No fatal slips as Biden, Palin tussle for the title of reformer
- |
WASHINGTON - In their sole debate, vice presidential candidates Joe Biden and Sarah Palin battled last night for the title of defender of the middle class, arguing over taxes, Iraq, and the mortgage crisis as each claimed to represent the force for change and reform in Washington.
Both candidates largely avoided making direct attacks on each other, but they sparred over the presidential nominees' positions - in particular, whether Republican candidate John McCain deserves the moniker of "maverick" that Palin repeatedly said would characterize a McCain-Palin administration.
While Palin frequently cast her running mate as a rogue politician eager to take on Wall Street, oil companies, and even his own party, Biden described McCain, his longtime Senate colleague, as a man who constantly voted for President Bush's agenda on matters ranging from regulation to education and funding for a children's health program.
"He has been no maverick on the things that matter to people's lives," Biden said at the debate at Washington University in St. Louis.
Neither candidate committed the kind of serious error that some pundits had predicted. Biden, the veteran Delaware senator, avoided the run-on speeches and gaffes that have gotten him into trouble in the past. Palin, the Alaska governor whose inexperience and uneven performance in recent interviews led to questions about her credentials for the job, for the most part delivered clear and folksy responses on topics familiar to her.
And while gender was a constant undercurrent in last night's matchup, it was Biden at the center of perhaps the most poignant moment of the debate, choking up when he referred to his own personal tragedy to display his concern for struggling families.
"I understand what it's like to be a single parent. When my wife and daughter died, and my two sons were gravely injured, I understand what it's like as a parent to wonder . . . if your kid's going to make it," Biden said, referring to the car accident that killed his wife and child weeks before he was set to take his first Senate oath of office decades ago.
"I am much better off now, but the notion that somehow, because I'm a man I don't know what it's like to raise two kids alone," Biden continued, stopping briefly. "I know what it's like to have a child and not be sure that he's going to make it."
For most of the debate, the vice presidential contenders were careful to avoid attacking each other, a tactic that kept Biden from appearing to bully his female opponent and allowed Palin to maintain the regular-mom, friendly demeanor that brought new energy to the McCain campaign when she was picked in late August.
Biden sought to establish McCain as an heir to the policies of President Bush, who is deeply unpopular with the public.
"All you have to do is go down Union Street with me in Wilmington or go to Katie's Restaurant or walk into
Lines like that drew gentle rebukes from Palin throughout the night.
"Say it ain't so, Joe. There you go again, pointing backwards again," she said at one point. "Now, doggone it, let's look ahead and tell Americans what we have to plan to do for them in the future."
The debate was a critical test for Palin, who had performed well in debates in Alaska but was under pressure last night to show her range of knowledge. While Palin several times gave one-sentence answers to questions, then followed with a longer discourse on a topic to her liking, such as energy, she did not commit a major stumble.
From the debate's opening moments, Palin immediately sought to employ her down-home approach when asked to assess the economy. Filling her remarks with "darn right" and promises to "talk straight," Palin underscored the ordinary-mom credentials that have made her a political icon of social conservatives. "Go to a kids' soccer game on Saturday," she said. "Turn to any parent on the sidelines and ask them: How are you feeling about the economy? I bet you're going to hear some fear in that parent's voice."
Palin went on to echo McCain's contention that Washington had been too lax on the country's financial industry. "The federal government has not provided sound oversight," she said.
Biden retorted that McCain has been a historic supporter of deregulation, a charge Palin did not answer directly, and reminded viewers that McCain just weeks ago said the "fundamentals of the economy are strong."
"That doesn't make John McCain a bad guy, but it does point out he's out of touch," Biden said.
In one of the few direct shots at the other debater on stage, Palin reminded Biden that he had called it "patriotic" to raise taxes. "In the middle class of America, which is where Todd and I have been all of our lives, that's not patriotic," Palin said. "Patriotic is saying, 'Government, you know, you're not always the solution. In fact, too often you're the problem.' "
Biden immediately defended himself, saying that Obama's tax plan would cut taxes for 95 percent of Americans and raise them only for people making more than a quarter of a million dollars a year. "Where I come from . . . that's called fairness. Simple fairness," Biden said.
The heavily hyped debate presented unusually high stakes for a vice presidential face-off, with McCain and his supporters hoping that Palin could again be a game-changer for the struggling campaign. While the Palin pick gave an enormous boost for McCain in early September, exciting social conservatives and drawing women to the ticket, the Arizona senator's poll numbers have faltered over the past two weeks, as the economic crisis has deepened.
The McCain campaign had hoped that Palin, with her spunky speaking style and solid conservative credentials, would win over conservative women, Westerners, and evangelicals. But recent polling indicates that she, too, is losing ground among voters, a majority of whom, according to some surveys, question whether the former small-town mayor is qualified to take over as president.
Looking squarely into the camera, Palin went after Obama on matters ranging from energy - an issue familiar to her as Alaska's governor - and foreign policy, a strong suit for Biden, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
In words that almost exactly echoed McCain's, she attacked Obama's expressed willingness to meet with rogue leaders without preconditions, saying it "goes beyond naivete, and goes beyond poor judgment. A statement he made like that is downright dangerous."
"If you don't go the extra mile in diplomacy, what makes you think the allies are going to sit with us?" Biden responded, trying to demonstrate his fluency in foreign affairs.
Palin attacked Obama and Biden for advocating ending the war, arguing that last year's troop surge was paying dividends and that leaving was tantamount to surrender.
"We're getting close to victory, and it would be a travesty if we quit now in Iraq," she said, asserting that the United States cannot succeed in Afghanistan without winning in Iraq.
Biden shot back, "For John McCain, there is no end in sight."
