Open veep debate thread
Feel free to discuss the before-and-after of the vice-presidential debate here. Discuss the following amongst yourselves: Historically, do VP debates matter at all? My answer to this question is “no,” which is why I won’t be liveblogging this one. UPDATE: OK, my take on this debate is constrained by the fact that, a) I spent ...
Feel free to discuss the before-and-after of the vice-presidential debate here. Discuss the following amongst yourselves: Historically, do VP debates matter at all? My answer to this question is "no," which is why I won't be liveblogging this one. UPDATE: OK, my take on this debate is constrained by the fact that, a) I spent the first 25 minutes of it reading Dr. Seuss to my son; b) I spent the rest of the time flipping between the VP debate and the Twins-Yankees game, and I found the latter far more riveting. That said, five thoughts:
Feel free to discuss the before-and-after of the vice-presidential debate here. Discuss the following amongst yourselves: Historically, do VP debates matter at all? My answer to this question is “no,” which is why I won’t be liveblogging this one. UPDATE: OK, my take on this debate is constrained by the fact that, a) I spent the first 25 minutes of it reading Dr. Seuss to my son; b) I spent the rest of the time flipping between the VP debate and the Twins-Yankees game, and I found the latter far more riveting. That said, five thoughts:
1) Is it my imagination, or did Gwen Ifill sound like she’d either had some recent dental work done or stuffed about five cotton balls into her mouth? 2) I suspect Cheney will be perceived in the instant polling to have won the debate. Just as the right has tried to demonize Kerry, the left has tried to demonize Cheney. The fact that Cheney comes across as sober and plain-spoken clashes with the stereotype. 3) Frankly, both of them whiffed a lot on the questions I heard. On nuclear proliferation, for example, Cheney again claimed that the A.Q. Khan network had been satisfactorily dealt with — a big fat slow curve over the plate. Edwards didn’t even swing at that. 4) The most entertaining answer was Edwards’ attempt to follow Ifill’s directions and manage to answer one question without saying the words “John Kerry” 5) Stylistically, I suspect Cheney will also be crowned the winner — he didn’t seem to hestitate in his answers. Edwards seemed more hesitant in his responses.
That said, post your own thoughts!! UPDATE: Andrew Sullivan says I’m copping out on my own view — the most devastating charge to be made in the blogosphere!! OK, bearing in mind I didn’t watch the whole debate (which is why I was reluctant to proffer my own opinion), I’d give it to Cheney. His astringent style and well-versed talking points held up pretty well, and I picked up the same weak points in Edwards’ performance as Mickey Kaus (“at times looked like a yapping ankle-biter, albeit a well-briefed one“). So Cheney won — but not by any significant margin. ANOTHER UPDATE: ABC’s poll gives it to Cheney; CBS gives it to Edwards. Here’s a link to the full transcript. My original conclusion stands, however — the VP debate is irrelevant.
Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner
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