L.A. Times: How Democrats Set Sarah Palin Up to 'Win' Thursday's VP Debate

The Patriot Room ^ | September 29, 2008 | Bill Dupray

[Bill Dupray]

Thursday night's Vice-Presidential debate pits a first term governor against a 35-year veteran of the Senate, who is a foreign policy expert to boot. That lowers expectations for Sarah Palin all by itself. But then the Democrats (with the help of some Republicans), may have lowered them even more. Did the GOP do a rope-a-dope? From the L.A. Times.

But have Palin's Democratic opponents overplayed their hand in portraying the 44-year-old mother of five so derisively in recent days?

Was John McCain manager Steve Schmidt's puzzingly strong attack on the New York Times last week really a trap, an intentional bid to call even more attention to negative coverage of Palin to lower expectations? . . .

The upcoming downside for the Obama-Biden campaign is that its supporters became so flustered over Palin's surprisingly explosive popularity coming out of the GOP convention. They have so successfully mocked, derided and lowered expectations for Palin in Thursday night's VP debate that if she doesn't drool or speak in tongues, many millions still open to persuasion will be impressed.

Al Gore's campaign made the exact same mistake going into the 2000 debates. So all Texas Gov. George W. Bush had to do was not lose.

In that sense Democrats may have played right into a PR cul-de-sac. Biden, for instance, described Palin as merely better-looking than him. A far better communications strategy would have been to insincerely portray Palin with superlatives as a superwoman, make it harder, not easy, for her to impress. Too late now.

It is significant that the debate will be televised live. . . .

[gov_bean_ counter]

Gov Palin has a lot at stake with the debates.
Plugs has more.
The MSM has the most. They have created a template based on lies. If she performs well the template is exposed for what it really was. The MSM has set themselves up to be the real looser.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

Sarah Palin isn’t about spin.

That’s why she’s important.

She’s gonna BBQ Joe Biden. Live, on national TV.

[Corin Stormhands]

Shhhhhh!!! Don’t let them in on our game plan!

Seriously. The stakes are high for Governor Palin. But I think she can handle it. This will be live, no editing by Charlie or Katie. And Biden will undoubtedly stick at least one foot in his mouth.

I suspect this debate will pull the largest audience.

[DRey]

She’s gonna BBQ Joe Biden. Live, on national TV."

Yes, she is. She's going to come off as genuine and sincere and down-to-earth and intelligent, and Biden is going to come off like a sexist Washington insider picking on a girl. The media is going to be in such a twist by the end of the debate they're going to explode their venom all over the cameras. They'll once again go on a PDS hysterical bender and McCain will go up in the polls. I cannot wait until Thursday.

[YdontUleaveLibs]

Biden is toast. I have been thinking that it is a mistake for MSM to downplay, Governor Palin’s abilities. She knows journalism and was a sports broadcaster, she knows how the game is played.

[CatOwner]

I don't think they have anything to worry about. The MSM will tell Americans what was "really" said at the debates. I fear that Governor Palin is going to need to be nearly perfect in the debate, and even then, expect her words to be twisted in the "analysis" phase post-debate (but I figure most here know that the latter will happen).

[Logical me]

She doesn’t need any of their stinking help.

[cw35]

I don’t know where these low expectations come from other than from Saturday Night Live. Sarah was good on Charlie Gibson and was amazing with Katie Curic and Sean.

[sarasota]

While I completely agree with you, I don’t think she is going to change any minds if what I heard this morning is true: 1/3 of Dems thought O did well, 1/3 of Republicans thought McCain did well and 1/3 of “not sures” are still unsure.

[HamiltonJay]

Exactly,

Palin doesn’t need to shine, she just need to perform. Fauxbama is claiming that Biden brings him gravitas, and that’s amusing in itself.

Palin just has to let Biden speak and she’ll walk away fine, he’ll tie himself verbally in knots.

Its a VP debate, won’t change many votes, though it may draw more attention because of the Palin factor.

Palin just has to survive, Biden has to shine, if he doesn’t he loses.

[DRey]

"I don’t think she is going to change any minds"

Yeah....I am thinking these "undecideds" are the touchy-feely type anyway. The facts are out there and they're undecided? We know they're not the minorities (they're decided). So who are these people? They're the ones that need a real person talking to them. They don't trust Obama and don't like McCain. That's why I think she'll be so helpful. She and Todd speak to real people that are between Obama and McCain. She can reach that target audience that those two cannot touch on any significant level. She's been muzzled so far and this is her chance to come off the way she does so well. I may be completely wrong, but I think her debate will immediately affect the polls positively for McCain.

[Kackikat]

Maybe these polls should stop calling the same people all the time...

[mwl8787]

I just pray tht McCain’s advisors have her ready for the very basic questions — including the Dan Quayle question and related spinoffs.

[gov_bean_ counter]

The best parts of her interviews were left on the cutting room floor.

That is the simple sound bite that McCain/Palin should have thrown at the fauxconservatives and others who have been critical of her performance.

[Rummyfan]

Thursday night's Vice-Presidential debate pits a first term governor against a 35-year veteran of the Senate, who is a foreign policy expert to boot.

Yes, Joe Biden is such a long-serving foreign policy expert that he had the opportunity to get both the Cold War and the War on Terror wrong! If he serves another twenty years he can be wrong on the next big foreign policy issue too!

[Heart of Georgia]

“including the Dan Quayle question and related spinoffs.”

Regarding potatoe?

[frogjerk]

against a 35-year veteran of the Senate, who is a foreign policy expert to boot

Biden is an expert at being wrong for 35 years, that much I'll give him.

[xzins]

She’s gonna BBQ Joe Biden. Live, on national TV.

NO way. Palin's at a serious disadvantage on Thursday night. There's no way she can win.

First, and foremost, the media hates her. She could hogtie Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barak Obama, and Joe Biden in under 6 seconds, but all she'd hear from the media is "Sarah Palin showed the weakness of working too fast at Thursday night's debate."

The winner of these non-debates is far more determined by the spin rooms of the media than by anything else.

Also, Biden truly has been involved in foreign policy for decade after decade. He does know his stuff. Anyone who thinks that Palin has that same kind of insight is smokin' da ganja. I'm not saying that Biden's insight is the CORRECT insight, but the sheer volume of knowledge is overwhelming.

Finally, Biden is nobody's slouch as a communicator. He's funny, engaging, and populist.

In short, Sarah Palin doesn't have a chance on Thursday nigh except with her supporters and some open-minded independents.

[mwl8787]

No, the question of what you would do if anything happened to the President... the in which Quayle couldn’t respond as well as a below-average 8th grade civics student.