Biden Should Wipe the Floor With Her

[alcibiades_mystery]

Fuck all this "hold back" bullshit. He should come out guns blazing and fucking insulted that this know-nothing even occupies the same stage. He should call her on bullshit half-answers every single time. They're trying to take away his major strength over her: that he actually KNOWS shit. He should not let them. He should amplify the WONKINESS, not tone it down. He should emphasize every time she doesn't answer the question. He should bury her in concrete policy and statistics. He should call her on her lack of substance. The audience is primed for it. Nobody but the most obtuse Palinites will be insulted. People are almost hungry now for her to get called on the carpet for her nonsenses. Biden should be that guy.

Some responses:

"Was that an answer?"

"I guess it's a little harder to answer the question when you need to provide actual specifics, but here goes..."

"Hmmm. I like little zingers, too, but I'll leave those to the comedians if the comedians will leave policy making to the people who know stuff about, like, policy."

"I guess for some people it's bad to be knowledgeable! I hope your heart surgeon has more than funny little stories."

"Just to be clear on the question, Gwen, you wanted us to name a specific foreign policy initiative we agree with, right? And one we would change?"

"This is going to get a little complicated, mainly because it's a complicated issue. It took me a long time to get my head wrapped around it myself, actually. But here's how I understand it."

"I read three policy white papers last week. Listen to the title of this one: (READS OBSCURE TITLE). Sometimes even I wonder what stuff like that means, and I've been reading stuff like this for thirty plus years! Here's what it says when you actually get into it..."

"I don't think we can joke our way out of our problems, so I want to address this seriously."

[GarbagemanLB]

1. Eh. He needs to avoid being condescending and focus on McCain. Don't give the McCain campaign

an excuse to cry sexism. A key swing group this election are independent women.

[alcibiades_mystery]

3. No, I don't think so

He needs to cut her off at the knees.

People are not always against condescension. When somebody truly is a know-nothing imposter, people have no problem with knowledgeable people exposing them.

[BrainStorm]

2. YES. I was trying to think of the last time a candidate was told to "hold back"

in a debate. Even with Quayle (the dumbest shit on the planet) no one was told to "hold back". And if Hillary Clinton were running, you KNOW a male GOP candidate wouldn't be worrying about "holding back"---and neither would we. Clinton could take them with one arm tied behind her back and the other on a mug of coffee.

SO WHY IS PALIN GETTING SPECIAL TREATMENT?

[helderheid]

4. Meh. I don't know. I think he should stand back and give her enough rope.

Many indis who watched the pres debate were impressed with Obama being so respectful and disgusted with McCain's condescending and dismissive ways.

[alcibiades_mystery]

5. I was one of the first ones here to comment on and praise Obama's strategy

The point is that strategy requires attention to the situation. And I think the situation here calls for a drubbing. People are prepped to see Palin try to wriggle her way out of the interviews, and prepped to see Biden hold back and let her. If he comes on strong and hard, I think most people will find it honest and even amusing.

Hit her hard. Point out every time she dodges.

Mention the violence against women act 4-8 times to inoculate yourself from the sexism charge and expose this fraud for all to see. That's the strategy that should be deployed tonight.

[no_hypocrisy]

6. Biden's a constitutional law professor. He will present himself as

knowledgeable, certain, and respectful. To hold back makes no sense as it would be equivalent to a professor trying not to embarass an unprepared student by seeming to be more educated and experienced in the topic at hand.

[SKKY]

7. If he takes on McCain directly, he runs the risk of appearing to try and upstage BO...

...he needs to debate his credentials to be VP and if need be, P. If Sarah Palin takes some shots along the way, so be it. Either he'll wipe the floor with her, or she'll wipe the floor with herself. Either way, I don't expect it to be pretty.

[WI_DEM]

8. It didn't help McCain last week when he was condescending to Obama, and it won't help Biden if he's

the same to Palin.

[alcibiades_mystery]

10. Wrong

The situation is completely different. Apples and oranges.

[Lex]

12. Exactly right.

He just needs to stand there and look Vice-Presidential and let her blather on incoherently.

[InvisibleTouch]

9. He can be gracious and still bury her with facts and knowledge.

Sure, I'd like to see him hammer her too, because I hate hate hate her, and I'd love to see her exposed as the vile and conteptible piece of crap that she is, no holds barred. Defenders of Wildlife has done that very nicely, for instance, and I hope more such ads abound from other angles of attack. In the debate, however, I'm thinking how it will play to the audience. So it might be best for Biden to give facts and specifics, display his extensive knowledge and experience, without necessarily being snarky toward her. That's not holding back, either - he should by all means display his superior knowledge and qualifications, and counter and correct her at every turn, call her on her lies, and a touch of subtle humor here and there is great - but it can be done without obvious condescension. He should come across as the substantial, dignified "elder statesman" to her vapid cluelessness and shallow one-liners. What he, and we, think of her privately is another matter altogether, but the purpose of this debate is to show the public at large that she is by no stretch of the imagination qualified to be a heartbeat away from running the country.

[alcibiades_mystery]

11. It has nothing to do with what I'd like to see

This is an objective strategy.

:-)

[Fleshdancer]

13. Let Biden be Biden.

Does anyone here remember the episode of West Wing when President Bartlett was running for 2nd term and he had to debate an idiot? Everyone was worried about whether Bartlett would look too arrogant and too smart but at the end of the day, his staff realized that people were going to think this no matter what so why not just let him play to his own strengths?

[Lex]

14. With her incoherent blathering, she'll bury herself

& all Biden has to do is stay out her way as she's digging her own tunnel back to Alaska.

[Viking12]

15. The rules are designed to prevent him from doing so

The candidates are only allowed 90 second responses w/ 1 minute follow ups and no direct interaction with the other. This format was demanded by the McHoover campaign to protect their nutcase VP candidate and maximize her abilties to repond in vague platitudes.

[fugop]

16. Go with this ...

"I don't think we can joke our way out of our problems, so I want to address this seriously."

That's the one I'd like to see him employ. I'm absolutely sure she's going to be attacking viciously, in her snarky, nasty way. I'd like to see Biden just calmly and smoothly say something about how "we" can sit here all night and fling attacks at one another, but the American people are tired of it. They want substance. They want to know how we're going to fix things. So "I" (Joe) am not going down that road tonight. Let's talk about how to fix all the things that are going wrong and stop attacking each other. I would LOVe that (although, of course, if he has a perfect phrase for that, so he can say it every time, I would love that even more!).

[gravity]

17. Its a risky strategy and Obama has a substantial lead.

You will playing Palin's game, getting into insults and one liners. There is a chance of coming off too aggressive, and Palin getting sympathy from the public.

Palin will do enough damage against herself. The American public can see that she is full of shit just like with the interviews with Katie Couric. Biden just has to be calm and not let her get under his skin, and he will win.

[BeyondGeography]

18. I just want him to bring TrooperGate and her penchant for cronyism up

when she starts bragging about her record as a "reformer." These are obvious points to make and they will soak up some of the post-debate coverage to McFailin's detriment if he makes them effectively.

If we don't go there, shame on us.