What was the McCain camp thinking?
October 2nd, 2008 | by john |When Sarah Palin was announced as John McCain’s running mate, I gave the McCain campaign the benefit of the doubt. I thought to myself, hey- considering how many people work for and advise John McCain, surely Sarah must be highly qualified. Even earlier this week, when I read news articles about Tina Fey’s ability to portray Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live, I thought the articles were ridiculing SNL’s ability to parody Sarah’s interviews. To my horror, I have been completely wrong. Go on YouTube and watch some of Sarah Palin’s actual interviews. Keep in mind, they are not secondary sources and they are straight from the horse’s mouth.
I have to say that I’ve never felt so bad about a grown women before in my life but I feel so sorry for Sarah and her family. I feel like she jumped into this without realizing how deep the muddy political well is and she only thought about the positives of being the Vice President of the United States and neglected everything else. I feel sorry for her because she probably thinks that there is no way out now considering she is already in the spotlight and taking the backdoor out of the spotlight will make her look like a quitter.
On the other hand, after watching the debate between Joe and Sarah, I was surprised that she didn’t make any ridiculous mistakes and I applaud those that planned and coached her for this debate because they clearly had a plan. Oddly enough, she basically stated her plan within the first few minutes of the debate; she said that she may not answer questions as the moderator or Joe would like her to answer. She did exactly that. Sarah rarely responded directly to the questions at hand and instead made the points that she wanted to make. This is smart for two reasons. First, it forces Joe to be on the defensive side of the fence because he wants to respond directly to her answer which may not be the same thing that the moderator had asked. Second, due to the fact that she forming her responses regardless of the question asked most of the time, highlights of the debate to be played over and over again until next Tuesday’s second Presidential debate will portray her in a better light than this past week with her interview with Katie Couric.
So who do I think won the debate? Well, let’s see… if there was a rubric of all questions asked as rows and two columns for Senator Biden and Governor Palin, I think I would have more relevant notes jotted down in the Biden column while I would have more questions marks on the Palin column. If you cut out each candidates replies and replayed them randomly without the moderator’s question, I think both did a good job of getting the point across that their Presidential candidate would have liked them to get across but I still would give Biden the edge.
In the end, why even bother reading this? I’m sure it’s on YouTube by now so go watch it and make your own decision. 
Tags: barack obama, elections, joe biden, john mccain, politics, republicans, sarah palin
