Was it just me, or was that a remarkably dumb set of debate questions?

[dreamshark]

I 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.

Comments

[barondave.livejournal.com]

The questions were candidate neutral, fairly generic queries that didn't play to strengths or weaknesses of either candidate: Nothing about earmarks or experience. Since Palin didn't bother to answer even these, I thought they were okay. Let the candidates talk and try to mix it up.

Palin has a few 'deer in the headlights' moments. Notably at the last question about changing the tone in Washington. Biden said he was good at reaching across the aisle. Palin panicked and just said "tax cuts" a few more times and never even came close to the topic.

Palin finished most of her sentences so reassured the "base", though I doubt they were pleased with her answer on gay rights. I was quite impressed by Biden. Aside from some odd syntax in the beginning, he showed he was on top of things and really out single-parented Palin. He had the most emotional moment, talking about raising his kids after his wife and child died, and Palin came off as cold and aloof. Hard to be folksy and small-town when you're cold and aloof.

I thought it was a good debate. Biden clearly won on points. It went pretty much how I (and most) thought it would go. No one's mind was changed, though the instant-polling of independents said they were more likely to vote for Obama/Biden now. The moderator did her job: She wasn't part of the debate and just got them talking.

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

The Today Show is even now conducting a straw poll of a panel of about a dozen women, who are overwhelmingly more impressed by Biden than Palin.

...I'm sure his sexy 'Jimmy Stewart' voice didn't hurt.

[joelrosenberg.livejournal.com]

I'm still boggling over Biden's rewrite of recent history in Lebanon; while I think it would have been great if Hezbollah had been kicked out, that just didn't happen, much less in a US/French operation that, well, never happened either. (For those of us who think that the MSM is in the bag for the Obama campaign, the lack of attention to that will provide further evidence. Not that we needed it. Interestingly, or not, factcheck.org didn't pick up on it, either. Bizarre.

If I had any doubts about Ifill's unsuitability for the moderator gig, her not following up on that would settled the issue. But, by then, it was clear that she was 'way, way over her head here.

Confusing Article I and II of the Constitution or not knowing that the VP is the President of the Senate and can (although usually does not) preside there? Kinda weird, and I guess if he wasn't spending so much time at Home Depot (hey, I don't make this stuff up), he might have had a moment to refresh his memory on such things.

[mmagidow.livejournal.com]

Well if it is any consolation, you can Google up the SNL parody with Queen Latifah playing Gwen Ifill. It's good for a laugh or two.