Friday, October 03, 2008

Conservatives Excited After Palin-Biden Debate

I mentioned last night that a VP debate--in the absence of a huge misstep--is unlikely to result a huge shift in presidential polling, regardless of who won. The one chance McCain has would be a reinvigoration of the conservative base. From a survey of conservative blogs, that seems to have happened.

Kevin at Wizbang thought, as he predicted she would, that Palin appeared capable, genuine, and likeable.

Ed Morrissey at Hot Air called it a home run and concludes:
McCain needed this debate victory tonight, and it may restart the Palin phenomenon, just in time for the final stretch of the election. This time, though, the McCain campaign has to get Palin out in press conferences, interviews, and contact with the people. She’s sharp, able, and energetic, and she could win this election for McCain if he would just let her.
Over at Hugh Hewitt's blog, posters can't contain themselves. There are posts entitled Sarah 2.0: Wonderful, Through Sarah Palin, ordinary, non-mystical Americans may reclaim their national government, and The Second Palin Bounce and the Rise of John McCut. That last post begins:
Sarah Palin's comeback performance last night re-energized the GOP base, reignited her anti-Manhattan-Beltway elites message and re-opened the door to John McCain.
Powerline waxes poetic with Grace Under Pressure giving this lofty praise:
Ernest Hemingway famously defined courage as grace under pressure. I thought Joe Biden did well in the debate last night for those who might have been unaware of his liberties with the truth. But Sarah Palin provided a good example of the kind of grace about which Hemingway spoke.
You may scoff at that analysis, but it is hard to argue that the author isn't excited and that is my point.

Michael Sparxx at Polipundit thought that Hockey Mom Palin Scores the Hat Trick. Michael starts with:
Huge night for Sarah Palin last night at the one and only Vice Presidential debate. Palin, who has had a few awkward moments in recent mainstream media interviews, turned it up last night and joined us in our living room last night for 90 minutes.
which I can agree with. He continues:
For Biden, he will probably not have a great day today as some of the statements he made last night will be revealed to be false, mostly times he defended some of Obama’s votes and statements.
I think this is wishful thinking. The MSM will shield him from most, if not all, false statements. From an Instapundit poll comment:
Palin won this debate quite handily. But give the MSM a day or two and they'll convince most people that Biden blew the doors off poor ignorant Sarah.
A discussion of the impact, if any, of Biden's false and misleading statements will be the subject of another post.

It is clear to me that if nothing else Palin has people on the right excited again. A depressed GOP base was never going to eek out a McCain victory. I still see the landscape as heavily tilted in Obama's favor, but at least there are roads and paths McCain might take to give him a chance at victory.

1 comment:

Christy said...

CBS did everything they could to make their "poll" as bias as possible. The so called undecided voters they polled were undecided but leaning toward Obama/Biden. Also, the two people they chose to give the opposing views after the debate were both democrats. One liberal democrat and then a moderate (Joe Lieberman.) Also, the immediate response of Katie Couric after the debate conclusion was to call Palin a polical newcomer and to comment that at least Palin hadn't embarassed the party the way many Republicans feared. The liberal bias in mainstream media is disheartening and sickening. I can only hope that it backfires on them, and that the majority of Americans aren't as stupid as they hope we are.