of climate change?
Further annoyed with Palin, Ifill says she’s happy to talk about energy issues–by which she means global warming. But she doesn’t want to talk about what to do about global warming–she just wants to know what the candidates think it’s caused by. Palin says that Alaska is the closest to the leading edge of observing the effects of climate change and that she’s not one to ascribe the cause of every single effect to man’s activities. She says, however, that she doesn’t want to argue about the causes, but about how to find solutions. It’s the best she’s been all night.
Ifill, growing impatient turns to Biden and asks him what he thinks is true and what he thinks is false about the causes of climate change–just to make sure we all get the point. Biden says that he believes that global warming is man-made. For the first time it seems possible that Ifill could win this thing for Palin.
Round to Palin
Round 8: Same-sex benefits to couples?
Biden says that under Obama, there will be no distinction, from either a constitutional or legal standpoint, between homosexual and married heterosexual couples. Palin says that she doesn’t want to go further down the road to diluting the definition of traditional marriage, but that she’s very, very tolerant and has lots of diverse friends. But that she doesn’t support defining marriage as anything but the union of one man and one woman.
Round to Palin
Round 9: What should our exit strategy be for Iraq?
Palin says that the surge has worked and that Gen. Petraeus is a hero and that the other ticket opposed the surge and funding for the troops. She says that Obama voted against funding the troops and quotes Biden criticizing Obama for doing so.
Biden says that, with all due respect, he didn’t hear a plan. And that Maliki, Bush, and Obama are all on the same page now for withdrawal within 16 months and that McCain is the odd man out. He says that the fundamental difference between the two candidates is that Obama will end the war and McCain wants no end.
Palin then goes after Biden for his attacks on Obama during the primaries. Biden ducks all of them pretty effectively by going after McCain even harder.
Round to Biden
Round 10: Which is a greater threat–a nuclear Iran or an unstable Pakistan?
Biden says that they’re both great threats and that McCain’s anti-terror policies are faulty because McCain sees Iraq as the central front in the war on terrorism–but that if there is another attack on the American homeland, it will likely have its roots in Pakistan. Palin responds effectively by noting that Gen. Petraeus and Bin Laden were the ones who stated that Iraq was the central front in the war on terrorism. Palin also notes that Obama’s pledge to meet with Ahmadinejad is dangerous and naive.
Ifill interjects herself to note that lots of former secretaries of State advocate meeting with our enemies. What, does Palin think they’re wrong? Palin pounces all over this. Biden tries to deny that Obama ever pledged to meet with Ahmadinejad and, even more bizarrely, that Ahmadinejad is actually in charge in Iran.
Round to Palin
Round 11: Is a two-state solution the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
Palin says that it is and that even at this late date, Sec. Rice is working to create some progress in the region. Biden says that no one in the United States Senate has been a better friend to Israel than Joe Biden. He then goes on to attack the Bush administration, pointing out the great strides Hamas and Hezbollah have made in the last eight years.
Round to Biden
Round 12: “Governor, on another issue, interventionism, nuclear weapons, what should be the trigger–or, should there be a trigger–when nuclear weapons use, is ever, put into play?”
Go ahead, read that question again. It’s an exact quote. I defy you to figure out what Ifill is asking here. It’s gibberish. Neither candidate even bothers to try to unwrap this mess. Biden filibusters better before the discussion veers off into meandering talk about Afghanistan.
Round to Biden
Round 13: Does the American public have the stomach for frequent military interventionism?
Biden says that the American public have an appetite for success. With all due respect, Senator, if real lunch-pail Scranton guys only had an appetite for success, then the Eagles wouldn’t have sold out every home game for the last 15 years.
Palin puts on her aw-shucks face and does a bit about how strange it is to be an outsider when these Washington Insiders play their Beltway games. She hits Biden for voting for the war and now opposing the war. Then she agrees with Biden on needing to aid Darfur and talks about the Alaska Permit Fund trying to divest from Sudan.
Round to Palin
Round 14: How would you differ as presidents from your principals?
Biden says that he would carry on Obama’s policies, God forbid that sad day ever cometh. Palin says she’s going to keep pushing John McCain on ANWR and that thank goodness, the Original Maverick never asked the Wasilla Maverick to check her Maverick views at the door just for the sake of getting on the ticket.
Biden asks to respond and goes on to tie McCain to Bush. He mentions Scranton. Palin says, doggone it, there Joe goes again looking backward when we need to think about the future. She gives a shout-out to third graders watching the debate. This is a nothingburger question with no real winner or loser. Tie goes to the underdog.
Round to Palin
Round 15: What is the vice presidency worth?
Palin says that the VPOTUS presides over the Senate and should be out supporting the president’s policies. She says that she’ll take the lead on energy independence and children with special needs.
Biden says that he has a history of getting things done in the Senate and that he’ll be the point person for legislative initiatives. Also, Biden explains that Obama did ask him if he wanted a portfolio, but that he declined. Of course, Biden notes that he’ll be in the room for every major decision to give his best advice. Here, finally, is the senator we’ve all come to know and love over the years.
Round to Biden
Round 16: What are your Achilles heels?
Palin responds by listing what she sees as her strengths. And people thought she couldn’t act like a professional politician.
Biden does it better though. He says that Ifill is kind to suggest that he only has one Achilles heel and that his real weakness is how passionate he is. Then he lists his accomplishments, smooth as butter. Palin should watch and learn from a master.
Round to Biden
Round 17: Can you think of a single issue you changed your view on because of circumstances?
Biden says yes, that he figured out that you can vote against a judge just because of his ideology and that he’s proud to have led the fight against Robert Bork. Is that something people can be proud of?
Palin says that she passed budgets that she should wanted to veto, but didn’t have enough support to and that she figured out how to do things in a bipartisan manner.
Round to Palin
Round 18: How do you change the partisan tone in Washington?
After saying that the last question would be the final question, Ifill soldiers on to re-ask essentially the second question of the debate. Biden says that it’s important to never question people’s motives, by which he seems to mean, Republicans shouldn’t question Democrats’ patriotism. Palin says that in Alaska she did it by appointing Democrats. She’s finishing stronger than she started.
Round to Palin
I’ve scored this debate 9-9 which, by any conventional measure, should count as a pretty substantial victory for Palin. Biden started out strong and probably accomplished what he needed to: First, he did no harm; second he was perfectly dignified and knowledgeable, and third, he took a hatchet to McCain.
But Palin more than held her own.
