Engaging in a bit of trash talk before Thursday's debate yesterday, Sarah Palin made fun of Biden's age.
And I do look forward to Thursday night and debating Sen. Joe Biden. We’re gonna talk about those new ideas, new energy for America. I’m looking forward to meeting him too. I’ve never met him before, but I’ve been hearing about his Senate speeches since I was in like second grade.
Set aside the fact that Sarah Palin's interest in the US Senate pretty obviously began about twelve years ago, when she started sucking at Uncle Toobz's earmark teat while Mayor of Wasilla. Palin's crack, though an obvious lie, is sort of funny, flipping Biden's extensive experience on its head.
It's about what I would expect from a woman spouting words written by Steve Schmidt and Tucker Eskew.
Yet, even while they're taking digs at Biden's age (he's six years younger than McCain), they're turning an Obama joke about McCain's erratic behavior into another fit of false outrage about age.
This morning on MSNBC, Gibbs returned to the make-fun-of-the-elderly joke well. "Just yesterday, John McCain said we shouldn't fix blame. He took a breath and then fixed blame. He said the fundamentals of our economy are strong, and he flip-flopped. He opposed the bail-out of AIG, and then he supported it. This guy zig-zags. Look, if he's driving a car, get off the sidewalk." (Video here.)
That Swampland post and this Politico post were written after the McCain team sent out an outraged email (see Duncan on the former here).
Seeing as how Sarah Palin's biggest drawback for voters--out of many--is the age and past health problems of her running mate, I'm not sure the campaign really should have made age-based attacks fair game.
But now that they have, I say, let's have that discussion about McCain's age, shall we?
Update: LOLOLOL!!! Katie is doing herself proud with her Palin series--from tonight's installment:
Gov. Palin at Monday’s event in Columbus, OH: I do look forward to Thursday night and debating Senator Joe Biden. We are going to talk about those new ideas, new energy for America. I’m looking forward to meet him too. I’ve never met him before. But, I’ve been hearing about his senate speeches since I was in like 2nd grade.
Katie Couric: You made a funny comment, you’ve said you have been listening to Joe Biden’s speeches since you were in second grade.
Gov. Palin: It’s been since like ‘72, yah.
Katie Couric: You have a 72-year-old running mate, is that kind of a risky thing to say, insinuating that Joe Biden’s been around awhile?
Gov. Palin: Oh no, it’s nothing negative at all. He’s got a lot of experience and just stating the fact there, that we’ve been hearing his speeches for all these years. So he’s got a tremendous amount of experience and, you know, I’m the new energy, the new face, the new ideas and he’s got the experience based on many many years in the Senate and voters are gonna have a choice there of what it is that they want in these next four years.
Of course, the follow-up should be, "Sarah, do you remember any speech Biden made?" Because I'm betting--given that Palin wasn't chosen until the following day--that Palin didn't even watch Biden's acceptance speech.
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“I’ve never met him before, but I’ve been hearing about his Senate speeches since I was in like second grade.”
Pity you never listened, Sarah.
What I want to know is why was Cindy laughing at the joke?
Arrogance and Stupidity. Bad Combination.
Because Sarah brings out a latent bitchy side to Cindy and she can’t help herself.
The real problem is Sara’s I.Q may not be as high as Biden’s age.
We would be in real trouble if they keep Sara on.
Could Sara leave the ticket
http://www.salon.com/opinion/w.....index.html
- b/c she knows that she’ll soon not have to be supporting his craps habit out of her beer money….
- b/c she once made a face that looked like laughing and it froze that way….
BTW - Since McCain did not fare well harping on Obama alleged inexperience, what tack does Biden take in his debate. It would be easy to seem to be piling on Palin and rouse a sympathy backlash.
b/c Cindy knows having Sarah around means … aw, hell, I can’t bring myself to go there.
More trash
Palin rocks the internet
http://machinist.salon.com/?la.....lin_online
Trust me, Cindy just wants this to be over so she can get back to La Jolla. The pool must be extremely clean considering how long she has been gone.
If I were Palin I would ask Saturday Night Live if I could come on with Tina Fey playing me. Sarah could trump SNL by laughing at herself
Wait a minute - Biden is six years younger than McCain? Biden looks way younger than McCain does - and appears in much better health also(which helps in terms of youthful appearance). Biden also behaves much more youthfully and in health than McCain does - but that may have as much to do with McCain’s earlier injuries so I don’t want to go there much(heh, not much).
What you see in the video - Palin trash talking her opponent - is Palin at her best. The rest of what she has to offer is substantially and substantively substandard.
I welcome the debate. Biden will have to resist his combative instincts and rein in his urge to interrupt and rebut… just let her speak. Barack’s approach, to allow viewers to compare the substantive and stylistic differences between himself and his opponent (as opposed to arguing the points in classic debate style, to be ‘right’,) will work here too.
Palin was a shot in the arm for McCain’s campaign but I think Rove misjudged the country’s appetite for trash talking bravado backed up with gobbledygook pablum when it comes to articulating positions serious policy issues.
On the age thing, I don’t know how to foment the national conversation about McCain’s age, and far more importantly, health.
I’d like to talk about McCain’s age, but my abacus doesn’t tabulate that high?
When we begin to talk about McCain’s age, don’t we naturally segue into discussing his fragility and ailing health? Is melanoma curable? Exactly what is hiding in his health records? Or has he forgotten in his old age (or was it an ambien haze)?
By the sounds of it, Sarah was oh-so-pleased to deliver the quip about Biden’s age. Just cute as a button… a great big, secured nuclear launch button. Missile away…
The real problem is Sara’s I.Q may not be as high as Biden’s age.
Well done you liberal elite. (You made me laugh.)
‘Doesn’t he look awfully tired?’ probably does it well enough. Get people talking about him and his age and his health.
Is John McCain ogling Sarah Palin?
Whenever you see the two of them on the stage and she’s talking, watch his roman eyes. Then compare it to when she’s not on the stage with him.
The dam seems to be breaking on McCain taboo subjects. There was the NY Times spilling on his late night casino visits, speculation about the possibility of a skin cancer relapse, so it won’t be long before age starts to get some play.
I think Biden just answers the question. I’d love if he hit Palin on the areas where his own experience REALLY makes her look bad: the rape kits and her abuse of policing. BUt beyond that, I think he just answers the questions.
She will take a bunch of potshots. But that’ll take valuable time away from her actually dispelling the many doubts about her.
Obama hinted about McCain being a gambler in a speech today in a good way that sounded like a casual aside - but I think Obama is making the GOP play by “Cokie’s Rules” and “putting it out there”.
Though, to be totally fair, it’s probably somewhere between Biden’s age and McCain’s.
If you need to laugh this one will rip you up. (reminded me of some of my relatives)
Daily show
http://www.crooksandliars.com/.....roup-ever/
Well, remember Biden had that aneurism. But if you consider the way McCain’s POW injuries contribute to a stiffness, I think that is one of the reasons McCain looks so old.
Plus, Biden’s fake hair makes him look younger.
Finally, it might be that Biden is truly in love with the woman he lives with. McCain’s only in love with himself, and since the object ofhis affection is past its prime, it doesn’t offer much passion to reinvigorate a person.
Biden should keep his answers as short as possible - this debate is not about whether he is qualified to be VP. Sarah Palin is like a talkative dishonest witness in a trial or deposition - if I were examining her, I would want her to keep talking as much as possible, because she feels under tremendous pressure to demonstrate that she is competent. She will feel the need to respond every time Biden stops talking, so he should keep his remarks short and pointed - the more she talks, the more likely she will say something uninformed or really stupid.
Agree.
A lot of people complained when the Debate Commission agreed to alter the format to allow for Palin’s inexperience. But by setting real time limits on Biden’s answers, it will help him avoid blathering, which I think is a greater risk than him insulting Palin.
He seems old when he’s under pressure and trying to control the narrative… like the three-way with Couric, during which McCain/Palin characterized the question as ‘gotcha journalism question from a voter from across the area’.
McCain managed the interview by rejecting Couric’s frame mid-question by interrupting her, waving his hands emphatically, using his ‘emotionally under control’ tone of voice (which always indicates with a little shove he would blow), re-framing the situtaion as a no win, and then generously offering to let Palin speak for herself.
Yeah, he seems old doing this because this is McCain in the raw and he is old.
Some important news Olmert (listening to Democracy Now)
has said that “Israel should withdraw from nearly almost all of the territory captured in the 1967 war”
http://www.democracynow.org/shows/2008/9/29
http://www.monstersandcritics......_Roundup__
Tel Aviv - Israel will have to withdraw from the occupied territories, including East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, if it wanted peace with its Arab and Palestinian neighbours, outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in remarks published Monday.
Oooooh! Jolly good!
Bingo. That’s one of the reasons Republicans hate trial lawyers - we know how to pull liars out into the open.
Now there’s a line I’d love to see picked up by the comedy shows and broadcast nightly in the US and on YouTube forever. Letterman is not above jamming on dumb people and neither is Jon Stewart.
If this is what Olmert has been thinking no wonder they wanted to get rid of him
Under Breaking News
http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/home/index.html
Israel will have to leave the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem, and compensate Palestinians for settlement blocs in a peace deal, Ehud Olmert said.
Leen, I liked that bit. Do you see Silverman’s comedy bit /political exhortation?
clever
Who does the “he” refer to in that last answer of Palin’s?
Folks,
Make sure you check out the update–this whole issue comes up in Couric’s next installment of Palin interview.
brendanx
Yeah, that’s the problem with that tack, huh?
Sort of makes the case for Obama.
There’s a reason he wasn’t voted Miss Congeniality in the Senate (Lindsey Graham must have been). Hey, Palin can use the same line.
Um, can somebody please help me out here? I really can’t recall any “new idea” emanating from Palin, not even singular, much less plural. Will someone please refresh my recollection?
OMG. I just watched the vid update. Oh, my paws and whiskers. That woman is not just an airhead; she is the full wind-tunnel. How is it possible that this is happening?
Remember when Colbert had Lynn Westmoreland on the Repor’ and Westmoreland talked about how important it was to have the Ten Commandments carved in stone in a state courthouse, and then Colbert asked him to recite the Ten Commandments? A simple question from Biden that isn’t “who is the Prime Minister of Belgium” could be just as devastating to Sarah Palin if she rambles on about something.
Like, really Sarah?
Doesn’t this point to your relative inexperience?
I tell you if Mattel makes a Sara Palin doll we should all invest this could drive the markets up
Well, that she would do a better job watching the Alaskan sky for Putin and the Russian Air Force than, say, you know, RADAR! The Force is strong with this woman…..
Biden has enough subject matter expertise that he can focus a large part of his prep on Tactics.
Debates are Contests of Personal Power
Sarah is Excellent at Projecting Cocky, Confident Personal Power…
…but There’s Nothing Behind It…
…except her Thin-Skinned Personality.
Which is why she will be a Disaster Debater - for Sarah, everything’s personal.
Biden should be able to put together a dozen good Issue Katas - sequences of inter-related Martial Arts moves that generate leveragable advantage - including a set-piece opening and closing that will leave the audience with nothing to conclude, except:
She’s Out of Her League.
Thursday should be a Complete Embarrassment for the Goopers.
McCain’s Judgment - and I mean, really, the Fate of the Nation May Be Riding On His VP Choice - was not only Desperate, but Awful, too.
She can blow on his dice all he wants, but his gamble is going to crap out.
But that’s Goopers for you: Charlie McCain is Dumb Enough to be running towards the football, and Lucy Palin is cocky enough to say he can ‘count on her’…
Let’s see since the Democratic convention it has been Palin, Bailout, Debate, back to Palin and the McCain Palin numbers are going down.
The Rove strategy does not seem to be working unless his club wants McCain and Palin to lose
She’s such a, like, valley girl!
Has the rest of the mainstream media noticed that Katie seems to be the only reporter with access to Palin? WTF? Is this not a story in and of itself? Are they dating, or what?
I haven’t read much about her education. Did she ever make it out of second grade?
Oh, like totally.
Great video embed from CBS, EW
When do we get to hear Sarah Palin’s new ideas?
Couldn’t have phrased it better.
Especially against the financial background of recent weeks.
The. Irony.
Here’s how I would have followed up:
They’ve probably had her watching Biden speeches….. OMG!!!
Ooh, I like this one:
Not least because it gets you to Pat Buchanan–and Palin’s former love of him–pretty quickly.
And if they’ve got her watching Biden’s Senate speeches, I suspect she’ll expect blowhard Joe, who I don’t think is going to show up.
Because we now live in the InfotainmentStateOfAmurikuh.
Where, like…y’know… like politix iz mostly about who makes good adz ‘n sh*t like dat.
And politix iz just mostly about celebrity.
Juz go ask Ahnald.
Or Rove.
Would the wingnuts get pissed if Gwen Ifill actually asked Palin how her conversation with “Bono, King of Ireland” went…?
Cause he is some hot-shit king, I’ll say that much for him.
Oooh! Did everyone see that CREW filed an ethics complaint against Kit Bond over the removal of Todd Graves?
Couldn’t have happened to a
nicerbettermore appropriatepersonjerk.Trash Talk Express
Back on track: Tee hee. It turns out Sarah has never visited the one spot in Alaska where you can see Russia. Biden needs to use this Thursday:
Yes, I understand she was a student of Neal Kinnock’s oratory.
Questions I’d like to see asked:
Palin’s readiness for “prime time” is not in question, her readiness to govern the country clearly is, and so is McCain’s if choosing Palin is representative of his decision-making.
Hi, Marcy! Dan Froomkin luuuuves you!
Or alternatively, “does this mean you believe that having fresh new ideas is more important for a president than years of experience?”
Yeah, it’s a gotcha, but she started it! <g>
Exactly.
I think age jokes are why RoveCo picked Palin. Perhaps it was my early researches in sociology of the US public, but I think youth is a political value in our politics. I am sure RoveCo would have preferred Monica Goodling, Sara Taylor, Alice Fisher, Carol Lam or some other young Republican women be on McCain ticket. Lam obtained her law degree from Stanford ‘85 the year following Palin’s second place finish in the AK beauty contest ‘84. There is a practical side for a Republican gambit to emphasize young members of their party, if there is to be strength in the Republican standard, and if rebuilding is their chore over the next few years given the likelihood the public will reject the Bush legacy at the polls five weeks from now.
The Democratic Party, too appreciates youth. The Democratic party members who hear promise in Barack Obama’s presentations recognize his energy offers that important characteristic. He is seasoned but still expanding and growing, and learning. Biden entered congress when he was fairly young. He, too, brings to the ticket a seasoned knowledge of US government policies, but an alliance with some of the Democratic party’s best ideals as represented by the 1970s decade in which substantial valuable legislation was passed, and in which processes he had a part.
After a presidence by Obama and VP’cy by Biden, leadership in the Democratic party will transition, not to the old ways but into the ones as yet developing. I doubt Palin can point the way forward, but Joe likely will call upon her to let her have a chance to assemble some declarative sentences of her own fabrication to depict what Republican Party led future that might be from her perspective.
To reference post @48, there is a photo site on the web to which I will prescind from linking at http://actionnooz.com where a University of ID picture of a youthful Palin is available; evidently that is where she developed a lot of her career projection concepts.
Umm, is Sarah Palin trying to tell us to vote for Obama?
The Goopers are making the craziest All-or-Nothing gamble in American Political History this Thursday Night!
Remember when General Washington put the Fledgling Colonies on his Back and Over-threw the King?
Remember when President Lincoln Preserved the Union?
Well on Thursday, the Fantasy-Loving Goopers are sending in Sarah Palin to put the Republican Party on her Back and Save Them From Owning Their Failure!
You heard that right!
It’s 4th and Goal from the 50 for the Goopers - and Palin is their Go-To Player!
I hope every Dem in America hops-up from the edge of their seat on Thursday Night and Goes Over the Wall of Community Action with me on Friday - the Ground We want to Take is Every Incumbent Gooper Seat in this Election!
A Gamble this Reckless - All-In on 148 Years of Republican Party History - should Cost Bush and McCain Every Seat That Depends On Good Judgment to Serve Our Country!
Take Back America!
Troopergate witness flips like a pancake.
News from Mudflats at http://www.themudflats.net/
I dont know if this has come up but it looks like the Palins were up to their ears in this.
At least she did not fabricate a story that she landed in Tuzla under sniper fire.
Palin sounds like a goofy teenager saying they remember listening to the Beatles when they were…in their mother’s womb…that’s about what her comment does for her.
GASP. you aren’t saying…
that isn’t real hair on “teefs’n tuffs“?
Yes, it is always helpful to propagate trash about people trying to help your own professed team.
He paid for it, it’s his hair. If you can’t grow it, sew it
Biden can easily best her on any women’s issues. calmly and factually.
oh boy. Even the Dobsonite jihaddis can’t be so dumb that they’d actually vote for this woman, can they? I think we need some insurance.. in between now and January Congress should create legislation greatly limiting the VPs powers.. perhaps to confinement for 4 yrs in Cheney’s bunker?
Regarding “hair”…watching McCain’s POW/MIA hearing today on Youtube…He has a completely receded hairline. I don’t know what year it was…maybe he was undergoing treatment for his melanoma. But, the hair is back now. Or else he got plugs too. Watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CazKanlYDg
there you go again with the hillary crap.
No, she only went on and on about “thanks, but no thanks” to that bridge to nowhere and charged for rape kits, tried to ban books and redecorated her office at the taxpayers expense, charged a per diem for living at home, is under investigation for abuse of power, put her unborn child at risk, likes to shoot wolves and bears from helicopters, and is basically trying to con america right now.
but go ahead and stay mad at hillary. I can’t really blame you but that doesn’t let Palin off the hook
legislation does not apply to the barnacle.
wow. he practically has to turn around for one to see the front of his hairline. Hair club for men? Doesn’t he have like a vicious comb over now?
Prediction: The pundits will all say Sarah Palin won the debate Thursday night, and the snap polls will show that all the undecideds thought that Biden won it. Why? Because Sarah is going to go to the debate in full Heather-mode and fire off a few nasty one-liners. The pundits will all chuckle and say, “Oooh! Good one!” Everyone else will just rolls their eyes.
like truth=trash. I don’t like the Clintons version of valley talk either. Like they’re not like really too helpful, like that’s the truth, like it or not. Like I don’t hear the Clintons saying one word about Palin or McCain except that Billy said he really likes John and invited him to speak in New York.
Sarah had better be careful … Biden is great with zingers, third only to Obama & Kucinich, IMO …
Biden doesnt have to win. He just has to demonstrate steadiness and knowledge. Just the way Obama did. Palin will be nasty and looking for applause lines.
Here is a picture of his hair now. The hairline is higher…and yes, he has a combover as well….hmmm.
http://media.cnbc.com/i/CNBC/S....._obama.jpg
ROFL .. so true
Hey like I’m on your side.
are you claiming the statement is false?
or are you claiming that the truth has an anti-our-team bias?
or something else?
Palin will be vicious and negative in an attempt to bait Biden into attacking her.
It’ll be the final nail in her coffin.
People aren’t thrilled with Cutesey Sarah Barracuda anymore.
-G
that was in reply to bmaz at 71.
I’m thinking it’s real good, expensive hair transplant (micrographs). Your right, his hairline is totally higher (it’s actually at the front) compared to the youtube video
C,mon Bmaz. Us Hawkeyes are hurtin enuf after losing to Northwestern. Kinnock would not have been proud*g*
The Veep debate isn’t even a real debate. I’d bet that smoldering pile already knows the question that will be asked of her and has her canned GOP responses all ready.
She will accuse Biden of cheating in school
lol
Gwen I: Governor Palin…could you name the President Kazakhstan?
Palin: You betcha!…His name is Borat. I saw the movie with my kids.
President “of” D’oh…
I have been watching politics most of my adult life and while I have known who Joe Biden was I can’t say I heard any of his speeches in the past. Palin has been boosting her ego without boosting her mind.
Same here. But who knew that Senate speeches were being beamed into Alaska prior to CSPAN. I am impressed /s
EXACTLY. Biden has to pivot to some of these hot button gender issues that government policy ventures into … abstinence only, reproductive rights, equal pay, and maybe even the role of government in selecting library books.
I’m with you on this. I think the key thing here is going to be for Biden to keep his cool. The big dangers for Biden are that he’ll either get overconfident and say something stupid, or he’ll be too aggressive and look like a bully. I think Obama came off looking good because he played the first debate very cool. Most of us think he was too deferential to McCain, but I think that most people saw it as a mature man being appropriately respectful to a really old person who suffered in the service of his country 40 years ago. He’s earned the right to be a grouch. He did not, however, earn many votes. Biden needs to keep that in mind. A lot of people want to see him crush Palin in the debate. That’s a mistake. What we need is a calm victory. If we push for a raucous blowout, we risk making Palin look sympathetic. It’s not worth it. She’ll do enough damage to herself without our help.
As much as reading a script prepared by someone else can boost her ego. If she starts believing the crap she’s reading, she really has problems. Then again, she believes humans and dinosaurs coexisted 6000 years ago, so anything is possible.
You don’t put Frank in your top ten?
OT: On CSPAN Latino vote forum with both campaigns represented. Questions have been interesting so far and some questions down right dumb ass but that is what you get when people treat latino as a race instead of what it truly is.
Re the VP debate, there is some chatter around the ‘tubes about Sarah being wired for sound (as we all suspected GW was). It would be way cool, and I assume technically feasible to either jam the signal as some one suggested over at DKos (sorry I don’t have the link) or way better have radio frequency scanner, find the channel and then demonstrate what’s going on. That famous scene in Singing in the Rain where the raise the curtain showing the real vocalist comes to mind.
What say you electronic techies? Last time I was really up on radio technology they had vacuum tubes…
Just goes to show…
Biden just needs to be factual, friendly, knowledgable and respectful…and if she gets snotty and sarcastic, he should remain calm and hit back with facts.
Think she will get snotty? She seems to have a passive aggressive thing going on so I expect back handed comments
and if she gets snotty and sarcastic,
If?
Otherwise, agree completely. *g*
I’m certain they have some “gotcha” one liners scripted for her. Likely to be as effective as Hillary’s lame “Xeroxes we can believe in,” line.
She could pretend to be offended, i.e., turn a comment around on Biden making it look like he was being condescending or sexist. That’s what their aim is…to nail Biden for being mean to Palin.