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Home Front: Politix
Palin expects Biden to be a 'master great debater'
2008-09-19
Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said she expects a challenging debate next month when she faces a Democratic opponent who was elected to the Senate when she was 8 years old.

"Sen. (Joe) Biden has tremendous amount of experience," Palin said in an interview scheduled to air Thursday on Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes." "I think he was first elected when I was like in second grade. He's been in there a long, long, long time."
Too long.
Lowering expectations is typically part of the political gamesmanship before a debate. Biden has said he has debated "an awful lot of tough, smart women" and Palin will be no exception.

"She's a smart, tough politician, so I think she's going to be very formidable," he told NBC's "Meet the Press" earlier this month.

Biden, 65, was elected Delaware senator in 1972 at age 29. He turned 30 before taking office. He serves as chairman of Foreign Relations Committee and is a former chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

"So he's got the experience," Palin noted. "He probably has the sound bites. He has the rhetoric. He knows what's expected of him. He is a great debater, also. So yes, it's going to be quite a task in front of me."
"Oh, and did I mention he's a lefty?"
Palin, 44, was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, population 6,500, before becoming Alaska's governor in December 2006.

The vice presidential contenders are to meet Oct. 2 at Washington University in St. Louis.
So when are the presidential contenders going to meet?
Posted by:gorb

#12  I thought Darth Vader was prepping Palin....
I mean Bolten would eat Biden for breakfast, make a lunch out of his tongue and a stock for supper out of his bones.
Posted by: 3dc   2008-09-19 19:14  

#11  Having served in the Senate with Biden for so many years, McCain should have some good ideas for countering the guy. He should be able to provide Palin with several Joe "gotchas". It should be an interesting debate.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305   2008-09-19 12:40  

#10  Palin is smart, by propping up her opponent it makes a win (for her) even greater and a loss easier to deal with.

I suspect Biden is learning less about debating and more about body language and specific terms that will come off as bullying and sexist so he can avoid them like the plague. I suspect that Lazlo/Hillary debate is the game film and he's watching it over and over.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2008-09-19 12:17  

#9  I bet Biden has a gotcha quote prepped. That's his style in the Senate - ambush politics with a smirky "gotcha" attitude. He gets one very old "gotcha" quote out of context that he uses to put someone back on their heels and force the topic off in a different direction. He used it against nearly every person he has gone against in Senate hearings, including Supreme Court justices.

Its typically out of context, thus requiring the person to supply context to rebut him. And he or his staff tend to find the most obscure public statement or written statement to use for that sort of thing in order to reduce the likelihood that the victim will be able to rebut him.

One thing that is fortunate for Palin is that her public life is not all that long nor famous thanks to being in Alaska, so it ought to be easy for her prep team to pull her entire public spoken and written record and comb through it to prep Palin on all her "gotcha" moments and supply her with context.
Posted by: OldSpook   2008-09-19 11:41  

#8  The University of Mississippi community is pleased to host the first presidential debate of 2008 on September 26. Foreign policy and national security issues will be the focus of the 8:00 p.m. debate
Posted by: Sherry   2008-09-19 11:27  

#7  Joe Biden's opening remark (via Mallard Fillmore):

"Four score and seven years ago, it was the best of times; it was the worst of times, so I asked NOT what my country could do for me, but said "Call me Ishmael..."
Posted by: Anonymoose   2008-09-19 11:25  

#6  Biden's currently spending 3 - 4 hours every day preparing for this debate.



Well sure. I mean, what else does he have to do? The 737 he flies around in is virtually empty and his campaign stops attract no attention. Might as well practice.
Posted by: Steve White   2008-09-19 11:19  

#5  No matter how much time I had in office, I would make damn sure I took a few hours a day to make sure I had everything nailed down for a Vice-presidential debate.

However, I expect the gaffe laden Biden to show up when Palin starts in on him.
Posted by: DarthVader   2008-09-19 09:44  

#4  the anti-gaffe transplant isn't taking
Posted by: Frank G   2008-09-19 09:39  

#3  Perhaps he has to change his plugs?
Posted by: CrazyFool   2008-09-19 08:49  

#2  I heard on the radio yesterday that Biden's currently spending 3 - 4 hours every day preparing for this debate. I wonder why a senator who's been around for eons and has debated "an awful lot of tough, smart women" needs so much preparation.
Posted by: Raj   2008-09-19 08:11  

#1  keep (hair)pluggin' away, Joe. Nice tie, btw.
Posted by: tep   2008-09-19 03:20  

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