Photo Credits: Richard Perry/The New York TimesAllesandra Stanley at the NY Times today offers a much more colorful take on the debate last night between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden than presented in my earlier post linking to Foon Rhee at Political Intel.
Stanley’s theme is that the debate wasn’t as much between Palin and Biden as it was between Palin and the Palin parodied on SNL by Tina Fey. I would argue, however, that Stanley’s description of the Palin onstage in St. Louis was a parody in itself. In a backhanded kind of way, though, Stanely does give the feisty governor of Alaska her due.
Stanley writes:
‘“And Ms. Palin was the one who set the tone, making Mr. Biden sound stuffy before he had a chance to make her look unsteady. She bounded onto the stage, shook hands with her opponent and said brightly, ‘Hey, can I call you Joe?’
‘“He said yes, then addressed her as ‘Governor Palin.’
‘“She twinkled, cocked her head, and spoke as plainly as she could. ‘Darn right it was predator lenders,’ she told the moderator, Gwen Ifill of PBS, when asked who was to blame for the mortgage meltdown. Her sentences had lots of pep and patriotism, and few g’s at the end of her words — ‘You betcha’ and ‘Get down to gettin’ business done ‘and ‘doggone it.’
‘“Expectations for both candidates were low, but the expectations for the debate were almost absurdly high — cable news commentators led up to the event like children on a Halloween sugar bender, deliriously excited by what The Washington Times described as a ‘Thrilla in Manila’ showdown.”’
Read more.
No comments:
Post a Comment