Palin v. Biden

Yesterday afternoon I picked up the boys and took them to baseball practice. We were early, so we practiced pop flies. Both of them were really doing better when we finished. Then they had their regular practice and I watched a little bit as I practiced my kidstuf script. It’s only four pages this week, so it isn’t bad at all and my friend Rich is in the skit with me as Chef Bean. It should be great, the kids will love it. In fact the whole show this month is not only very interesting, but don’t right hilarious. I highly advise attending if you can (5pm Sunday night). Brandi had a singing practice that started during kidstuf rehearsal and didn’t finish until later, so I took the boys home and put them to bed at about 8:30. SO, all of that to say that I didn’t get to watch the debate as it happened. My good friend J, was texting me with updates, and from his messages, I was not very encouraged.

However, I did catch most of the debate on CNN’s re-run last night and I have to say I thought it was pretty good. I actually thought Joe Biden was “Good Joe” last night. He didn’t stick his foot in his mouth as he is very prone to doing. His answers were pretty clear and he spoke from experience. Unfortunately Palin didn’t really hammer him on the plethora of mistakes that he has made and continues to make, but that’s okay she didn’t need to. I thought Palin was good, not great, she did duck some questions, something that B and I both noticed. But she was VERY charming. In fact I think by the end of the debate Biden was ready to ask for her number. She showed a lot of confidence, humor and poise. She almost carried some things a little too far. I’m not sure how people are going to take the winking at the camera and the little shake on the “drill, baby, drill” (see video below), but all in all I was definitely pleased. At the end of the debate B asked why they have debates. I said it’s a chance for somebody to really mess up, or somebody to really say something unique, profound or even funny. Really it’s suppose to be about presenting the different positions of the parties, but unfortunately they don’t historically hold much sway in that fashion. You can definitely lose ground in a debate, but you can rarely pull out an election victory from a debate. Other than Palin’s charm, I don’t think much will be remembered from this debate (she’s the only candidate that I have ever seen give a wink to the camera and even a ‘shout out’ to her brother’s third grade class).



***Update : I just watched the clip again. I forgot this is where she called him Senator Obiden. I like it. :)

***Also, as I was watching last night I already started laughing, knowing that the SNL skit this week should be pretty funny.

Barack and Joe's buddies

A good clip.

SHOCKING!!! ML asks some big questions! Obviously not a Biden fan.

This video is pretty shocking. If anything it shows ML is not a Biden fan. He points out one of Biden's missteps and gets Obama a little flustered and irritated. I like it. This is actually some legit journalism that we haven't seen from NBC. Nice. Then he points out the fact that Biden was a bad pick compared to Palin or Hillary for that matter. Classic stuff. Go Matt!

I am really starting to like Joe Biden

For the same reason that the Obama team is wishing they would have picked someone else.

Katie actually gets a good point in and Biden is quick to say how much he disliked the commercial put out and endorsed by his own campaign and his running mate.

Nice.

Change... really?

One of Senator Obama's biggest campaign promises and favorite lines on the trail is that he is going to "cut wasteful spending." Really?

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste a nonprofit, nonpartisan group just finished their analysis of the 2007 congressional record concerning earmarks, otherwise known as pork barrels, or "wasteful spending". Governor Palin isn't on the list because she is not a member of congress and so doesn't appropriate federal funds. McCain, Obama, and Biden are on the list.

In all fairness Senator McCain has also pledged to "cut wasteful spending," he has even gone so far as to pledge that he will veto any bill that has pork in it. Pretty bold pledge.

So, based on past history which is our only possible means of predicting future performance, who will keep their word?

Let see how they ranked.

The CCAGW broke it down by 2007 and then to be fair, they included a life time rating.

Obama - for 2007 - 10% Meaning that 90% of the time he voted for pork.
Biden - for 2007 - 0% Meaning that he voted for pork 100% of the time.
McCain - for 2007 - 100% You get the idea, he NEVER voted for pork in 2007.

Now for pretty much all of 2007, all of these candidates were running for president. So lifetime averages...

Obama - 18%
Biden - 22% (evidently 2007 was a very porky year for him)
McCain - 88%

So what do you think? Who really will "cut wasteful spending"?

H/T: MM

After day 3 of the DNC

Well day 3 of the DNC saw John McCain on a skewer, although a very polite skewer. Both Bill Clinton and Joe Biden expressed their respect for McCain, the work that he has done in the past by reaching across the aisle and his heroic military record. Then they began to berate him on a whole host of issues. I liked it. Not from the perspective that they wanted me to like it… but I liked it. They drew a clear contrast. They were dishonest at times and lacked several little things like evidence and facts, and willfully ignoring important issues, but they definitely drew a contrast.

Bill Clinton was quite his old self last night. He had the same old hand gestures, he was composed and collected. I did notice that biting his lip had been replaced by a tongue roll in the cheek. Not sure what that’s about. But he was smooth, polished, and put on a truly Clintonesque performance. A much better show than he had been putting on for the last year campaigning for his wife. In the end though it was all about Bill and he was loving every minute of it. He constantly made references back to his own administration and how great things were in the 90s. The funny thing is, this speech was suppose to be about national security, but it included easily as much or more about the economy as it did national security. Unlike Hillary, Bill’s speech was clear, easy to listen to and although it contained copious references back to his administration, he very definitely endorsed Obama… on stage. His comments off stage were a little different. One MSNBC commentator was subjected to a deafening round of boos along with a hostile Chris Matthews for stating that the Clinton’s might have endorsed Obama, but they would be voting for McCain. It was pretty classic.

Joe Biden is not the public speaker that Bill Clinton is. His speech was painful. He tripped over his words several times. His statements were aimed at getting the crowd riled up without regard to legitimacy or truth. I’ve listened to several of these speeches now and I got more irritated with Biden’s speech than I have any of them.

But, the big show is tonight. Invesco Field is decorated up like the Parthenon from the pictures. I have no idea how that plays into this whole shindig, but I guess we’ll see tonight. I’m sure it will be very well delivered and very well received by the crowd. I’m sure it will be very touchy-feely and very sentimental. I’m not sure about any kind of substance, but we’ll see.

Will it be enough to stop the trend to McCain?

Will the Dems get any kind of bump from their convention?

Will McCain’s VP announcement(Friday or maybe even tonight) steal the thunder?

Are the Reps in a better position with their convention being one week after the Dems?

We shall see.

Biden on Obama

What an election season this has been. But just to recap, let's go back to the primaries, when the new Vice Presidential candidate Joe Biden was a candidate for president.

He had some things to say about Obama and McCain for that matter.



Youtube is a beautiful thing.

HT: Powerlineblog