Palin wins debate by not losing due to format.

[onehandle]

As I predicted when this debate format was announced, she read pre-formatted answers back and did not stumble.

Thus winning.

We should have never accepted this format. A golden opportunity lost.

[regnaD kciN]

1. If she "won" the debate...

...then how come virtually every snap poll and focus group showed her losing by a large margin?

:shrug:

[Whalestoe]

3. Cause she won...

I mean, right? She won? McCain is prez now, right? I mean, she won? Right?

[cali]

2. I agree that the acceptance of this debate format was a mistake but

I'm not so sure she won. If by won, you meant exceeding expectations, yeah, she did that. If you meant that more independents were swayed by her than Joe, that doesn't seem to be the case. And if you meant that this was a game changer, I disagree.

[onehandle]

7. I did mean she exceeded expectations and I do not think this was a game changer.

Mostly I mean we could have had Vastly better headlines today.

"Stood her ground" is a win in this game.

[krkaufman]

4. No, Palin didn't "win the debate"

Palin did herself and the McCain ticket some good, tonight, but she lost the debate. Not all Americans are swayed by the cutesy approach, and plenty recognized her lack of substance.

On the other hand, if by "win" you mean she didn't soil herself, then I can agree.

[JohnnyRingo]

5. When they debated the terms of the debate, I wondered what Palin gave up

to get the format they wanted.

Certainly they shouldn't whine about the mod, but I suspect Biden was satisfied with not addressing each other directly.

He may have appeared too intimidating if he had to look her in the eye, point at her, and tell her she's full of shit. I would have enjoyed it, but it may not have played well the next morning.

On the other hand, if she was able to scold him directly and personally, chivalry may have mandated that he "take it like a man", and that wouldn't have worked either.

Direct contact could have been a situation where Biden had little to gain, but plenty to lose.

Just my guess though.

BTW...
I think he won just by sounding experienced and presidential in comparison.

[CakeGrrl]

6. According to the insta-polls, Biden won the night with voters.

Palin's still using training wheels. She has to stick to pre-fabricated answers or else she'll look as foolish as she did with Couric.

What's left for her to prove herself? A press conference. The regurgitated talking points are wearing out. But I still don't think she's up to sounding competent without notes. That's why she said she wasn't going to answer the questions she was being asked.

[Trajan]

8. She did NOT fucking win ....

Sheeesh ..... this kind of cleverness somehow fulfills your needs, I am guessing, but not ours ....

By using this language, you are PERPETUATING a falsehood .....

SHE DID NOT WIN ...... she lost, plain and simple ....

This kind of lame ass circularity is a disservice to our forum ....

[TheKentuckian]

9. You can't win if you don't play

Palin just asked herself questions or just rambled. She answered question purely by segway to her talking points and/or stump speech. She didn't actually participate in the brokered watered down format. That shows supreme levels of weakness and arrogance.

I cannot relate to any way of thinking that gives her a win. She wasn't close to demonstrating she is capable of being President, so she didn't make the threshold. She failed to show any depth of knowledge on any subject. She had no coherent message nor any hint of a plan. She called for new powers for the office.

In what way could she possibly win other than keeping the most obstinate of the willfully ignorant on life support? If that was the goal, fine but that was going to be the case on anything short of a complete failure. Don't meltdown is an awfully low bar.