HOME / the chat room: Real-time discussions with Slate writers.

Up for DebateEmily Bazelon and Dahlia Lithwick take readers' questions about tonight's vice-presidential face-off.

Posted Thursday, Oct. 2, 2008, at 4:46 PM ET

Slate "XX Factor" bloggers Emily Bazelon and Dahlia Lithwick were online at Washingtonpost.com to chat with readers about the vice-presidential debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden. An unedited transcript of the chat follows.

RSS

Emily Bazelon: Hi Everyone,

Thanks for joining us. Dahlia and I are looking forward to tackling your questions. The pre-debate debate!
_______________________

Malvern, Pa.: I am so confused by Sarah Palin I can't even stand it. How can someone who is obviously articulate in her own folksy way (based on her Alaska debate videos) come across as so vacant and inarticulate in the Kate Couric interviews? It's not that she should be an expert on every Supreme Court decision; even if she couldn't name one, she at least should have been able to put together a couple of sentences like "we're going to nominate judges who won't legislate from the bench or take liberties with our Constitution." In your opinion, which Sarah Palin is going to show up tonight? Also, if you got to ask her one and only one question, what would it be?

Dahlia Lithwick: Hi there Malvern and thanks for the great question. My husband put the same query this way last night: "Dahlia how can you keep saying Pain is horrible at interviews but will be great at the debate? What? What???!" I think you are right that the Sarah Palin who shows up tonight will be very different from the one who tried to fake her way through the Couric interviews. I have seen video of her earlier debates. She is good. She has 90 seconds to respond tonite. No cagey followup questions. I bet you see the gal who wowed them at the convention more than the one who gets spoofed on SNL. She is better in a crowd, better in a debate, and better against an opponent. If I could ask her just one question it would be "Who isn't a media elite?"

_______________________

Boston: I don't think people should assume Palin is going to be terrible because of her Couric interviews, because my understanding is that they all were done on the same day. So maybe she just got knocked off her stride early on and never got it back. However, if she can't recover after a break in her stride, that seems like invaluable information for Biden.

Emily Bazelon: Agreed—good call not to assume Palin can't handle the debate because she couldn't handle Couric. The TV interviews were open-ended. Couric asked good follow-up questions. The debate is a far more canned format. Palin should be able to stick to what she knows more easily.

On the other hand, the account in the NYT of Palin's past debate performances offers some reason to worry on her account: "Ms. Palin often spoke in generalities and showed scant aptitude for developing arguments beyond a talking point or two. Her sentences were distinguished by their repetition of words, by the use of the phrase here in Alaska and for gaps. On paper, her sentences would have been difficult to diagram."

Hmm. Doesn't sound like this is her great strength.

Here's the link.

_______________________

Salt Lake City: If, as Politico is reporting today, Palin's strategy is to go on the attack against Biden, how does he respond without looking like he's weak or, alternately, looking like a bully? Personally, I kind of like the idea of (given the recent economic and congressional meltdown) of "taking the high road" so to speak ... such as: "in this crisis, the American people are less interested in a fight than in a clear description of plans to place us back on the right track ... here are mine—describe yours." What do you think?

washingtonpost.com: Palin's new plan: Go after Biden (Politico, Oct. 2)

Dahlia Lithwick: Hey Salt Lake and thank you for writing in. And I think you are onto something about the attack-doggery. Seems to me that McCain's chomping away at Obama last week backfired, or at least the polls suggest the audience was unimpressed. That surprised me, I confess. I though McCain had won the debate. But you speak to a new mood in the country that is more and more fatigued by attacks. People are terrified about their wallets and their 401ks and their sons in Iraq. Its not clear a slam at community organizers will close the deal anymore. I would add that Obama's ability to "take the high road" most of the time seems to be paying off just now. That said Palin lies to do scrappy. Its hard to imagine her doing anything else but going after Biden full tilt.

_______________________

Minneapolis: Ms. Bazelon, I enjoyed your piece detailing the painful watching of Palin's wretched performance. Do you really think that Palin's performance in tonight's debate and the rest of the campaign will make a difference for female presidential candidates in four years? Has Clinton already broken the glass ceiling, or is Palin's nomination really making it less likely to have viable women candidates for the White House in the foreseeable future?

Emily Bazelon: Hey thank you. Yes, I do think Palin's performance matters. Clinton should have definitely broken this glass ceiling. But that doesn't mean she did. She's one example of a female candidate for president who oozed competence. But until we have a bunch of other examples, she and Palin are an n of 2. That makes them both important to voters' perceptions. I'm not arguing that Palin can undo what Clinton accomplished exactly. But she can fuzz it up, create new room for doubt, or really new excuses for people who remain skeptical about a woman in the White House, or the Office of the Vice President.

_______________________

Main Street: Who do you think will be the primary viewers of tonight's debate—those who don't like Palin and are hoping to see her fall on her face, or those who do like her and are hoping to see her score against Biden? I don't think there's really a middle ground at this point.

Emily Bazelon: I think the audience will be big for a VP debate. For one thing, aren't we all expecting a little entertainment? If it's all dry and executed via boring sound bite, I know I'll be disappointed. Given that Palin's poll numbers are down, maybe there are more detractors out there, and certainly she has sparked a backlash of women and men who want to see her fail, both because of her conservative policy views and her persona. But I'm sure Palin's fans will be tuning in to root her on. They are a loyal and energized group—as excited about her as Barack Obama's swooners are about him.

_______________________

Northern Virginia: To me, the buzz around this debate is akin to that of a NASCAR race—half the people go for the racing, but the other half go in anticipation of a big wreck or two. I am very interested in seeing what each candidate has to say and how they say it, but I will admit—part of me wants to see a wreck or two.

Dahlia Lithwick: You know I am not even sure I know what a wreck would look like here. Having endured the brutally awful "I'll get back to ya" or Palin's anguished inability to discuss any Supreme Court cases it's hard to imagine tonight being any more likely to produce a truly groan-worthy moment. That said I am wearing a turtleneck in the event that I need to avert my eyes. As Emily noted in her piece, it is NEVER ever pleasant to witness a car wreck. Any thoughts on whether women are more inclined to cringe in these moments as men??

_______________________

Miami: Ms. Bazelon, you write: "Sarah Palin's murder boards have taken place in public. We've all watched her stumped and stumbling in her interviews with Katie Couric." You know that Ms. Kouric's interview was totally hostile. No other candidate for national office has had followups in the form of "name another—this is your third and final chance, name another." That questioning is worthy of a third-grade school teacher abusing a student. You know that; no one can deny that. So, why do you ignore it in your article criticizing Palin? Look, you folks from Slate have dug yourselves one big hole. Can you really survive economically if all you do is pander to left-wing radicalism?

Emily Bazelon: I thought Couric was pretty restrained, actually. She wouldn't have asked Palin the same question more than once if Palin had answered it the first time. When she asked Biden about a Supreme Court case he disagreed with, he answered readily and fluidly. There are other moments in his interview that she could have pressed harder on—I posted on Slate this morning about how his characterization of Roe v. Wade as representing "consensus" utterly puzzled me. But to me, the question that matters about Palin's interviews with Couric isn't whose fault they are. It's how we feel about a vice president who gives the kind of thin, not knowledgeable answers she gave.

_______________________

Anonymous: From Dahlia's article: "When Palin tanks, it's good for the country if you want Obama and Biden to win, but it's bad for the future of women in national politics." I really don't agree with this—it may be bad for underqualified women in national politics, and thank god for that. "Pretty and spunky" shouldn't be enough when coupled with what seems like a one-dimensional thought process. I don't think Palin cares about knowing the details—she is a frightening morphing of Cheney and Bush. She's a Decider taking direction from God and doing her damnedest to keep her actions and communications out of reach from the public.