Cynthia’s Thoughts: The VP Debates – Sarah Palin vs Joe Biden
Thursday’s VP debate was a chance for Sarah Palin to gain back what she’s lost – the female vote. According to a Time Magazine poll, female support for the McCain/Palin ticket has fallen drastically, from 55% to 38%. Compare that to a poll taken immediately after the convention, where McCain/Palin support was at 47% compared to 48% for Obama/Biden. In addition, Governor Palin’s recent television appearances did not necessarily make her appear all that “worldly.” For example, she skirted around Katie Couric’s question regarding the newspapers and magazines she read. Rather than giving actual publications, she said that she has “read most of them,” and later “all of them” when pressed. This surely doesn’t make her to sound all that competent, and incapable of holding the second most powerful position in the United States.
It’s very interesting to see the difference between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin. While Palin does sound more polished tonight than she did in her interviews, Biden by far is a better speaker. Palin, on the other hand, can sound like a kindergarten teacher at times. Palin also relates many of the issues to the family (she brought up soccer and hockey moms just in the first 10-15 minutes of the debate). On the other hand, Biden steers clear from family and relates to Americans as a whole.
Climate change was one of the topics brought up. Sarah Palin believes that it is not 100% caused by humans. In fact, she sounded downright confused and was somewhat skirting around the issue. Joe Biden, on the other hand was very clear that climate change is cause by humans. Biden even brought up John McCain’s chant, “Drill, baby, drill.” Drilling can be detrimental to the environment as it affects the continental shelf. However, Palin said that there were new methods of drilling that are safer. The key here is safer, but safer is not safe. It’s interesting that she, the Governor of Alaska, wouldn’t want to make sure her state is 100% clean. Sure, money is important, but there’s an ethical issue here. Is this really CLEAN money? Should money matter more than nature? Drilling in Alaska won’t only affect Alaska, but the entire arctic.
When it comes to same-sex benefits, Biden is supportive of giving benefits to gay couples who are committed (visitation, insurance, ownership, etc). Palin agrees with him and they both don’t support gay marriage. However, what bothered me about Palin’s speech was that she went on about how she was “tolerant” of diverse couples. Did she really have to say that? It wasn’t something that was necessary. How you feel should come from your speech.
Palin’s talking to Biden as if he were a kid in her kindergarten class, rather than an adult running for VP, was not the only thing that bugged me. Palin was very nervous, to the point that she mispronounced “nuclear” at least three times, saying “new-cue-ler” instead of the correct “new-klee-er”. Considering that President Bush has also mispronounced the word several times before, it surely doesn’t make Palin look all that intelligent to many in the general public.
All in all, Sarah Palin didn’t make as disastrous a performance as some have predicted. However, I also do not believe that she has convinced the American public that she would make a good Vice President. Palin is still very green and lacks the presence and poise that a Vice President should have
Print This Post
Other Interesting Articles
Related Websites
- The Best Money Saving Ideas of All Time. So, many people think they know the best way to...
- Why Consumer Debt Is Hazardous to Your Financial Health You don’t have to look far to find a financial...
- Glass Top Dining Table – Not Your Average Table Growing up, my friends grandmother would have us both over...
