Biden and his Achilles Heel

John Mark Reynolds provided some interesting commentary on the Palin debate. I wasn't feeling good last night, and so I listened to the debate from bed. I get more emotional (and my bias comes out more) when I see the two candidates next to each other, and I think it was quite helpful to just hear what was being said. I did get bored 2/3 through the debate though. I was tired of hearing "maverick, maverick, maverick" and sick of Biden attacking McCain through the Bush administration. Palin's voice sounded stressed and overly excited, next to the calm and more experienced Biden. I got annoying listening to it after a while. I also felt like one candidate would say something, and the next candidate would say, "That just isn't true" without dissecting the claims closely. Frustrating. It sounded like two kids pointing fingers at each other and the other saying, "No, it's really your fault." Needless to say, I stopped paying close attention, went and washed dishes, and didn't even bother hearing the closing arguments. Of course, that was not to my credit :).

John Mark Reynolds says, "Palin refuses to list an Achilles heel. Wise. Biden says he has “excessive passion.” That is embarrassing."

JMR did help me appreciate Palin more, but with this I have to disagree. I was embarrassed and annoyed with Palin that she refused to answer the question and went back to her success with the oil industries in Alaska again. I wanted to hear an honest answer to this, and I respect Biden more for acknowledging his weakness.

We all have weaknesses, and often I find myself wishing politicians would be more humble and human and just let us know what these weaknesses are. Biden said, you are right, lack of discipline can be a downfall for me, and it is even worse that you think. That scored big points for me. Perhaps, the media could make a big, ugly story out of this, but who cares! It shows humility and that is a characteristic it would be very nice to see more in politics.

One more thing...I think Biden often answered the questions, whereas Palin would give a sales pitch for McCain. The winner of a debate should be judged not just on how well the candidate was liked, but on how well they answered the questions. As my husband said, Palin does appeal to the emotions more, but after awhile it got tiring.