Civil contest still has bite
GAFFE-FREE | Palin mixes folksy charm with attacks -- Biden smooth, but faced higher bar
She did not stumble or make any major gaffes.
Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin made it through her first and only debate Thursday without any of the awkward, deer-in-the-headlights pauses she suffered in recent interviews that became fodder for comedians.
(AP)
Cutest quote
''Here's a shout-out'' to third-graders at Gladys Wood Elementary in Alaska, Palin said, adding they would get extra credit.
Biden makes deal he regrets
''Can I call you Joe?'' Palin asked Biden as they shook hands at the beginning. He readily agreed she could -- and she used it to effect more than an hour later.
''Say it ain't so, Joe,'' she said as she smilingly criticized him at one point.
Joe can be folksy too
''John McCain has been dead wrong,'' Biden said. ''As my mother would say, I love him but he's been dead wrong.''
What's the drill?
Biden said that McCain had voted ''20 times against funding alternative energy sources and thinks, I guess, the only answer is drill, drill, drill.''
''The chant is, 'drill, baby drill,' '' Palin countered. AP
* BIDEN: Warned that McCain's $5,000 tax credit to help families buy health coverage ''will go straight to the insurance company.''
THE FACTS: Of course it would; it's meant to pay for insurance. That's like saying money for a car loan will go straight to the car dealer.
* PALIN: Said of Obama: ''94 times he voted to increase taxes or not support a tax reduction.''
THE FACTS: The dubious count includes repetitive votes as well as votes to cut taxes for the middle class while raising them on the rich.
* BIDEN: Complained about ''economic policies of the last eight years'' that led to ''excessive deregulation.''
THE FACTS: Biden voted for 1999 deregulation that liberal groups blame for part of the financial crisis.
* PALIN: Said the U.S. has reduced its troop level in Iraq to a number below where it was when the troop increase began in early 2007.
THE FACTS: Not correct. There are 152,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, 17,000 more than before the surge. AP
She unpacked many of her trademark folksy phrases such as "Doggone it" and "Darn right" and "Say it ain't so, Joe" -- just about all of them said with a smile.
Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden, 65, a far more seasoned debater, was even smoother, but expectations were higher for him, so undecided voters watching the debate may have considered Palin, 44, the winner based on the fact that comics hoping she would make blunders they could exploit were disappointed.
Palin was more on the attack against Biden and Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama than Biden was at the debate at Washington University in St. Louis.
Palin's only long pause was during their argument about the war in Iraq, when she said, looking down, then looking at Biden, "Um . . . your plan is a white flag of surrender in Iraq. That's not what our troops need to hear today."
Palin may have misspoken when she said of the Wall Street financial crisis: "It's a toxic mess on Main Street that's affecting Wall Street." She called David McKiernan, the NATO general in Afghanistan, "McClelland."
More than in the debate between Obama and Republican nominee John McCain last week, the harsh policy attacks the vice presidential nominees hurled at each other were interspersed with what appeared to be genuine courtesy, respect and mutual admiration and compliments.
It started when they walked out on stage smiling and telling each other what a pleasure it was to meet for the first time.
"Nice to meet you -- Hey, can I call you Joe?" Palin said, shaking his hand.
"You can call me Joe," Biden said, smiling.
Both candidates talked about their sons in the armed forces in, or destined, for the war in Iraq -- even as they sharply disagreed on the merits of the war.
Biden choked up when he talked about wondering if his son would recover from an accident that killed his first wife and daughter.
Both were there to act as surrogates for their running mates, and Palin accused Obama of voting to cut off funding for the troops.
"That's not true," Biden said, explaining that there were two funding bills for the troops, one with a timetable; one without. Obama voted for the one with a timetable and against the one without. McCain did the opposite.
That's when Palin pulled out her, "Say it ain't so, Joe, there you go again, pointing backwards again."
After criticizing Biden for attacking McCain's record, Palin proceeded to go after Obama's record. Palin unleashed, issue for issue, many of the same criticisms of Obama that McCain did in last week's debate. She repeated over and over that Obama would raise taxes.
As Obama did last week, Biden corrected her, saying only families earning more than $250,000 would see any tax hike.
After Palin said small businesses couldn't stand higher taxes, Biden said 95 percent of small business owners earn less than $250,000, and so would see no tax hike.
Asked if she wanted to disavow earlier statements that human actions have nothing to do with global warming, said said, "I don't want to argue about the causes,"
Biden said, "I think it is manmade."