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dreamsharkI have never been impressed with Gwen Ifill as an interviewer, and I'm even less impressed now. The questions she came up with for tonight's vp debate were... awful. Mostly they were great big softballs that had about the same effect as the joke questions I linked to in my last post.. She started off with this zinger: "As America watches these things happen on Capitol Hill, Senator Biden, was this the worst of Washington or the best of Washington that we saw play out?" WTF? What kind of a question is that? Both candidates blinked a couple of times, and then said something like, "Well, Gwen, I don't think it was either. [But here's my stump speech about the economy and middle-class America]"
A few questions later she delivered up this gift-wrapped beauty: "Now, let's talk about -- the next question is to talk about the subprime lending meltdown.Who do you think was at fault? I start with you, Governor Palin. Was it the greedy lenders? Was it the risky home-buyers who shouldn't have been buying a home in the first place? And what should you be doing about it?" Unsurprisingly, Palin chose answer A, managing to wedge in references to both "hockey moms" and "Joe Six Pack." She had nothing to offer to the only substantive part of the question (what we should be doing about it) and Ifill did not press her to answer it. Biden gave a little speech about dregulation and quoted a guy named Joey from the corner gas station. And so it went.
In other news, both candidates apparently won. Sarah Palin won by not disgracing herself and got extra points with Joe Six Pack and his hockey-lovin' wife by droppin' the "g's" from the ends of all her sentences. Joe Biden won by not jumping up and down, frothing at the mouth and talking down to the lady. If you care about substance, Biden clearly came out ahead. But the voters who care about substance probably knew who they were voting for already, and if they didn't they probably weren't looking to the vice presidential debate to make up their minds. If you were looking for ammunition against all those meanies who called Palin a deer in the headlights after the Katie Couric interview then Palin won. She still looked like a scared animal in the headlights, but more of a cornered badger than a deer. I didn't see the Couric interview, but this was apparently a huge improvement, and more than enough for her supporters.
But Gwen Ifill lost big time. Oy.
A few questions later she delivered up this gift-wrapped beauty: "Now, let's talk about -- the next question is to talk about the subprime lending meltdown.Who do you think was at fault? I start with you, Governor Palin. Was it the greedy lenders? Was it the risky home-buyers who shouldn't have been buying a home in the first place? And what should you be doing about it?" Unsurprisingly, Palin chose answer A, managing to wedge in references to both "hockey moms" and "Joe Six Pack." She had nothing to offer to the only substantive part of the question (what we should be doing about it) and Ifill did not press her to answer it. Biden gave a little speech about dregulation and quoted a guy named Joey from the corner gas station. And so it went.
In other news, both candidates apparently won. Sarah Palin won by not disgracing herself and got extra points with Joe Six Pack and his hockey-lovin' wife by droppin' the "g's" from the ends of all her sentences. Joe Biden won by not jumping up and down, frothing at the mouth and talking down to the lady. If you care about substance, Biden clearly came out ahead. But the voters who care about substance probably knew who they were voting for already, and if they didn't they probably weren't looking to the vice presidential debate to make up their minds. If you were looking for ammunition against all those meanies who called Palin a deer in the headlights after the Katie Couric interview then Palin won. She still looked like a scared animal in the headlights, but more of a cornered badger than a deer. I didn't see the Couric interview, but this was apparently a huge improvement, and more than enough for her supporters.
But Gwen Ifill lost big time. Oy.
