Joe Biden’s problem September 8, 2008
Posted by Evil Bender in News and politics.trackback
Here’s the trouble that faces Joe Biden. He’s going to have to debate Sarah Palin, a candidate who is laughably under-qualified to be Vice President. He’s a far better VP candidate than she is, and everyone who is paying attention knows that. And yet, three things work against him:
- There have been far too many sexist jabs at Palin. Seriously, it’s pathetic–the only jabs anyone should need are that she’s a dishonest, unqualified, far-right ideologue who is in hiding from the press lest she embarrass herself–and yet somehow people still talk about her shoes.
- You’re not exactly a poster boy for anti-sexist behavior–you have a tendency to say wildly inappropriate things to, and about, women.
- Even when no one is being sexist, the Republicans are going to play their own brand identity politics, accusing you of sexism no matter what you do, accusing you of being an “insider” no matter what you do, and accusing you of being a bully no matter what you do.
So what’s a guy to do?
Fortunately, Dahlia Lithwick has some advice. Go read it; you’ll need it!
And remember, Joe: stick to your knowledge of the issues, avoid personal attacks, and you’ll be just fine.
Regarding the article, unfortunately, I don’t think fighting her like she’s a man is going to work. Bidne can play it completely asexual and trounce her like he would trounce an equally unqualified (and batshit crazy) man and all it will do is make him look like he’s a bully. The attack may not be sexist but the response will be; ironically making Biden appear sexist himself.
She’s also a sure bet to Gish Gallop, so that will take some effort to counter. Biden can’t get caught up in all of Palin’s baseless accusations. He has to ignore her as much as possible and stick to his issues and his talking points. Most importantly, don’t give the media a soundbite of him attacking her.
He has to attack her on the issues w/o seeming angry or condescending (a tall order for Senator Biden, perhaps a tall order for anyone). If he sticks to the issues, he’ll be fine. Perhaps, if he needs to unload some pressure, he could say, “I wouldn’t expect a first term governor and one (?) term mayor, to know this.” The end.
The one thing he has to do is avoid letting her rile him up with her hate speech. That’s one thing she does well – talk about how much the other party sucks, and gets away with it.
But as far as VP debates go, she’ll probably not do too well, because she can’t bring her mentally challenged child onto the stage to wave around like a rallying flag (as she did at the RNC).
Now that the bounce is coming down from the RNC, she’s going to have to prove to people she’s not just pandering. Which, I think, is impossible, since that’s how she got her last two political jobs in the first place.