3:42 PM Scott Feschuk – Welcome everyone. People of a certain age might remember the Saturday Night Live fake ad for Bad Idea jeans (“Normally I wear protection, but then I thought, ‘When am I gonna make it back to Haiti?’ Screen shot: Bad Idea).
If Sarah Palin were attired in denim tonight, she’d be wearing Low Expectations (“Despite enduring weeks of ridicule, I continue to make the case that I’m qualified in foreign affairs because Russia is, like, kitty-corner from my front porch.” Screen shot: Low Expectations).
Still, even as the McCain campaign has let it be known that it’s giving up on winning Michigan and reallocating those resources to a state they’ve still got a shot to win (maybe the state of disarray, where they’re currently spending most of their time), Politico.com is reporting that the Palin camp is “projecting surprising self-confidence in the pre-debate hours.” Maybe she’ll look good in Low Expectations after all. See you back here at 9 p.m. ET for the start of the VP debate.6:38 PM Scott Feschuk – I know many of you will want to study up for tonight’s debate, so I’ve gone to the trouble of preparing a comprehensive package of briefing materials that are required reading before the section on world affairs:6:38 PM Scott Feschuk –
6:39 PM Scott Feschuk –
6:42 PM Scott Feschuk – To recap then: people from Alaska – like Sarah Palin – live across the water from people from Russia, who are thuggish and dangerous, which is why you should vote Republican. Because by comparison people from Delaware – like Joe Biden – only live across the water from people from New Jersey, who are thuggish and… oh, wait. Never mind.8:40 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Well I’m finally here after picking the boy up at daycare, making dinner and playing trains. I am a regular Sarah Palin over here.8:42 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Correction: I did not slay any moose…8:44 PM Scott Feschuk – Hi Luiza/Sarah. That’s OK, I slayed enough for both of us (dibs on the hooves). Hey Luiza, are you like me? I love CNN. They have the resources and will to supply us with the opinions and insight of no fewer than 4,765 pundits at any given time. There are ranks upon ranks of pundits. If Jeffrey Toobin gets gunned down in a crossfire between Paul Begala and William Bennett, they just drag away his corpse and wheel in David Gergen. There is no interruption in the constant stream of punditry.
Also, Wolf Blitzer just called this debate “historic,” which is “historic” in itself in that it’s the 10,000th event he’s called “historic” this election season. Also historic: the Democratic National Convention, the selection of Barack Obama, the selection of Sarah Palin, that time he got two gumballs instead of one in the gumball machine at the CNN commissary…8:47 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Who would you rather be tonight: Joe Biden or Sarah Palin?? I would much rather be Sarah Palin. Tonight offers a huge up-side for her. She can come out of this with a new image, a new storyline, and positive headlines. The only headlines Biden can make is if he screws up. Obama is already up in the polls this week, . He’d be happy if the campaign could just end today and people could just vote.8:49 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Also — as has been pointed out elsewhere, Palin’s screw ups in interviews have come mainly when journalists have pushed past her non-answers with repeated follow up questions. According to the rules of tonight’s debate, there will be no follow-ups.8:50 PM Scott Feschuk – I don’t know – i saw Palin’s interview with Katie Couric, and I sure like driving my car, and I’m not sure Sarah has the raw intelligence required to do so, so I gues I’m going to have to go with Biden. But your point is right on the money. Biden’s in tough – can’t be a bully, can’t condescend. It’s a fine line and he’s not a guy accustomed to walking a fine line.8:52 PM Scott Feschuk – I actually feel kind of bad for Joe Biden, because for weeks he’s been going to extraordinary efforts to be detrimental to the Democratic ticket and yet no one is really paying him any attention. What does the guy have to do? Lack the ability to name a single magazine or newspaper in the presence of Katie Couric?8:54 PM Scott Feschuk – Do you have your perception analyzer like those voters on CNN? i do. mine’s a shiraz.8:55 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – As I suggested on my blog earlier today, let’s have a sip of Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin every time we hear the words “elite”, “media elite” or “liberal elite.”8:56 PM Scott Feschuk – It’s been 12 seconds. i’m drunk.8:57 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – I wonder whether Ifill will ask Biden whether he still thinks Iraq should be carved up into separate Kurdish, Sunni and Shia governments.8:58 PM Scott Feschuk – well, when iraq had trouble back in the 1920s, roosevelt went on tv and said just that…8:59 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – I was at a Fourth of July house party BBQ in 2007 in Iowa, when you could still get within an inch of the candidates, and he was going on and on about how it was the only answer. 8:59 PM Scott Feschuk – rowland martin is going to explode all over my plasma screen!9:00 PM Scott Feschuk – as a potential v-p, i sure hope the secret service has searched biden’s person and removed all independent opinion9:00 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – I guess I should turn the TV on. I’m going to watch it on Fox News to balance you out.9:01 PM Scott Feschuk – good point. on fox, i think the role of joe biden will be played by a howler monkey.9:01 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Questions about Gewn Ifill.. you don’t say.9:02 PM Scott Feschuk – as one pundit said on cnn, if they disqualified everyone who was writing a book or giving speeches, the screen on most news channels would be blank9:02 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – 90 seconds to respond — and then 2 minutes for rebuttal..9:02 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Look, it’s Tina Fey!9:03 PM Scott Feschuk – sarah’s first words: “Can i call you joe?”9:03 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Yes. Can I have a hug?9:03 PM Scott Feschuk –
i’m smitten!9:03 PM Scott Feschuk – Sure. FYI, that’s a flashlight in my pocket.9:04 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Worst of Washington or the best of Washington? Biden: It’s neither. 9:04 PM Scott Feschuk – i think the squiggly line voter dialy thing on cnn is going to be more interesting tonite – it’s men v. women. right now women are hot for biden. men, not so much.9:04 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Biden: it’s all Bush’s fault. 9:05 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Biden: we are fundamentally going to change the focus to the middle class.9:05 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Palin: go to a kid’s soccer game any Satturday.9:05 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – to see how the economy is doing.9:06 PM Scott Feschuk – Palin just used the verb “betcha.” she’s winning the “my grampa” demographic.9:07 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Palin: the barometer is going to be resounding.. John McCain wanted to reform Fannie and Freddie. His friends in the Senate didn’t.9:07 PM Scott Feschuk – palin is praising mccain for devoting the whole of last thursday to apparently solving the entire economic crisis, saving wall street and teaching dogs and cats to live together.9:07 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Biden is talking about himself. That’s not good… okay, back to McCain.9:08 PM Scott Feschuk – not that it really matters, but biden is SO calm. it’s kind of freaky.9:08 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Yes, but can he wink like Palin?9:08 PM Scott Feschuk – that wink was for me. SHE WAS WINKING AT ME!!9:09 PM Scott Feschuk – americans are craving something new and different, palin says. it’s either mccain-palin or diet vanilla cherry dr pepper.9:10 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Palin: 96% of Obama’s votes have been along party lines. … Americans are craving something new and different… 9:10 PM Scott Feschuk – “darn right it was the predator lenders” who are to blame for the credit crisis, palin says. “there was deception there!” apparently voters can be as stupid as they want to be, which is a relief to any american who just bought a house they can’t afford or slept with charlie sheen.9:11 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Palin: Joe Six packs and hockey moms need to band together.. and quit charging so much to our credit cards. … She’s doing well here.9:12 PM Scott Feschuk – she sure is. the ohio voters doing the dialy thing on cnn loved her rant about how the lenders are to blame and americans themselves are innocent victims. ludicrous, but apparently savvy.9:12 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Biden: McCain was surprised that there was a subprime mortgage crisis. … He told WSJ he was always for deregulation… John on 20 different occasions in past year and a half called for more deregulation.9:13 PM Scott Feschuk – drink every time palin says “darn right.” unless you want to live til 10:30 p.m.9:13 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Palin: Darn right we need tax relief so jobs can we created here.9:13 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Palin: Obama supported tax increases on people making just 42,000 a year.9:14 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Biden: Absolutely not true. It was a budge procedural vote. McCain voted the same way. Notice that Palin did not respond on the issue of deregulation.9:14 PM Scott Feschuk – palin’s full of it, but no one cares. she is an effective cyborg political message delivery machine, i’ll give her that. plus – and i say it again – SHE WINKED EXCLUSIVELY AT ME!!9:14 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Palin: I may not answer the question the moderator or you want to hear.9:15 PM Scott Feschuk – Man, talk about a pre-planned line. 9:15 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – I meant, “the way” you want to hear.9:16 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – I wonder if Ifill will ask them to define “middle class.”9:16 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Biden: No one making under $250K will see a penny of their taxes raised.9:16 PM Scott Feschuk – biden mostly stares at the moderator. palin exclusively stares into the camera, or turns on biden. 9:17 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Biden: McCain wants to add 300 billion in new tax cuts to corpoorations and wwealthy.9:17 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Palin: you are forgetting millions of small businesses.9:18 PM Scott Feschuk – palin’s bangs are at this moment caught in her eyelashes, so they move every time she blinks. it takes a trained political observer like me to notice these things.9:19 PM Scott Feschuk – also, palin’s flag pin on her lapel is twice the size of biden’s flag pin. that means she’s twice as patriotic. plus i think it has rhinestones in it.9:19 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Palin: McCain is proposing $5K tax credit for families to buy their own health care … not like Obama’s universal, government-run plan… “health care being taken over by the Feds.”9:19 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Biden: I don’t know where to start… 9:20 PM Scott Feschuk – i think that was the slogan of his presidential campaign9:20 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – 95% of small business owners in AMerica make under $2500 a year and they won’t see taxes increase.9:20 PM Scott Feschuk – ok, now joe is staring directly into the camera. looking right at me. but no winks. advantage: palin.9:22 PM Scott Feschuk – nothing pleases american voters more than the potential for not delivering on foreign aid pledges, as biden says now may happen on account of the bailout. the dials went through the roof.9:22 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Fox doesn’t have any dials.9:22 PM Scott Feschuk – or souls9:23 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Biden: $100 billion tax dodge — companies moving offshore. I call that unpatriotic.9:24 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Palin: accuses Obama of voting for energy bill that gives tax breaks to oil companies. Now she’s talking about taking on oil companies in Alaska. She’s doing really well here I bet.9:24 PM Scott Feschuk – this format stinks, compared to the presidential debate and especially compared to the french leaders debate last night. there is NO debate here. none at all. palin is just reciting talking points – we can even see her looking down to memorize her lines. she’s good at it, though. 9:25 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Ifill: nothing you have promised that you would take off the table… I don’t be lieve John McCain has made any promise he won’t be able to keep.9:26 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Biden: Obama voted for energy bill to support alternativ e aenergy. When it came to a separate vote to take theem out, Obama voted yes, and McCain did not. Says Palin imposed a windfall profits tax on oil companies in Alaska, but McCain won’t support it. Says he hopes Palin can convince him to do what she did in Alaska.9:26 PM Scott Feschuk – biden is very effective in hammering on mccain’s determintation to give billions more to the oil companies. it’s been his strongest intervention so far.9:27 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – mortgage lenders “rear that head of abuse”. kind of like putin.9:27 PM Scott Feschuk – apparently, palin wants all americans to look back two years and thank john mccain for warning people about greed on wall street. i guess she wants them to thank him for mentioning it once and then forgetting about it, leading us to where we are today.9:28 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – yes, but Obama wrote a letter to the Treasury secretary two years ago..9:29 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – so let’s thank them all since they were so effective.9:29 PM Scott Feschuk – neither of them did jack
If Sarah Palin were attired in denim tonight, she’d be wearing Low Expectations (“Despite enduring weeks of ridicule, I continue to make the case that I’m qualified in foreign affairs because Russia is, like, kitty-corner from my front porch.” Screen shot: Low Expectations).
Still, even as the McCain campaign has let it be known that it’s giving up on winning Michigan and reallocating those resources to a state they’ve still got a shot to win (maybe the state of disarray, where they’re currently spending most of their time), Politico.com is reporting that the Palin camp is “projecting surprising self-confidence in the pre-debate hours.” Maybe she’ll look good in Low Expectations after all. See you back here at 9 p.m. ET for the start of the VP debate.
Also, Wolf Blitzer just called this debate “historic,” which is “historic” in itself in that it’s the 10,000th event he’s called “historic” this election season. Also historic: the Democratic National Convention, the selection of Barack Obama, the selection of Sarah Palin, that time he got two gumballs instead of one in the gumball machine at the CNN commissary…