Palin: Not Too Dumb to Debate
The bar is being set awfully low for Sarah Palin, but here’s footage of America’s Favorite Serial Mom holding her own nicely in a debate from a few years back. From the Jed Lewison:
In a highly structured debate like the one we are going to see on Thursday night, she has the ability to be dominant.
Because the format allows for very little give-and-take between Palin and Joe Biden, her “values”-oriented debating style stands a good chance of succeeding. The central feature of her debate style is that rather than getting bogged down in facts and specifics, she instead says what she is for and what she is against using terms like “healthier,” “stronger,” “more prosperous,” and “fairer.”…
Given the debate’s format on Thursday night, I expect Palin will do just fine. I will be quite surprised if she gets caught off guard or has a moose-in-headlights moment.
I don’t think she’ll display much in the way of specifics, but she will get the values-oriented language right, and that should be good enough at least for a draw, and that will mean she beats expectations.
The morning after the debates there will almost certainly be a concerted effort to make Palin appear as if she did better than expected. Those efforts need to be squashed NOW. She’s a competent debater, but still totally out of her league and unqualified to be president should Mr. McCain (who is very old) have a heart attack and die.
