V-P Debate Ends

The immediate post-debate conventional wisdom among TeeVee hair-dos, focus groups, snap polls, and bloggers seems to be, as Steve Benen succinctly puts, "this debate will probably make no difference whatsoever. Biden was obviously sharper and more knowledgeable. Palin had obviously memorized a series of talking points she repeated over and over again."

Josh Marshall puts his finger on how Palin, to the surprise of many, managed to remain vertical for 90 minutes:

No follow ups. * * * It wasn't the format [moderator Gwen Ifill] was supposed to work with. But if you look at Palin's interview trainwrecks things always got bad on the follow up -- when the interviewer (Gibson or Couric) pressed her on the nebulous answer for some specifics, which she couldn't provide. That's the difference.

Editor extraordinaire James Fallows points his finger:

Ifill, moderator: Terrible. Yes, she was constrained by the agreed debate rules. But she gave not the slightest sign of chafing against them or looking for ways to follow up the many unanswered questions or self-contradictory answers. This was the big news of the evening. Katie Couric, and for that matter Jim Lehrer, have never looked so good.

To sum up: Palin went into the debate with cue card answers she was determined to read regardless of the questions; and Ifill went in with cue card questions she was determined to plow through regardless of previous answers.

Cool Debate Tool

Pro Publico has a cool on-line tool that lets you run your mouse over various repetitive statements of candidates Sarah Palin and Joe Biden to see how many times each used the same words in their convention acceptance speeches. Direct your mouse over the brightly colored text.

Compare convention cliches with tonight's debate responses and statements of --

V-P candidate Sarah Palin here and

V-P candidate Joe Biden here.

Palin Preps for Debate

Lady Hamlet made the video:

The 30 Percent Solution

Historian David M. Kennedy (with an assist from graduate student Sarah Anzia) details "The Vice Presidency - By the Numbers". Below, we summarize a few of the numerical facts they unearthed:

• Number of persons who have served as vice president: 46
• Number of vice presidents who became president due to departure by death or resignation of originally elected president: 9
• Percentage of vice presidents who became president due to departure by death or resignation of originally elected president: 19.6
• Average number of months served by vice president who assumed office on death or departure of the president: 35
• Number of vice presidents who later became president: 14
• Percentage of vice presidents who later became president: 30.4
  

In Training: Palin Debate Night

We've been invited to watch tonight's vice presidential debate at the house of friends. They assure us, "All guns and sharp instruments will be checked at the door." Still, we're afraid we might involuntarily throw a shoe through their TeeVee set or jump out a window.

So, we have sought professional help. Our Personal Trainer is making us sweat through the video, seen below, ten times an hour to harden us for the coming contest:

The Incomplete Works of Sarah Palin

Five Vice Presidential Choices for Barack Obama

Put aside age, gender, race, ethnicity, and religion. Which of the following sets of qualifications, skills, and prior experience do you think would make for the most impressive combination in a vice presidential candidate running mate for Barack Obama?

(Scroll down the page for our answer)

1. Annapolis graduate, Marine rifle platoon commander in Vietnam, and winner of the Navy Cross for heroism, the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars, and two Purple Hearts.
2. Georgetown Law School graduate, former staff attorney for the House Veterans Affairs Committee, and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs in the Reagan Administration(1984-1987).
3. Best-selling author of eight novels and two screenplays, Emmy award winning documentary producer, and former English teacher at the U.S. Naval Academy.
4. Nebraska-born former amateur boxer, self-taught historian, and current U.S. Senator.
5. Vietnam war vet, former Republican critic of John Kerry's anti-war activities in the 1970's, former Secretary of the Navy, and current critic of Bush's Iraq War.

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The correct answer is 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

Dept. of Amplification
6-11 pm

The thoroughly execrable on-line right-wing slant-news source that Atrios amusingly derides as "Drudgico" coincidentally sent a hit man out yesterday to take a pot shot against the "correct answer" Veep we suggested above. About all the hit man accomplished is to lower the bar for swiftboating. Today, James Fallows responds.