My background is speech, debate and theatre. If Sarah Palin hopes to walk away from Thursday's debate with a popular "win" she should forget about debating anyone, least of all Joe Biden. If she employs a more theatrical strategy, she COULD best Joe Biden in public opinion and he should be prepared for such a strategy. Because Sarah Palin does have a way out, maybe her ONLY way out. Follow me...
There is a real possibilitiy that she will shuck off her chains and go super-Palin. Moose girl. Mom. Let Sarah be Sarah.
I saw some evidence of this potential in the joint interview she and McCain did with Katie Couric. McCain was trying to correct her answwer--cover for her. She was having none of it. In essence she stuck with her answer on Pakistan which was the same answer as Obama's. In that exchange I thought she came off better than McCain.
Palin knows McCain is a wounded animal and that her political future is brighter than his by a longshot. I doubt that she gives a rat's ass about McCain at this point. She has nothing to lose by throwing a Hail Mary of her own.
Sarah Palin COULD "win" the debate Thursday by simply conceding to the public,
You know, I don't have the answers to a lot of your questions. You can stump me all day. You can ask me to cite obscure Supreme Court cases all night and I won't be able to do it. I am not trained as a lawyer. Senator Biden has a law degree and a lot more factual knowledge than I do but I do not believe that gives him a corner on wisdom. Senator Biden and a lot of other lawyers voted to go to war in Iraq for example. If experts had a corner on wisdom, I guess our economy wouldn't be on the verge of collapse today.
No, my answers to your questions will be more intuitive, speaking as a woman, a mother and a governor. They may not be the right answers but they are how I feel based on my experience. You may disagree and I am open to having my mind changed. But this is how I see it."