Projecting tomorrow night

[OmahaBlueDog]

Sarah Palin is the driving force in the McSame campaign right now. Among that 30-45% who still doggedly support the GOP brand, she is a breath of fresh air and "the REAL Republican" on the ticket. Don't take my word for it; a quick visit to Freeperville will confirm this.

IMHO, what has been going on in the past several days is not merely "debate preparation." Thursday will be a day where they will try to jump start their base and reenergize their campaign. To this end, she doesn't have to "win" -- not in the conventional sense (although on Friday, the righty talkers will chant that she won in every sense if she doesn't start speaking in tounges).

I've caught Hell here for being hard on Joe Biden. Joe is a great Senator and Democrat, but he is gaffe prone, and I'm not wild about having someone gaffe prone on board because so much is at stake. That said, I have no doubt that Joe will be prepared and focused.

Palin has tipped her hand on part of the debate strategy. She's going to play the salt-of-the-earth-card. We'll hear a lot of sentences begin with things like "I'm not a Harvard PhD, but.....", "Y'know, up in Alaska, people think.....", "As a mom, ...". She'll be upbeat and folksy -- she ain't much on learnin', but that makes her just like you and me, right? My guess, and this is only a guess, is that she will combine this with bare knuckle mudslinging and wedge issue politics. Hence, you will here sentences like "Wasilla is a small town with traditional values; you'd never hear a preacher damn America from the pulpit there." or "I'm not as learned as Senator Biden, but I know what my hear tells me, and my heart says the slaughter of the unborn is wrong." In this manner, Sarah will actually lay out the GOP talking points for the next 30 days -- which will consist of raising fear and doubts about Obama, and touting their "traditional" values on Guns, God, and Gays. Save for the culture war, they are out of material.

However, unless debate training does real wonders in the next 36 hours, Sarah still has real problems that have made her Tina Fey Fodder. Palin works from talking point memorization; if she's thrown off the script (like by a follow up question), she's lost -- she just repeats the first sentence. Second, she get's lost, and her points don't end up making sense. Supposedly, McSame's debate coach is working to make her talking point delivery more natural, and I'm guessing she's just going to ignore questions she doesn't want to answer and talk about whatever she's been told to say.

Things I hope/ would like to see from Biden:

Biden needs to remind everyone that neither he nor Barack were born with silver spoons, and that neither of them got their jobs by marrying a beer heiress. Both of them worked their butts off to get their educations.

Biden shouldn't hesitate to point out commonalities (they both have sons going off to serve the country), but Biden also shouldn't hesitate to point our their differences (things like "Governor, you say Alaska isn't a foreign country. That is true, but Wilmington and Chicago have more in common with most of America than Juneau and Wasilla").

When/if Palin gaffes, Biden needs to exploit it. It's not bullying -- it's a question of readiness to lead.

Biden needs to attack McSame's judgement. What will McSame do in a terror attack -- suspend? What if a terror attack and an economic crisis occur at the same time? He only seems capable of dealing with one issue at a time, so which will it be?

Biden needs to be ready for attacks that seem almost surreal or nonsensical. I say this because Palin will (again, IMHO) simply ignore elements of questions she can't/doesn't want to answer. So, if someone asks about policy toward China, she might come back with an answer that circles back to Joe's failure to oppose same-sex marriage.

The best case for us: Joe looks strong and competent, makes a great case for Barack, and Palin provides the basis for yet another SNL skit.

The best case for them: Palin delivers a competent performance, and sticks some wedge issue tag lines. This won't move many independent voters, but will get the MSM hailing this as a "turning point" for Palin and possibly the campaign.

[KansasVoter]

1. Nice post........

I agree I think tomorrow night will be a 90 minute campaign add for Palin. No need to stay on topic.

[msallied]

2. I think that people are over-estimating the media's ability to sway the voters.

It didn't work with the first debate, and it won't work with this one. Sarah Palin already has a highly negative image right now. It won't be helped by her attempting to sound moderately intelligent next to a brilliant guy. Know why? Because she's not even moderately intelligent.

[OmahaBlueDog]

5. She has a negative image with us and most independents

...however, in Freeperland, to here them tell it, she has the wisdom of Solomon.

However, your point is taken and it is correct -- the MSM spun the Hell out of the notion that "the first debate was a tie" when the electorate clearly didn't see it that way.

[msallied]

6. Well the freepers will never change their minds. They are rumplestilskins spinning shit into gold...

Moderates and indies is who we want. Frankly, it's who they should want too, but they can't seem to avoid talking to Republicans. Probably because most Republicans are abandoning ship too. lol

[jjanpundt]

3. I'm not sure the debate format allows follow up questions or

for them to respond directly to one another. I think those were the conditions set up (demanded) by the mcstupid campaign.

[OmahaBlueDog]

4. I think your right about the format

However, I'm assuming both will find a "back-door" approach to getting their jabs in -- even if it's just Joe shaking his head and saying "Tina Fey will have a ball with THAT"