John McCain, Barack Obama offer their VP debate reviews

The first flush of polls gauging reaction to Thursday's Sarah Palin/Joe Biden debate gave the nod to the latter (check out how all-important independents broke in this survey spotlighted by our colleague Frank James at the Swamp).

John McCain, no doubt, is scoffing at such findings -- there was no doubt in his mind what happened in the faceoff.

“How about Sarah Palin last night?” he enthused to thousands of supporters packed into an arena today on a college campus in Pueblo, Colo.

His crowd roared their approval and pounded their feet on the metal bleachers, The Times' Seema Mehta reports.

McCain, who goes way back in Washington with Palin's rival, added with a chuckle, "I almost felt a little sorry last night for my old friend Joe Biden."

He continued: "She did a magnificent job. She’s the news  for the big-spending, smooth-talking, me-first, country-second crowd in Washington and Wall Street. We’ve got a message, we’ve got a message, Sarah Palin and I: Change is coming. … They’re not going to like it, my friends.”

Barack Obama, as expected, gave kudos to Biden as he campaigned today in Abington, Pa. And he made sure to highlight his running mate's links to the state, The Times' Maeve Reston relates.

“Didn’t Joe Biden, a fellow some people call the third senator from Pennsylvania … didn’t he do a great job?” Obama said, as his crowd cheered. “Scranton boy. Done good. I was so proud of Joe. America, I think, saw clearly why I felt he’d be such a great vice president, especially during these difficult, challenging times.”

-- Don Frederick

By the way, you can still get free instant alerts on all Ticket items like this flashed direct to your cellphone by registering here free at Twitter.

Photo credits: AFP/Getty Images

Comments

[An]

Again, Biden told more lies than truths and facts. He did at times link McCain to the same faulty voting Obama did, but he lied. Do voters understand Obama's tax plan? People making 42,000.00 yearly will have an increase in tax. Biden said small businesses make less than 250,000.00 yearly, lies, lies.Small businesses make more than that amount but they have employees and other business cost. Some will be forced to cut jobs, some will go out of business. I 'm between low and middle income, I don't want a health care plan that takes away my choosing my doctor and the number of visits I might be entitle to. This country can be strong again but everyone able should to br responsible for themselves. Do you know many low income people pay NO taxs at all?

[Pedro Cruz]

That Barack is so smart--after a solid performance by Joe Biden, where does he rally? Pennsylvania. McCain went to a neutral haven--Colorodo.

[jeremiah]

Somebody needs to educate Chairman of the Judiciary Committee Joe Biden: Article I of the Constitution is about the Legislative Branch. BTW, the Vice President is also President of the Senate. Get Joe a copy of the Constitution.

[Aycee]

Among all the Palin faux pas during last night's debate, and there were quite a lot (visit factcheck.org regarding her truth twisting, non-factual remarks), I think the one that stands out the most for me is and the final clincher that will habe me voting for Obama and Biden is " well, let's see, I've only been at this for what, 6 weeks now."

[Betty Eppes]

Why is Sarah Palin allowed to brag about her record as Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska and as governor of that while the media does not compare her claims to her record? Perhaps this story has been written and I missed it? If so I would greatly appreciate a link back to the piece.

[Save the Alaskan Parrot]

When you aspire to successfully concealing the overt rank stupidity of your running mate rather than have them logically and rationally trouncing their opponent with their depth and understanding of the issues, you suck.

Soooooo.......

[PleaseChange]

"country-second"

A very sad and untrue statemenet, and another example of divide and conquer politics. You're either with us or against us. Keep going Senator McCain, you're winning us over with your cynical ideas of what patriotism really mean.

[judy]

All Palin did during the debate was avoid questions by changing the subject back to energy or praising herself and McCain as mavericks. She didn’t even seem to know the meaning of achilles heel. She just regurgitated her memorized lines back to the public — there was no thinking on her part, except to find a way to keep from straying from her talking points. Is it too much to ask to have someone who knows and is interested in the issues as our vice-president?

[captbilly]

Of course we all expected Obama and McCain to say their bou or girl did great. The expectations on Palin were so low that as long as she didn't say something completely stupid or incoherent she was going to be considered a winner by the Republicans. In a normal debate if one of the debaters simply refused to answer several of the questions, the voters would be up in arms, but in Palin's case it was essentially already expected. Biden on the other hand was told to just not do or say anything really inappropriate or that could be construed as offensive. He acted as though his brain was in a straight jacket, which I suppose is how he felt. I can just imagine him thinking to himself, "if I give an intellegent answer here they are going to say I am trying to show up Palin", or "if I mention that she didn't answer the question or that her answer is incorrect, they are going to say I am an elitist".

So in the end we got pretty much what we expected. Palin read off bits of the stump speaches that were written for her by the McCain speach writers, and Biden just smiled and answered the questions as simply as he possibly could. On the other hand the only voters that really matter in the debates, the independents like me, felt overwhelmingly that Biden did a better job at everything. In the polls that I have seen Biden beat Palin by at least 2-1 in every catagory. McCain needed a knock out and instead he lost on points. 4 more weeks of this and this election will be an absolute rout. I would expect the really big lies and insults to start comming in the the next week or two.

It's a real shame for McCain though. He was a highly respected Senator, on both side of the isle. He could have gone down in history as a very popular and effective senator who placed America first. Instead he is going to be remembered as the guy who picked Palin, the guy who would do or say anything to win, but lost anyway.

[Newt Brown]

I think Sarah Palin would make a fine advisor to the president should he need advice on grammer school soccer and how to give evasive answers to questions..

[nomorecrooks]

McCain: The Most Reprehensible of the Keating Five
The story of "the Keating Five" has become a scandal rivaling Teapot Dome and Watergate
By Tom Fitzpatrick
published: November 29, 1989
You're John McCain, a fallen hero who wanted to become president so desperately that you sold yourself to Charlie Keating, the wealthy con man who bears such an incredible resemblance to The Joker.

Obviously, Keating thought you could make it to the White House, too.
He poured $112,000 into your political campaigns. He became your friend. He threw fund raisers in your honor. He even made a sweet shopping-center investment deal for your wife, Cindy. Your father-in-law, Jim Hensley, was cut in on the deal, too.
Nothing was too good for you. Why not? Keating saw you as a prime investment that would pay off in the future.
So he flew you and your family around the country in his private jets. Time after time, he put you up for serene, private vacations at his vast, palatial spa in the Bahamas. All of this was so grand. You were protected from what Thomas Hardy refers to as "the madding crowd." It was almost as though you were already staying at a presidential retreat.
Like the old song, that now seems "Long ago and far away."
Since Keating's collapse, you find yourself doing obscene things to save yourself from the Senate Ethics Committee's investigation. As a matter of course, you engage in backbiting behavior that will turn you into an outcast in the Senate if you do survive.
They say that if you put five lobsters into a pot and give them a chance to escape, none will be able to do so before you light the fire. Each time a lobster tries to climb over the top, his fellow lobsters will pull him back down. It is the way of lobsters and threatened United States senators.
And, of course, that's the way it is with the Keating Five. You are all battling to save your own hides. So you, McCain, leak to reporters about who did Keating's bidding in pressuring federal regulators to change the rules for Lincoln Savings and Loan.
When the reporters fail to print your tips quickly enough--as in the case of your tip on Michigan Senator Donald Riegle--you call them back and remind them how important it is to get that information in the newspapers.
The story of "the Keating Five" has become a scandal rivaling Teapot Dome and Watergate. The outcome will be decided, not in a courtroom, but probably on national television.
Those who survive will be the sociopaths who can tell a lie with the most sincere, straight face. You are especially adept at this.
Last Friday night, on The John McLaughlin Show, which features well-known Washington journalists, the subject of the Keating Five was discussed. Panelist Jack Germond suggested that three of the Keating Five were probably already through in politics.
So you spend your days desperately trying to make sure you will be one of the survivors. You keep volunteering to go on radio and television stations to protest your innocence. Last week you made ABC's Nightline.
Not long before that you somehow managed to get James Kilpatrick, the national columnist, to write a favorable paragraph about you. Last Sunday morning, you made it to national television again; this time on ABC's This Week With David Brinkley. You smiled at the panel with your usual studied insouciance. Sitting next to you was Senator John Glenn of Ohio.
Brinkley, Sam Donaldson, and George Will were the interrogators.
It was a sobering scene. There you sat with Glenn, both sweating before the cameras, waiting to answer questions: two badly tarnished American icons.
No one forgets that Glenn was the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth. You won't let anyone forget that you were a prisoner of war. But you have played that tune too long. By now your constant reminders about your war record make you seem like a modern version of Arthur Miller's tragic failure Willy Loman.
Clearly, both you and Glenn sold your fame for Charles Keating's money.
It was a Faustian bargain. It was also a bad joke on the rest of us and a disaster for many old people who lost their life's savings to Keating.
The money was never really Keating's to give. But he never would have got his hands on it if you and the rest of the Keating Five didn't halt the government takeover for two long years while Keating's people continued their looting.
And now, the tab for the Savings and Loan heist must be paid from taxpayer pockets.
On Sunday, Senators Dennis DeConcini, Alan Cranston, and Riegle refused offers to appear on the Brinkley show. What must we make of that?
You, the closest of them to Keating and the deepest in his debt, have chosen the path of the hard sell. You may even make it out of the pot, but to many, your protestations of innocence taste like gall.
You are determined to bluff your way. You will stick to your story that you were acting to help a constituent and intended to do nothing improper. The very fact you attended the meeting makes you guilty, just as every man who entered the Brinks vault went to prison.
You insist that an accounting firm Keating hired told you Lincoln was sound. Alan Greenspan, who Keating also hired, wrote a report saying it was sound. Why shouldn't you believe the people Keating hired? You were, after all, fellow employees.
Perhaps you might silence your own conscience about all this someday.
Just keep telling everyone that it was your wife's money invested in that shopping center with Keating and that you knew nothing about it.
Keep saying that cynical newspaper people don't understand that every move you make has always been for the enrichment of Arizona . . . the education of our Native Americans on the reservations . . . for the love of the elderly in Sun City and Green Valley.
Keep telling them that it wasn't that you were bought off but that Charlie Keating got special help only because he was one of the biggest employers in the state.
Just keep sitting there and staring into the camera and denying that Keating bought you for money and jet plane trips and vacations.
So what if he gave you $112,000? Just keep smiling at the cameras and saying you did nothing wrong.
Maybe the voters will understand you took those tiring trips to Charlie's place in the Bahamas in their behalf. Certainly, they can understand you wanted to take your family along. A senator deserves to travel on private jets, removed from the awful crush of public transportation.
You sought out a master criminal like Keating and became his friend. Now you've discarded him. It shouldn't be surprising that you are now in the process of selling out your senatorial accomplices.
You're John McCain, clearly the guiltiest, most culpable and reprehensible of the Keating Five. But you know the power of television and you realize this is the only way you can possibly save your political career.

[goldieluck]

Good Job Senator Biden. We salute!

Obama/Biden 2008

[Jon Sandler]

Maybe I'm the only one but it just seems to me that McCain doesn't even want to win the election anymore. He's dropped out of Michigan and just doesn't take the issues of the campaign seriously anymore. It's just one "hail mary" after another for him. Check out Palin's unauthenticated debate notes:
http://politicalwire.com/archives/images/palinflow.gif

[elizabeth]

i deeply believe that john mcain and sarah palin are a very good team, at least they can get each other's names' right! "borack america!"

[John]

Why is that Don Frederick shows 1,000 times more onjective integrity IN A BLOG than 99% of the mainstream media in what are supposed to be simple reports? He should be RUNNING the Associated Press, or MSNBC.

[M. J. Bee]

Sarah Palin exposed Joe Biden for the hypocritical fool he is. Those who think Biden won this debate have your progressive (code word for socialist) heads in the sand. Sarah Palin beautifully reminded everyone (since the news refuses to report it) about the comments Biden made about Obama when he (Biden) was running for President. And those phony tears. Please, he's worse than Bill Clinton. Biden, like Obama, is a socialist con man and will say and do whatever he has to for votes. Bottom line: Sarah Palin connects with Americans. She speaks from the heart. She's intelligent, likable, capable, attractive, patriotic and best of all - she's HONEST.

She is BAD NEWS for DEMOCRATS and GOOD NEWS for AMERICANS.

[Max]

Change is coming? I guess that means we can expect Obama to be elected. You know, given that it's his campaign theme, no matter how often you try to hijack it...

Anyhow, I did my part. My state has early voting. I mailed in a vote for Obama this morning.

[Sam Y]

To use the words of Senator McCain, "I feel sorry" for him that he is so superficial in his comments against his opponents. The former POW should be more statemanslike and fair in his judgement if he wants to be the next president. The American people, specially who viewed the debate, will certainly recognise this apparent arrogance.

[Alan Emirzian]

do you mean country-first, me-second?

"She did a magnificent job. She’s the news for the big-spending, smooth-talking, me-first, country-second crowd in Washington and Wall Street."

[Richard Estes]

The debate clearly showed that "you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear." There's no way that Sarah Palin can be considered qualified to be Vice President

[Jim Dandy]

It has become very obvious that John McCain is one of the most cynical and disingenuous politicians ever. He makes Bush look good! McCain only appeals to people at their lowest level. He does nothing to lift people up to go beyond themselves. Everything he says is the opposite of what he means. When he says "country first" it is so insulting because his actions belie that at every turn. He is a a purveyor of untruth. When he says he always is truthful he is lying. The fact that people actually are supporting him is a testimony to the total stupidity of about 50% of the people in the US. They are stupid, full of fear, greedy and without virtue. And that is what McCain and Palin are counting on. It is really nauseating.

[Rodney]

John McCain is an acomplished liar. How he can keep praising Sarah Palin with a straight face, I don't know, unless his straight face is due to a stroke.

[pawprints]

For someone who is "yesterday's news", Biden did okay. Sarah Palin, however, was grrrrrrreat!!! A breath of fresh air. I am excited for her to go to DC - so we can see dynamite in action.

[Morro]

This blog (like so many) was not worth writing and certainly no reading. Jeez, what a waste of time!

[jefflz]

Palin didn't make a complete fool of herself again - that performance standard alone tells it all. She repeated the text they prepped her with, not being capable of adding anything more to the debate but the usual clichés about being Joe Six Pack, a Maverick, and a hockey mom. People that support her because she is similarly uninformed must ask themselves if they are ready for the White House too. What an absurd measure of leadership. She never once offered any policy differences between McCain Palin and Bush. Biden , on the other hand, pressed the attack with clear policy statements, and facts - mostly correct.. The differences between candidates were stark, one seasoned and knowledgeable, the other a wind-up Pit Bull with Lipstick who hasn't a clue about how poorly prepared she really is. In this regard, more than 2700 concerned medical doctors placed a full page add in the New York Times today asking for McCain's full medical report in light of his bout with highly lethal invasive melanoma. The unobstructed release of this report for expert review is more critical than ever.