Sarah Palin, slyly, spotlights a key difference between herself and Joe Biden

THIS is what Joe Biden better be prepared for when he and Sarah Palin meet for their debate Oct. 2 -- getting filleted, no doubt with a smile, by the self-described hockey mom who revels in being a Washington outsider.

Fox News has released more excerpts from the second segment of her sit-down with Sean Hannity, which airs tonight (for an earlier excerpt, see here). Asked about her upcoming encounter with the 65-year-old, six-term senator from Delaware, she responds:

Sen. Biden has a tremendous amount of experience. I think he was first elected when I was like in second grade.

Ouch!

Palin, in fact, was 8 years old when Biden (then just a few days shy of 30) first won his seat in November 1972.

And for the record, Barack Obama was 21 when John McCain began his political career by winning a House seat in Arizona in November, 1982.

Palin went on to say of Biden:

He's been in there a long, long, long time. So he's got the experience. He probably has the sound bites. He has the rhetoric. He knows what's expected of him. He is a great debater, also. So yes, it's going to be quite a task in front of me.

The Ticket takes note of her repetition of the word "long."

-- Don Frederick

Comments

[mwf]

Um...the snappy little comments (written by other people) only make Ms. Palin look smug and nasty.

Do we REALLY want such a person as President if McCain dies in office the next year or two?

Do you REALLY think she's the type of person that is willing to 'reach across the aisle" to get things done?

Nasty and Smug were never positive personality traits.

[Kathleen]

Joe Biden has a lengthy record of substance--working on behalf of women's rights, health care, ethics in government, sound fiscal policy, and the environment.

Speaking as an Alaskan, I can say that Palin is no reformer. She is the throwback--to political patronage, superficiality, and no efforts on her part for health care, women's issues, or the environment. She is skilled in the politics of pork to her most favored constituents.

[When Pigs Fly]

Off hand, I would say some major differences include...
Experience, ability, reliability, intelligence, and integrity. This is just a short list.

Oh, Joe Biden is not a moose killer.

[lucy2008]

Yes, many people who get older get wiser, which is the case of Joe Biden. And he is loved and highly respected for it. He is also modest and self-deprocating.

Some people get old and all they can do is tell old stories about what they did when they were young (e.g., POW) and forget what they are doing at the moment.

Some people are young and feisty without wisdom and smarts. But they are ambitious and fight the dirty fight.

[PJ]

And Palin has such a short, short, short political history and still has an ethics investigation that she's trying to sweep under the rug and has LIED in her brief, brief, brief career more times than anyone cares to count. But republicans just LOVE those glasses.

[Independent-in-Cal]

Does Sarah Palin plan to star in "Mean Girl II" the sequel?

It seems to be the one unique and only qualification in her thinnest resume.

[Lynn]

Gov. Palin has a STRONG record of reaching "across the aisle" as Alaska's chief executive. Last year, Newsweek magazine had an article praising Governor Palin's "pragmatic, postpartisan approach to solving problems, a style that works especially well with the large numbers of independent voters." You can read it at: http://www.newsweek.com/id/42534/

[Sid Connor]

The title to your article really reveals where you are coming from and the impression you want to give of Sarah Palin. It is for this reason that newspapers like the LA Times have lost all credibility with fair minded people who recognize a thinly veiled propaganda ad for Barack Obama.

[Tony Guevara]

I will go out on a limb and say that this probably will be the most watch debate ever.

Can't wait.

[Frieda]

Sarah rocks!

she is real, non-polished and she is NOT a lawyer.

She has more experience than Obama, and that's enough for me in this race.

[Vinny]

If Sarah Palin is the snappy, no prisoner, quick wit responder and she wants to be my Vice President... Thanks, but no thanks!

[Aaon]

Joe Biden is a big supporterof the one of most overlooked issues. The drug war. Which is mostly to blame for the overcrowed prions and the billions of dollars it costs tax payers every year. Kind of a shame really.

[pipian]

The uglier the left gets, the stronger they make their opponents. This is why I switched from Obama, his followers helped with my decision.

[thebob.bob]

What's there to debate about. Does Palin want to argue that Biden has been in the Senate too long when her partner has been there so long he can't remember that Spain is an ally?

Hows the last 8 yrs been workin' for ya? Thank the Republicans, McCain and McCain's best bud, GW Bush. Now there's a record you can run.....away from.

[JudiNV]

I think that snarky cockiness is what has been turning people off in droves this past week. She's too unknown and too new to the scene to deride a seasoned and respected politician like Biden. She hasn't earned the right.

[JWMAC]

I am amazed that Palin is ALWAYS taking the hit for lack of experience to be the VP when Obama's lack of experience couldn't withstand the same accusations for PRESIDENT! He's NEVER held ANY executive office! Hillary was a better pick anyway but the smooth talker took it away. And Biden?? He couldn't even get his bid for Pres. off the ground! So keep focusing on Palin, Joe will come off looking like the arrogant insider he is after Oct.2.

[robt]

Biden is a smarmy insider socialist thug who doesn't mind suck off corporate America when it helps him or his equally low life son scam thousands from individual Americans.

Kind of like Babwa Streisand charging old geezers $2,500 a ticket for her "final" tour 10 years in a row -

Somehow when liberals scam people its OK.

[sean]

Oh, please. That's all Palin's got? Snappy little comments and a snarky smile. At least Joe Biden is not under invesigation for abuse of power. Need I say more?

Joe Biden would never insult Americans with stupid comments like 'I have foreign policy experience because I see Russia from my house"...

[Dmitriy]

Nice article.

[Ayne]

So, as I've expected since her acceptance speech, Palin has no intention of actually debating the issues. She lacks the intellect to actually debate Biden. So what else is left? Smarmy attempts of character assassination here we come!

Biden will be spending most of his time trying to get back to the debate while she derails it.

Thanks for this Palin. This truly is what the American public needs. Debates reality TV style. PATHETIC...

[dan]

Obama is also out there blaming Bush for 10 billion a month in Iraq, claiming we are spending our money on their infrastructure while the Iraqi's have 79 billion in the bank. We have all heard him blame Bush for this...

But if you check the senate record you will see it was amendment 4245 that provided..."To restore full funding for the international affairs budget, in support of the reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan". It passed 73-24.

Not only did Obama vote for this spending..but guess who sponsered the bill? Why no other than Obama's VP choice...Joe Biden himself. Just another example of Obama out right lying and his supporters don't care because it isn't about speaking the truth...it's about hating republicans.

There is no way Obama can unite our nation by dividing it with lies.

[Sean]

Oh, please when Palin was doing beauty peagants I was learning to crawl. That doesn't make me any more or less qualified than her for anything. She needs to get a clue!

[MB]

Arrogance and hatred, which Palin seems to exude, are not the qualities of a leader.

[bbmaps]

I just love it when Republicans get all gooey and self-congratulatory about how progressive they are to put a woman on the ticket - forgetting that the Democrats did it in 1984, when it was far more of a risk, and far less accepted.

Yeah, a quarter century behind... That sounds about the righ time scale for McSame and Company..

[bloggie]

Why, Why , Why do some republicans equate ignorance and inexperience with competency and wisdom. For the love me, cant see why McCain picked her, she is his polar opposite. Her idea of good governance is firing everyone and appointing her own yes men to work with her. Anyone can run a state with a hugh budget surplus, George Bush did. Look how well he ran the country. That isn't going to work in Washington. She will be a source of rancor instead of reconciliation. She is loud, brash vulgar and petulant. Hugo Chaves in Drag.

[CJ]

Sarah Palin is acting like a desperate house wife. Her interviews are fit for day time Soaps

[No fan of that ticket.]

"Last year, Newsweek magazine had an article praising Governor Palin's "pragmatic, postpartisan approach to solving problems"

Yeah? Most of what that article touted as her accomplishments has now been debunked. That was so long ago, the idiots at NW still thought she'd ended the funding for The Bridge. Wake up, McCainiac. Your candidates are both liars and Palin is the worst candidate for VPOTUS in the history of the country.

Hand this ignorant cold-blooded war-monger her lipstick and send her back to Alaska.

[Aycee]

This is getting weird, Palin insinuating that Biden has been in Congress for a long long time and therefore is a Washington insider. Doesn't this approach kinda backfire on her, in leiu of the fact that her fosillized, out of touch, running mate, McCain, has been in the Congress a long time too!! I mean this woman lacks common sense and logic!

Personally, my definition of a Washington Insider or Washington Crone, if you will, is someone who has repeatedly supported failed initiatives for the sake of supporting his/her party, someone who is out of touch with the needs of ordinary Americans and has done little to help us. On all counts, Biden has a better track record of helping the small guy, the working class men and women who are the real backbone of America, not the wealthy Senator from Arizona who owns 12 houses but when asked by a press reporter how many he owns, can't remember. Wow, this guy can't remember how many properties he owns yet he wants to run our Country.

[jk]

I heard Sarah's going to play Tina Fey in the movie.

[indytucker]

Palin needs to run for student council and leave the real politicking to those who understand it. Will somebody please keep Annie Oakley on the Jerry Springer show?

[Nick]

"Joe Biden better be prepared for... getting filleted."?

Thanks again for your bias-free reporting, LA Times.

Soon you'll say that expectations are huge for JOE BIDEN, so no matter what he does is diminished.

I'll stick with your expectations, which you claim are balanced. If you were at all consistent, by your skewed logic, anything less than Biden getting filleted on October 2nd would be a loss for Palin.

Will you stick with your own expectations, Don Frederick and the LA Times? My guess is that anything short of a complete meltdown by Palin will be trumpeted as "Palin standing strong..."

[Mac]

The Rock Star picked an old white insider and the Old White Insider picked a rock star. Well, isn't America just getting a splendid choice.

[Dave]

Palin might "fillet" Biden on an episode on Last Comic Standing, but in a serious debate where real issues are discussed?? (most of which will require knowledge on the subject). Let's be serious...

[Miss chi]

but Sarah Palin is under investigation for abuse of power...

people, get your facts straight before you unknowingly mislead others just as how you have unknowingly mislead youself!

[Cal]

Palin reminds me more of Bush everyday. Smug and snotty and totally inept. 8 years is enough!

[Crabby Golightly]

Ron Paul Is Right: The Only Chance For 'Change' Is To Vote Third Party
The crash of America's economic markets is a timely reminder of the importance of the upcoming presidential election.

The American Dream is deferred for millions teetering under higher gas, electric, housing, medical costs and overextended credit cards.

While thousands of Americans lose their homes to foreclosure, corporate welfare continues unabated, with the government's $85 billion bailout of insurance giant AIG.

As admirable as both presidential candidates are -- Barack Obama with his charm, intellect and swagger, John McCain for what Time calls his twin conflictions of ambition and honor -- neither man has the righteous indignation necessary to change the status quo. And to suddenly aspire to it would mean eschewing the political machines that have brought them to the top of the presidential heap.

Like every campaign before it, this presidential race is turning out to be the most expensive to date, with more than $1 billion raised so far, much from "bundlers" who have an economic interest in influencing legislators. The largest piece of that pie will be spent on television and internet advertising, estimated to exceed $3 billion, thus enriching broadcasters who are the primary source of news and information for Americans. So it should be no surprise that what passes for news coverage can at best be described as a "pig wearing lipstick."

[John Schaffer]

If elected, is this what we can expect from Ms Palin...???

Ms Palin: Premier Putin, dontcha think you could learn your english a little better? Cheeeze, dontcha know that what we speak in the godd ol USA...! *Smiles, winks & nods.

Premier Putin to aide: "Stand by the missles"

To Ms Palin: Thank you for that lesson. Perhaps we can change things for you to learn a little Russian.

[Bubba SPARKX]

Biden is no giant killer. Sarah will do fine. All she has to do is continue her short, sharp, snippy attacks, intermingled with humour. The key for her is not to appear shrill or hectoring- like Hilary so often did. Short, sharp attacks while maintaining a confident, lighthearted demeanour and she will trounce Biden handily.

The second key is to continue stressing her reformist record, now made even more important by the Wall Street mess. There is a mess to be cleaned up caused in part by poor regulatory oversight. Sarah can jump on this, link it to her record, and make hay.

As for foreign policy, no governor who has run for president in the last 25 years has "foreign policy experience." Clinton didn't and neither did Reagan. So the much ballyhooed "foreign policy experience" factor is a dud. All Sarah has to do is cover the usual talking points, but also demonstrate that she not afraid to pull the trigger if need be. She can do this by talking tough on Iraq, Russia etc.. She will get more credit for that, than Biden will get credit for "nuance".

Finally the VP debates are not much really. Absent some memorable line like Bentsen against Quayle, who the heck remembers them? Anyone remember that brilliant repartee of Edwards debating Dick Cheney? Yawn..... Yeah, I thought so..

It is Palin who will benefit most from a good showing. She need not be brilliant, just tough and staying lightheartedly on the attack. She can handle herself, and will.

[JohnnyR41]

I CAN'T BELEIVE THE RIDICULOUS REASONS GIVEN BY THOSE WHO ARE "SWITICHING" FROM OBAMA. Go ahead and vote for the party that brought you the biggest deficit in the history of the universe, the realestate/financial meltdown and the loss of a trillion dollars of personal savings, a war that is costing 2 billion a week that has cost 25,000 combined Iraqi and American lives, that promises to take women's rights form them yet again and hand them over to men in black robes, who brought you the PATRIOT ACT!!! - a Republican creation so UNAMERICAN and so UNCONSTITUTIONAL, you could fit 1000 (break-ins to email accounts) into the PATRIOT ACT and still have room left to add the sleaze and distorttion of the McCain campaign, the inexperience and neo-con "war with Russia" banter of Ms.Palin, and McCain's pathetic and constant bludgeoning to death of his POW experience for political gain. GO AHEAD IDIOTS VOTE McCAIN..JUST ADMIT IT'S BECAUSE YOU ARE RASCIST AND STOP THIS RIDICULOUS WHINING (I'm switiching cause of his supporters)!!!

[Jeff]

Who cares about the VP slot? Be sure to vote the TOP of the ticket, not the VPs. Biden will never get the reigns if Obama wins, until Obama is impeached for treason.

Al Quada said they'd attack us again, politically, from the inside, and democrats are putting their sleeper agent Obama in charge of the country.

Your kids won't thank you for that...

[Bud]

"There is no way Obama can unite our nation by dividing it with lies."

I simply can't believe that anyone from the Bush/McCain camp could dare to make this statement.

The GOP has polarized us with lies and fear for at least 8 years. NO MORE.

[JR]

And how old is her running mate? Palin might be wise NOT to remind people about age being a problem since McCain is the OLDEST candidate we've were had. But then nasty little one liners seems her style or lack there of.

[JWMAC]

Geraldine was making history then and now:

Amazing how quick your readers were to cut her throat when she called Obama out, but praise themselves for putting a woman on the ticket!

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/05/geraldine-ferra.html

[alex]

Joe Biden is going to ask her very difficult and specific questions, and she is going to try to give him a sassy answer, and everyone will laugh!

And then it will happen again, and people will say, well that was funny the first time.

Then again, and people will say, wait a minute, she doesnt really have any answers does she.

And Joe Biden will look great, and Palin will look like a fool, again.

[sandy]

Republicans diss women, people of color...now older Americans. And that is OK with them. They use these same groups to promote their Neanderthal and hardly righteous views.

When are these Americans going to seek out more substantial information and stop being pawns?

Get an education! Read a book! The basis for some of your votes is ludicrous. Look around you.

[Man Overboard]

You can all run your mouths about Palin until your red in the face.

But no VP nominee has ever provided a surge of energy to a campaign like Palin did.

So while your faces turn red - the swing states do the same.

[Crabby Golightly]

Ron Paul Is Right: The Only Chance For 'Change' Is To Vote For A Third-Party Candidate

The crash of America's economic markets is a timely reminder of the importance of the upcoming presidential election.

The American Dream is deferred for millions teetering under higher gas, electric, housing, medical costs and overextended credit cards.

While thousands of Americans lose their homes to foreclosure, corporate welfare continues unabated, with the government's $85 billion bailout of insurance giant AIG.

As admirable as both presidential candidates are -- Barack Obama with his charm, intellect and swagger, John McCain for what Time calls his twin conflictions of ambition and honor -- neither man has the righteous indignation necessary to change the status quo. And to suddenly aspire to it would mean eschewing the political machines that have brought them to the top of the presidential heap.

Like every campaign before it, this presidential race is turning out to be the most expensive to date, with more than $1 billion raised so far, much from "bundlers" who have an economic interest in influencing legislators. The largest piece of that pie will be spent on television and internet advertising, estimated to exceed $3 billion, thus enriching broadcasters who are the primary source of news and information for Americans. So it should be no surprise that what passes for news coverage can at best be described as a "pig wearing lipstick."

CrabbyGolightly.com!

[Paul]

Gooey and self-congratulatory?

Hardly. I could have cared less. I think it was a pretty well thought out move to put a woman on the ticket, given the fact that Hillary ran.

So let me turn the table on liberals/Democrats. I think it's funny that since a black man IS on the ticket, suddenly all the "Republicans/white America is racist" people are trying to MAKE it a racist match.

It's just like most of what is called "racism" today is. If I say I don't see race, we're all the same (and by the way, if we're all the same, you should learn English if you live in "our" country), suddenly I'm a horrible stuck up pig because I don't recognize other cultures and ethnic groups for what they are.

But if I talk about other ethnic groups and cultures, I'm racist because I'm not seeing past all that.

Same thing is happening here. I talk Obama in a bad light, I'm racist. I talk about McCain in a good way, I'm racist. If I don't vote for Obama, it's obviously because of race because there is no other reason to vote against him (logical fallacy!); and even picking a white woman is racist, somehow. Or the ad that showed Britney/Paris with Obama... obviously racist because it was *gasp* two white women (Obama campaign spokesperson on NPR said this). Of course, if he had chosen one black and one white, that would have been racist... or two blacks... or really anything, because the real answer is it's not racist; racism is just a card that is being played, just like the recent Spanish/Limbaugh ad.

[Eraticus]

All you righties always say...well Barack doesn't have any more experience than Sarah does....well, he has some things she doesn't....intelligence, a plan, awareness, character, honesty, concern for women's rights, concern for the common good.

You guys are so pathetic when you try compare Lucky Sarah "Bridge to Nowhere" Palin to Barack Obama. Please send her back to Alaska before she makes me puke.

Who care what nasal toned snotty things she has to say in a debate with Joe Biden. Whatever she says, there won't be any thought behind it that's for sure. Most likely all she will have are talking points she just memorized the day before.

[Peteyk]

You can put lipstick on George Bush, but it's still George Bush...