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Wednesday, October 01, 2008

As I said before, as I said before...


There's an interesting article on Sarah Palin's debating style in today's New York Times. It notes that her demeanor in her debates during the Alaskan gubernatorial campaign was quite different from her demeanor during her recent interviews with Charles Gibson and Katie Couric.

That had me a bit worried, until I got to this part-

"But just as she does now, Ms. Palin often spoke in generalities and showed scant aptitude for developing arguments beyond a talking point or two. Her sentences were distinguished by their repetition of words, by the use of the phrase “here in Alaska” and for gaps. On paper, her sentences would have been difficult to diagram. John Bitney, the policy director for her campaign for governor and the main person who helped prepare her for debates, said her repetition of words was “her way of running down the clock as her mind searches for where she wants to go.

Then they reprinted a few quotes from her Alaska debates, and it seems that the main difference between now and then is that now she's hesitantly incoherent, and then she was enthusiastically incoherent.

I expect more of the same tomorrow night- you cannot turn somebody into a competent debater in a few weeks, especially if that person has no idea what they are talking about to begin with. At this point I really think she 'd lose a debate on the nation's economy, health care, or foreign policy to a bag of leaf mulch. I just hope people don't wind up feeling sorry for her. She certainly doesn't deserve it.

6 comments:

Mrs. Chili said...

I'm actually LOOKING FORWARD to these debates. I generally don't watch them - I let the news (and my blogger friends) suss out the details for me - but I"m going to watch this one. It's just too good to pass up.

Atlas Cerise said...

I can't believe they're going to broadcast this debate for free and not on pay per view. I'm rooting for the bag of leaf mulch.

Mike said...

There's all kinds of speculation about how Biden should treat her. You know, it's the old thing about if he's ruthless, people will feel sorry for her. If he's too polite, she'll walk all over him.

I hope Biden watched the Katie Couric interview for some clues as to how he should go about it. I think if he just shuts up and lets her talk, she'll hang herself.

Commander Zaius said...

I'm stocking up on beer and I'm going to down a bottle each time I hear her say something about drilling for oil.

Malach the Merciless said...

But she's hot, she can get away with it

Hungry Mother said...

She's got my sympathy, but won't get my vote.