Opinion: Analysis of Sarah Palin's Debate Performance

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Sarah Palin's down home manner and ability to navigate the debate format gave Americans prone to like her a reason to continue to do so. If you are one who did not like her going into the debate, her dodging questions and continued utterance of campaign slogans, re-enforced that dislike for you.

The Alaska governor played to her strengths, using plain-talk language and tossing aside direct questions while bringing her focus back to her well-crafted talking points:

"I may not answer the questions you or the moderator wants to hear, I'm going to talk directly to the people."

Her insistence that she preferred to “speak directly to the people” would have been believable if she actually had something to say. Instead, her attempt to be the folksy, “hockey mom” governor, could only appeal to those so enamored with her to think that her robotic like, script driven responses were substantive.

Sarah Palin responded with a chorus of “gosh”, "betcha" and “doggone it” to a series of straightforward questions on important issues such as the economic crisis, the occupation of Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, nuclear proliferation and energy policy. When she wasn’t staring down at her notes, she managed to look directly into the camera and flash that trademark smirk she wears as a badge of honor.

Palin, who had performed miserably in recent one-on-one interviews, shined in the debate format, which allowed her to offer more general answers laced with terms like "Washington outsider" and "hockey mom." She invoked the word "maverick" at least five times. She was a cliche machine. Throughout the debate it felt like Palin was giving a stump speech.

She has gained lots of praise this morning from a host of conservative pundits.

Mark Levin at National Review Online:

"I have been involved in and observed politics for a long time. Governor Palin is a truly unique national figure. She is down to earth, personable, and smart as hell. That's right. She has been on the national scene for a little over a month, she has been campaigning everywhere, she has had to bone up on all kinds of national issues, and she has shown class throughout. Too often too many are persuaded by the mainstream media's opinion and react to that. This should be another lesson in that regard. As for some of her populist views, she cannot openly campaign against the positions of her presidential running mate. She is the bright light in this campaign from my perspective."

Ramesh Ponnuru at the Washington Post:

"Gov. Palin more than held her own in her debate with Senator Joe Biden. Again and again, she took shots at Obama without being disagreeable. She showed at least as strong a command of the facts as Senator Biden (more on that in a bit).... There were times when she was a bit more platitudinous than I would have liked, but overall she not only beat expectations. She beat Biden."

I more or less fall under the opinion of some other conservative pundits.

Quin Hilyer at the American Spectator:

"Final verdict: In terms of who won the immediate debate, Biden by as big a margin as that of Secretariat in the Belmont. But in terms of who is able to do more to make long-term hay (long-term in campaign time, meaning in the next four weeks) from the campaign, the opportunities are there for McCain to do quite well. No one thing in particular that Biden did or said will be tremendously commercial-worthy for Obama's purposes. Nothing that Palin did or said will provide TV ad fodder that helps Obama drive McCain down further -- there were no major "gaffes" to be exploited, even though there were times she looked in general out of her league. But Biden on gay marriage and on judges provided real fodder for McCain to attack, if he does it effectively, soberly, not nastily but still forcefully. We'll see if the McCain folks recognize their chance."

Ross Douthat at the Atlantic Monthly:

"He didn't need to wipe the floor with her in order to win, and he wisely didn't try; he just needed to sound more authoritative, nuanced, and experienced than her, to hammer away at John McCain, and to generally play defense for a ticket that's on its way to victory at the moment. And I think he succeeded. ... While Sarah Palin did an awful lot for Sarah Palin tonight, there was only so much she could do for her running mate - given her own limits, but especially given the state of the country, and the gulf between the issues the McCain campaign wants to fight on and the issues voters care about. She's saved herself from Quayle-dom, but Obama-Biden is one debate closer to victory."

Last night Palin was good enough to help rally a Republican base that had lost some of its energy since the party’s convention up to last night. She essentially performed well enough that the spin-masters can declare her weak performance as a come-from-behind victory.

Now, as in previous elections, the vice presidential candidates will move to the background and that should return voters’ focus back to the candidates who really matter: Barack Obama and John McCain.