After Palin and Biden greeted each other on stage at the St. Louis Athletic Complex of Washington University at St. Louis, the two shook hands as Palin asked Biden, “Can I call you Joe?”
That’s where most of the formalities ended.
With the withering economy making headlines and becoming the primary topic of both campaigns, much of the debate was focused on McCain’s and Obama’s economic and tax policies
While Palin blasted Obama record of voting “for the largest tax increase in U.S. history,” Biden rebuffed the claim by calling a McCain proposal to replace employer-issued health insurance with a $5,000 stipend a tax increase.
The economy’s decline, spurred by the subprime mortgage crisis and now an imminent credit crunch, sparked Biden to ridicule McCain over what he said was being unknowledgeable about the dire situation, pointing to McCain’s recent declaration that “the fundamentals of the economy are strong.” Palin responded that McCain was speaking of American workers, and then proceeded to point out Obama’s record of voting within party lines and giving tax breaks to oil companies.
McCain could be the savior to this “toxic mess,” according to Palin, who said that “we have John McCain to thank” for bipartisan efforts that pushed a bailout bill through Senate Wednesday. McCain’s decision to suspend his campaign last week to work on a solution to the financial emergency and his role in ringing the “Freddie and Fannie warning bell” two years ago prove his dedication to fixing a worsening economy, she continued.
But Biden pointed to Obama as the fixer-upper, saying Obama would cut taxes for all the middle class, which was the “economic engine” of America, and that Obama would effectively deal with the “deception, greed, and corruption on Wall Street.” Biden also chastised McCain for being “out of touch” and for pursuing deregulation and letting “Wall Street run wild.”
Several times in the debate, Biden distanced himself from attacking McCain at the personal level, saying that he “loves” the man, but the 35-year longtime Senator time after time went after McCain’s history of votes, quips, and policies, while Palin, armed with days of debate prep from McCain’s staff, refused to be outdone.
On energy policy and foreign policy, Biden and Palin held their own.
Palin touted her experience with energy companies as Governor of Alaska, at one time telling the crowd, “I’m going to talk straight the American people and let them know my track record.”
“I fought oil companies … and broke up monopolies,” she said, saying the solution to energy independence was offshore drilling.
Biden disagreed. He urged for renewable and clean energy sources, which he said McCain has voted against multiple times, and chastised Palin’s obsession to “drill, drill, drill.”
“The chant is drill, baby, drill,” Palin calmly pointed out.
When moderator Gwen Ifill shifted the topic of the debate to foreign matters, widely perceived to be what Ifill called Palin’s “Achilles’ heel,” the differences in stances on Iraq and outside threats became apparent.
“John McCain has been dead wrong [on the] facts,” he said, pointing to several of McCain’s comments on Iraq that have turned out to be rushed and disproven. Palin called the surge “proven to work” and said “we’re getting closer and closer to victory.”
Meanwhile, Biden said that the fundamental difference between the two campaigns was that “we [Obama-Biden] would end this war,” through imposing timelines on troops in Iraq. Palin called any timeline plan a “white flag of surrender.”
Palin and Biden also bickered on the issue of meeting with leaders of enemies, with Palin calling it going “beyond naïveté and beyond poor judgment” while Biden said that Obama’s plan to meet with any leader unconditionally was backed by five Secretaries of State and our allies.
Biden, who has been known for his unintentional gaffes for not thinking before he speaks, and Palin, who has had trouble coming up with knowledgeable and coherent answers to interview questions, were both blessed with a relatively blunder-free night as both showcased their “average Joe” and “average Jane personalities.”
Particularly, both touched on their roots: Biden cited his ties to the working-class city of Scranton, Pennsylvania, while Palin gave a shout-out to her Alaskan family and the “third-graders of Gladys Wood Elementary School [in Anchorage, Alaska],” who, Palin said, ought to “get extra credit for watching this debate.”
