Opinion | Editorials
Escaping without a serious gaffe
The Democratic senator from Delaware squared off on Thursday evening against the Governor of Alaska in the most highly anticipated vice-presidential debate ever.
- Gulf News
- Published: 23:41 October 3, 2008
The Democratic senator from Delaware squared off on Thursday evening against the Governor of Alaska in the most highly anticipated vice-presidential debate ever.
It's a sad commentary on the state of the Republican ticket that the bar for success in this prime-time event wasn't to deliver a knockout blow: Victory instead could be measured by whether Sarah Palin didn't deliver a gaffe-riddled performance against the unpredictable Joe Biden.
Why set a bar so low? Perhaps it has as much to do with the fact that in the five weeks since the moose-hunting governor was added to the McCain ticket, she has yet to give a press conference lest the US press corps ask too awkward questions.
As the US teeters on the edge of economic disaster, its foreign policy in tatters, its citizens struggling to keep their homes and worried about jobs, debt and paycheques, Palin stuck to her "gee, shucks" script.
Often winking at the camera, she delivered pat soundbites that passed for political insight. Viewers tuning in, however, could be mistaken for thinking the level of answers was akin to Survivor's tribal council. Palin hasn't got the hidden immunity idol. It's just a matter of time before her tribe speaks and she's voted off the island.
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