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People who channel 16-year-olds think Palin won

by Genghis 10/3/2008 - 12:09 am   |

I spent the debate blogging as a 16-year-old, and I have to disagree with the assessment of a Biden win. The experience was, to be honest, very weird. Writing as SarahPalinGrrrrl in previous posts did not require me to get into her head. She and I maintained a respectful distance from one another. But during the live blogging, there was no time for that. I had to be SarahPalinGrrrrl. OMG. As a result, I listened to the debate the way a 16-year-old might have, or at least how I imagine that a 16-year-old might have. And that meant that I wasn't really listening to the debate at all. I watched the candidates' expressions, measured their confidence, and reacted at a gut level to what they were saying without questioning it or thinking about it very hard. Biden looked knowledgeable but cranky, cold, and abstruse. As SarahPalinGrrrl, I often had no idea what he was going on about. Palin was warm, confident, and spoke simply in a way that evoked emotion.

So who cares what a 36-year-old pretending to be 16 thinks? Others wrote that "Biden was the adult in the room tonight." Certainly, Biden appealed more to him on a rationale level. But there's a 16-year-old in all of us. When it suits our purposes, we can suppress that inner teenager, but we can also let it out. I know that at times during this election season, I've surrendered my critical faculties and let Obama's powerful rhetoric charge me up like a hormone-hyped adolescent--a throwback to when I used to ride my 10-speed in furious circles around a parking lot singing "Eye of the Tiger."

There is a strong temptation, when reacting to someone charismatic, to let that inner adolescent out. Sarah Palin is charismatic, and many people will react in that way to her. Biden, I'm sorry to say, is not. I think that we will see tomorrow the reverse of the McCain-Obama result. Everyone will talk about how comfortable Palin seemed in her skin and about how Biden grimaced and didn't make eye contact.

So I predict that the Palin slide has been halted for now. She did about as well as she could have done tonight. Style-wise, she is the best debater of the four, at least when it comes to the bizarre measures of political debating which have to do with voter appeal rather than expert performance. But in the end, she's still only a VP candidate, and as such, she will neither save nor sink John McCain. From here on in, it's McCain versus Obama.

I just heard Chris Matthews ask a fairly insightful question: Who beat the spread in tonight's debate? And I think it's true Palin beat the spread. There won't be any easy Katie Couric-type parodying of her performance - but I still say she lost the debate in a pretty big way. Yeah, Biden's smile is kinda creepy, and he didn't look at the camera, but he destroyed her on foreign policy topics and he drove home the point the Obama campaign is trying to drill, baby, drill home: A McCain presidency would be a third term for W.

by Deadman 10/3/2008 - 12:18 am

Certainly, McCain = Bush was the most important message that he had to convey. He did that forcefully and compellingly in a couple of answers. I would have liked to see him do it more. We'll see what the papers say tomorrow.

by Genghis 10/3/2008 - 12:25 am (re: Deadman)

btw, great job on the live blogging. hilarious!

and a great point about how most people watch these debates. reading your liveblogging, i really did get a sense of you mindmelding with SPG, and i could see how regular folks (16 YOs or no) could feel like palin was speaking to them not at them. i can't stand her folksiness because i'm blinded by her ideology, but i can see most Americans digging it.

by Deadman 10/3/2008 - 12:40 am

Thanks. It was really tough actually. Not to write something but to write good satire. I kept having to fall back on low humor b/c it was hard to write that fast.

As for the folksiness, G.W.'s bothers me even more than Palin's, but it sure worked for a lot of voters.

by Genghis 10/3/2008 - 12:50 am (re: Deadman)

I agree that Palin did as well as she could have last night, and much better than expected.  Biden outmatches her in competence and knowledge, but she redeemed herself in the credibility area.  To me it seemed like she was trying to hard to be likable and cutesy (Can I call you Joe?), but some find it genuine.  Palin has been more of a help than a hindrance to McCain because his base is fired up.  But right now it comes down to McCain and Obama which is as it should be.

And stop watching so much Gossip Girl.  SPG is waaaay too on point. Tongue out

by dijamo 10/3/2008 - 12:34 pm

I understand your point and can I just say, thank goodness 16 year olds don't get to vote.

But, my 17-year-old niece was on the computer when the debate started, turned away from the TV and half-listening. After Palin's first answer, she said, "She didn't SAY anything." Granted, my niece is an Obama fan, but still.

My 11-year-old niece, after Palin said she wasn't going to answer the questions as asked, but as she felt like it, said, "Oh my god, I need my skittles." After which, she jumped up and went to find her comfort candy.

Just two anecdotes from a very blue family.

BUT, I think Chuck Todd has it right (this morning or last night). The pundits all channel their inner 16 year olds while watching because they think that we, the viewing public, are by and large a bunch of idiots who care about how adorable Sarah Palin is. But the public this year is crying out for substance. Todd's analysis of that phenomenon is that we've got huge issues on our hands and that is causing people to pay attention. I credit Barack and Hillary for duking it out in the primary. After eight years of being dumbed down, they smarted us up.

The pundits can talk all they want about how Palin won because she managed not to wet herself on stage. But the only people that are responding to her are the ones that were already in her camp.

by Orlando 10/3/2008 - 12:40 pm (re: dijamo)

Laughing

The pundits aren't channeling their inner 16-year-olds, they're just predicting how they think 16-year-olds will react. It's not quite the same. Nonetheless, I hear your point, but Sarah Palin hasn't offered a word of substance since John McCain tapped her, and it hasn't seemed to diminish her popularity. I would argue that would killed her in the interviews was when she appeared to be unable to answer the questions or to speak in gibberish, not when she spoke in platitudes. Platitudes aren't trendy. They're classic.

by Genghis 10/3/2008 - 1:14 pm (re: Orlando)

so john mccain tapped her?  interesting, very interesting.

btw, i think the milf started with "can i call you joe?" just as set up for using the "say it ain't so joe" line.

and call me a conspiracy theorist, but there's a part of me that thinks she purposefully set the bar down way low by flubbing her katie couric interview so that she'd have an easy bar to hop over in the debate.  imagine if she came across fine in the katie interview; we'd all have a very different starting point for discussing her performance last night.

by chache 10/3/2008 - 2:45 pm (re: Genghis)

thats a good point about her asking if she could call him joe (that way if she got grief for the line, she could always say, well i asked him if i could call him joe)...

i dont necessarily buy your couric conspiracy theory, tho i do buy that our discussion of her debate would have been a lot different without the couric interview as background ... but i just think she used the time to practice and bone up. she may be ignorant, and inexperienced, and nowhere near ready to be president, but she's clearly a hard worker.

by Deadman 10/3/2008 - 3:24 pm (re: chache)

this is to cha-cha-cha:

YOU ARE SO GROSS!!!!!!! SARAH WOULD NEVER HAVE SEX WITH THAT OLD POTATO HEAD!!!!!

they're just partners but not in that way

and NOOOOOOOOOO sarah did not FLUBB her interview. did you even SEE IT???????? katie was being a total BITCH FROM HELL and sarah was like if you're going to be a bitch from hell than i'm not going to answer your stupid questions. some people don't have to prove they know everything all the time b/c it's not cool especially if the person who's asking you is a bitch and so you don't have to ratify them with an answer. SO STFU, LOSER!!!!! Sealed

 

by SarahPalinGrrrrl 10/3/2008 - 3:46 pm (re: chache)

@grrrrl...i hope you feel better.  yes, 'what newspapers do you read to stay informed of the world?' is a stupid question.  of course, "i read all of them" is an even dumber answer.  even if she thought katie was being a bitch, she could have answered it smarter and put katie in her place simply by being the better woman.  but she can't without a script, so she didn't.  now go on now -- back to watching your gossip girl episode.

by chache 10/3/2008 - 6:23 pm (re: SarahPalinGrrrrl)

I just wrote a long comment here which this computer lost....  assuming it doesn't show up still somehow, here's another version.... First of all, I was very impressed and slightly confused (and delirious with exhaustion at the time) with your portrayal of a 16 year old.  And without a tv to watch gossip girl!  By the way, when have you "surrendered your critical faculties"?

I think you assessment here of her debate performance is important but not entirely correct. I would conclude that Palin stirs up the inner adolescent in all of us.  For some 16 year olds, and for me, that can be negative as well. An anti Palin meangrrrrl.  When I watch her I tend to find myself whining at the tv and making unrealistic statements about how bad she is doing and how everyone must be thinking she is stupid.  That is very adolescent of me, but just another kind of adolescent. Of course, you are right, there is the other side... the actual and inner adolescents who are impressed by the "warmth and confidence" they see.  While I see a woman who is nervous and out of her depth, and exactly NOT warm in the way she repeats herself as if reading a script, I know very well that she is coming across differently to others.  Partially it depends on whose side you are on to begin with... it also has to do with what leadership style you appreciate.  Do you want someone who "doesn't blink" or someone who thinks things through if they have some time?  Do you want someone who uses simple language to prove they are ordinary, or do you want someone extaordinary?  I don't think I can agree that her "style" is the best. Her style though, is fantastic for someone who has nothing to back up that style, and it is fantastic for those people she is trying to appeal to.  I admire her ability to compensate for her flaws.  I don't think this was a debate with a winner or loser.  I am waiting up for the next one here.... (AM who thinks she needs to change her Dagblog screen name).

by AM 10/7/2008 - 8:30 pm

AM, maybe you should just change your screenname when you get back into THIS country...

Anyway, there were at least a few moments in the debate where Palin made me feel like a 16-year old.  And it wasn't a good thing.  All the sudden I was transported back to high school, or maybe even junior high, listening to that girl who's very sweet and friendly until you find out she's been saying horrid things about you to all your friends behind your back.  You know, that girl. 

by CaliforniaPaige 10/12/2008 - 2:45 am (re: OtherCountries)

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