Thursday, October 2, 2008

The Official VP Debate Live Blog Thread!

This is it, ladies and gentlemen....meet back here in a little less than half an hour. Let's get ready to RUMBLE!!!!!!

201 comments:

  1. Shoot-there's Gwen Ifill-I was hoping she'd have a last minute change of heart and Laura Ingraham would be there instead.

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  2. She's BIASED!!!!I can see it in her eyes... :)

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  3. Sarah baby...pin it on Bill Clinton and Barney Frank!

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  4. I don't think I can watch this. I feel like I do during those predictable moments when a likeable character in a Teen movie is about to experience an embarrassing situation.

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  5. I hope she doesn't mention McCain's 'suspension' in her response.

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  6. She's nervous...solid. Oh no! There's the suspension!

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  7. Good joust on fundamentals from Biden

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  8. I was hoping she'd bring up that 2005 Fannie and Freddie bill. Good for her. She's doing well!

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  9. I'd take Biden in a one on one basketball game

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  10. C'mon sarah...talk a LITTLE about how just plain people screwed up.

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  11. what is she racing to? Joe H

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  12. Biden's respectful; looking good.

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  13. Biden's on....but lying his ass off. Dems kept Fannie and Freddie from being regulated!

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  14. How is she going to respond to this?

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  15. I liked her intro to Biden giddy "can i call you joe?" his response was equally warm... Joe H

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  16. Middle class people have enough money to fill their tanks...Joe.

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  17. Punk ass Joe using the "John". BS. Joey was using a credit card

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  18. CW, you are spot on regarding fannie and freddie. Joe

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  19. She'd better mention Baracks pal Bill "the Pentagon Bomber" Ayres

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  20. Good Joe, keep talking about redistribution of wealth and 'fairness.' Trot out the patriotism line again too, please

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  21. The "Grand Duchy of Dupont" Joe? Or Scranton?

    Democrats don't cut taxes! Ever!

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  22. When 50% of that 95% already DON't PAY income taxes, we're talking about a direct payment...aka welfare!

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  23. Go get'em Sarah...small businesses.

    PATRIOTISM!!!!!!

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  24. NO STAY AWAY FROM DETAILS SARAH...jOe will eat your lunch on details....

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  25. Crossing state lines is good; she's a governor, she knows it.

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  26. let me remind you we are 9.6 trillion in debt.. 1/2 to foreign gov'ts. Thus we have received more got't than we have paid for..... Joe

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  27. Biden's gonna get her on details....

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  28. Why didn't we see this woman in the Katie Couric interviews (all 894 of them)?

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  29. If the foreign policy part of the debate is this detailed, she's screwed.

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  30. Biden good on slowing down doubling foreign assistance....I hope Sarah's on...

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  31. Sarah, talk about how they've decided to "slow down" on raising taxes on over 250K folks!

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  32. Hold his feet to the fire about Exxon 8% profit margina. Ask him what he knows about business, Ask him to compare Exxon profits with Duponts.

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  33. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  34. She needs to be better at pinning this stuff on Democrats...

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  35. Why is she going back there?

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  36. ARrgh...main street/wall street...argh.....

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  37. I would like to know what Kitten thinks!

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  38. Of course Barack saw it coming..As a "community organizer", he was one of the guys agitating for fannie and freddie to lower their standards for low income families!

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  39. Nonsense!

    You overbought, you lose the house if you can't pay.

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  40. She does not segue well from one thing to another....

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  41. totally disagree with Joe B's plan to reduce mortgage principal due.... wow, that disappoints me; need more details. Joe H

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  42. Sarah, explain how your running mate is against ANWR...duh....

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  43. fannie and freddie never originated a bad mortage, US policy forced them to purchase them... blaming fannie and freddie is an uninformed and populace position... Joe H

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  44. Wrong again, Joe:

    "September 30, 1999

    Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending
    By STEVEN A. HOLMES

    In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.

    The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets -- including the New York metropolitan region -- will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.

    Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.

    In addition, banks, thrift institutions and mortgage companies have been pressing Fannie Mae to help them make more loans to so-called subprime borrowers. These borrowers whose incomes, credit ratings and savings are not good enough to qualify for conventional loans, can only get loans from finance companies that charge much higher interest rates -- anywhere from three to four percentage points higher than conventional loans.

    ''Fannie Mae has expanded home ownership for millions of families in the 1990's by reducing down payment requirements,'' said Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae's chairman and chief executive officer. ''Yet there remain too many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below what our underwriting has required who have been relegated to paying significantly higher mortgage rates in the so-called subprime market.''

    Demographic information on these borrowers is sketchy. But at least one study indicates that 18 percent of the loans in the subprime market went to black borrowers, compared to 5 per cent of loans in the conventional loan market.

    In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980's.

    ''From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us,'' said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. ''If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.''

    Under Fannie Mae's pilot program, consumers who qualify can secure a mortgage with an interest rate one percentage point above that of a conventional, 30-year fixed rate mortgage of less than $240,000 -- a rate that currently averages about 7.76 per cent. If the borrower makes his or her monthly payments on time for two years, the one percentage point premium is dropped.

    Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, does not lend money directly to consumers. Instead, it purchases loans that banks make on what is called the secondary market. By expanding the type of loans that it will buy, Fannie Mae is hoping to spur banks to make more loans to people with less-than-stellar credit ratings.

    Fannie Mae officials stress that the new mortgages will be extended to all potential borrowers who can qualify for a mortgage. But they add that the move is intended in part to increase the number of minority and low income home owners who tend to have worse credit ratings than non-Hispanic whites.

    Home ownership has, in fact, exploded among minorities during the economic boom of the 1990's. The number of mortgages extended to Hispanic applicants jumped by 87.2 per cent from 1993 to 1998, according to Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies. During that same period the number of African Americans who got mortgages to buy a home increased by 71.9 per cent and the number of Asian Americans by 46.3 per cent.

    In contrast, the number of non-Hispanic whites who received loans for homes increased by 31.2 per cent.

    Despite these gains, home ownership rates for minorities continue to lag behind non-Hispanic whites, in part because blacks and Hispanics in particular tend to have on average worse credit ratings.

    In July, the Department of Housing and Urban Development proposed that by the year 2001, 50 percent of Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's portfolio be made up of loans to low and moderate-income borrowers. Last year, 44 percent of the loans Fannie Mae purchased were from these groups.

    The change in policy also comes at the same time that HUD is investigating allegations of racial discrimination in the automated underwriting systems used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to determine the credit-worthiness of credit applicants.

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  45. Clinton Administration applied initial Fannie/Freddie pressure....

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  46. Democrat party policy, community organizers and their race hustler buds forced fannie and freddie to do what they did.

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  47. What is with Joe's grin?

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  48. wrong again? hardly... FM FM don't originate loans; recall who my partner is.... and read yesterdays WSJ oped... joe

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  49. Joe's partially right; fanny and freddie did not "originate" the mortgages. But they bought mortgages that were made to folks who couldn't previously make the cut, relieving the "originator" of any risk. Hence, they made the loan.

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  50. Joe

    Democrat party policy, community organizers, race hustlers.

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  51. alternative energy to alternative lifestyles...nice segue.

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  52. Joes right..same sex couples do deserve the same as hetero couples

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  53. hence US law required them to make those purchases.... they don't have a choice. Blame congress and both Clinton and Bush...

    back to the debate...

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  54. Biden's doing well, Sarah's doing ok...not knocking it out of the park.

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  55. Joe--pressure from an administration is not law.

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  56. Get off her man-she's doing fine. She didn't need to knock off the park, she just needed to hold her own.

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  57. I think both tickets have the same view on same sex marriage.

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  58. I mean-knock it out of the park

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  59. Sorry Sally; she hold's her own, and they go down.....

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  60. US code requires FN FM to purchase all mortgages that meet min. criteria... we can pick this up another time. next issue

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  61. Mr Biden, do you support Bill Ayres and his terror bombing campaign of the 70s?

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  62. Joe just crushed her.... Joe

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  63. Biden kicking ass on the war question

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  64. Are you kidding Sue???? She actually does kind of need to knock it out of the park. Up until now, every time that woman has opened her mouth has been a joke! She has a lot to prove if she is going to win any votes for her ticket!

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  65. I disagree-she holds her own and then she's sent to every small town in Ohio and Pennsylvania. This is the only thing she absolutely MUST do, the next 33 days can be spent campaigning.

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  66. Oh...she's fading...

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  67. Sally...they just pulled out of Michigan rather than send her there...what are they up to?

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  68. Is Joe right about this troop funding bill?

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  69. Joe is right...but they tied the MRAP funding to a pullout timeline. This is why it is hard to get elected from the Senate....

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  70. Biden a little gas-baggy right now...

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  71. I found that kind of curious too. You'd think that she'd make a difference in Michigan.

    I'm starting to think Romney may have been a better choice.

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  72. anyone keeping count of the number of "fundamental" comments by Joe?

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  73. Let's invade Pakistan!

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  74. Oh poor Sally....have you actually seen any of the few interviews she's been allowed to do? Sarah is like the AMerican Idol candidate. YOu just never know what your gonna get when she opens her mouth. A poor choice indeed!

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  75. Rommey would have been less exciting but much stronger... Joe

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  76. She says Nuc-u-lar...I thought we were past that....

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  77. I think Sarah's appealing to a lot of people tonight. Not necessarily me...but I think she's going to be found appealing by a lot of people.

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  78. "he shared Henry K's passion for diplomacy" please... Joe

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  79. wishful thinking CW... only folks that are already voting for her ticket.... Joe

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  80. I think when you're thinning on top (like Joe), you gotta get rid of the little dutch boy thing in the back, know what I mean?

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  81. I maintain that after her lame interviews, just showing she can complete a sentence is a win for her.

    This EYE-RACK thing was getting a bit annoying.

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  82. you wanna talk about hair?????? Palin has serious hair issues......She needs a stylish. Joe looks distinguished...she just looks like a 90's throwback

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  83. is it just me or does Palin just ignore every attack statement by Joe?

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  84. Elections on the WEst Bank happened before Barack was a Senator, I think....

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  85. Sorry, Obama was a senator for twenty days when the elections were held....

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  86. Can she complete a sentence Sally? Most of what she says is just incoherent if not downright ditzy!

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  87. CW, I think we pushed the elections.... when Biden said so.

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  88. Tina Fey is a better Palin than Palin.. seriously

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  89. McCain Maverick....Palin Goose?

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  90. We did. I think we were wrong. Biden said so...but he said Senator Obama did too...that was what I took issue with.

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  91. Huh, Huh...Tina Fey...I get it...funny

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  92. i see... gotcha Joe

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  93. I think our girl has been listening to Sean Hannity. I'm hearing some familiar rants of his.
    She just needs to shut up on this topic and move on. She won't be scoring points on this subject

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  94. nice afghanistan quote of GEN McKiernan; would have been better if he was able to recall his name......

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  95. Palin should have said, "same sort of generals opposed the surge in Iraq.

    I think it is Mackiernan...McClellan was a civil war guy...

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  96. better to quote a general than state the wrong name... she needs to get out of the civil war

    joe

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  97. did she get the General's name wrong McKeirnan?

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  98. Ah, Chuck Hagel. Every Dems favorite Republican (since McCain lost the title!)

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  99. "I gave the President the power",

    Joe Biden

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  100. Wow...big words on Darfur. Haven't heard this before.

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  101. 2/3 thru the debate... not a knockout, but a joe victory... however, she did well enough to get out of the funny section

    Joe H

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  102. Wow...I guess the Navy and Air Force have a new no-fly zone to enforce.

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  103. Capacity before national interest? Say it Joe...."National Interest"

    Where does that come in??????

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  104. Nope. Nope. Nope. Her hair is much better.

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  105. the last no fly zone only cost the US taxpayer a billion a year -- Iraq costs 120 billion..... hmmmm which is a better deal for the taxpayer

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  106. I do think she's holding her own, but the economy is driving people to the Dems....just not enough.

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  107. Good answer from Biden on what would happen if the unthinkable happened.

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  108. Why is every election the most important election.

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  109. because its today not yesterday

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  110. She should say, "I would do the very best job I could based on the circumstances I found at the time"

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  111. There's no time like the present.

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  112. CW, you are being to hopeful... she is doing ok, at best... too rough

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  113. I love when US Senators act like one of the little guys....

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  114. "her reward is in heaven"

    because it sure isn't here married to Joe!

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  115. what is with all the winking. I just got a little excited.

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  116. Doggone it-there she goes again. America is going to like her. Love the shout out to the 3rd graders!

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  117. ouch, hope CW was speaking about Joe B vice me, Joe H! :)

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  118. two good one's in a row from Palin!

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  119. Is Joe reading from notes when he looks down?

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  120. Biden's a great story; elected to the senate at 29 (turned 30 just before taking office), wife and at least one kid died in a horrible car accident right before he took office. Horrible.

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  121. As VP, would either of them unpixilate the National Observatory in Google Earth?

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  122. Article II describes the VP. Article I is the congress.

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  123. correct catch on the Constitution, CW

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  124. Actually the first article deals with the legislative branch! The VP is mentioned in article 1 as the President of the Senate. The president isn't mentioned until Article II, Executive branch.

    I think it's interesting to point out that the head of the executive is mentioned AFTER both the entire legislative system AND the Vice President. Something intentional by the fore-fathers

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  125. it is time for positive sound bites regardless of the question

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  126. Please-he's a lawyer-there were no good jobs for him in the Wilmington area? the only job available to him was the US Senate?

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  127. Art 1, Clause 4: Vice President as President of Senate; Voting Power
    The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.
    Section Three provides that the Vice President is to serve as President of the Senate, although in practice, the Vice President usually presides over the Senate only when a tie in the voting is anticipated. Neither the Vice President nor the full-time President pro tempore of the Senate preside over the body's routine sessions; instead, the President pro tempore typically deputizes a junior member of the assembly to fill the role. As a non-member of the assembly, the Vice President has no vote unless the Senate is equally divided, in which case the Vice President has what is called a casting vote. This is as contrasted with the Speaker of the House, who has always been chosen from among the Members of the House of Representatives,[38] and as a Member of the assembly can vote to both make or break a tie. This provision is typically seen as one of the "checks and balances" built into the U.S. Constitution, whereby the 3 branches of the federal government (Congress, President, and the courts) are given the ability to influence the others. In this case, the Vice President's ability to preside over the deliberations of the Senate and (more importantly) break tie votes, presumably in favor of the presidential administration's preferences, allows the Executive Branch to influence the behavior of the Senate (and, consequently, Congress).

    Further information: U.S. Vice Presidents' tie-breaking votes

    Joe H

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  128. come on now Maverick was in Top Gun...how about unbranded

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  129. Article 2 section 4 puts the VP in the exec branch. When I said VP is in article 2, this is what I meant.

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  130. Did Joe vote against the budget, is that what he's telling us? He's killing McCain.
    'Kitchen table' needs to go the way of 'Main Street.'

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  131. I'm not to be trifled with on the Constitution

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  132. CW -- Mr. Scalia would like to take you out to the woodshed!

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  133. If Justice Scalia were here, I'd defer.

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  134. Sarah....make sure you say that maybe Joe can cross the aisle...but Barack hasn't on ANYTHING substantial.

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  135. CW - I know she mentioned it before, but you're right, now's a great time to reinforce it.

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  136. Sarah's doing just fine. I think Joe H is right...she's lifted herself a bit. But not enough to provide the bounce

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  137. Touche... Antonin S

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  138. No need for the mainstream media swipe, Sarah.

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  139. I love her.

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  140. come on joe, offer to stay and chat with her on camera.. take her up on her phony offer...

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  141. I would have liked to have heard their comments concerning entitlement programs and the bugaboo that will soon become.

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  142. Golly gee, gosh I just like her. I think Joe does too.

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  143. I think Joe has done a good job too. He didn't come across as a gasbag, and he didn't make any huge mistakes.

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  144. Dignity and respect? Not in my neighborhood.

    More like "who's got the best bike?"

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  145. thinks re: Joe and sending kids to college - the world needs ditch diggers too, Joey.

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  146. My verdict?

    No clear winner.

    Sarah came across as credible and serious and Joe did a fine job.

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  147. She started off a bit nervous but definitely got into a groove. Biden was solid the whole time (I chalk it up to more experience).

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  148. Watching Fox; who is on CNN and MSNBC?

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  149. Agree, no clear winner. Each did what they do best and each played to their strong suit.

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  150. CW, your bias is clouding your judgement......... wow, you call that a tie? She survived... which is what she had to do..nothing more

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  151. I'd give Biden a B+ and Palin a B which considering Biden's inside Washington edge actually makes Palin the winner.

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  152. CNBC so far loved her

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  153. msnbc started shredding her. now less critical

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  154. It's all about C-SPAN. No media windbags to spoil the moment with commentary.

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  155. moral victory for Palin. watching CNN right now.

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  156. Fox is pretty non judgmental. Bill Kristol's gotten blackberry's from conservatives gaga over sarah, but brit hume's pretty solid on Biden's performance.

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  157. msnbc praising her communication skills but taking her apart on issues. no real mention of how joe did

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  158. Fred Barnes just said she was winning the debate at one point. I never saw that point.

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  159. MSNBC is trashing her; saying she sounded like she was at a spelling bee. Also, she was unable to discuss policy, mean and unlikeable.

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  160. begala even said Palin did what she needed to do. Begala!

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  161. Fox in the ticker underneath is touting that "Biden: Humans fully responsible for climate change"

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  162. good night everyone....

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  163. If I had been Palin, I would have intertwined Biden's comment about Obama not being ready to be president in every response that I made and also mentioned how the present congress has been bipartisin in its failure to the american people.

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  164. I'm watching a group of "independents" saying all kinds of great things about Palin's performance and how much she connected with them.

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  165. Focus group on Fox digs her.

    Hey, what does everyone think of her challenge at the end to do it again? Was she serious?

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  166. I think she was definitely serious.

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  167. Sarah hit the nail on the head about being able to communicate directly with the people rather than through the filter of the (biased) media.

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  168. THis just in, the weather channel says the sun will come out tomorrow.

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  169. Thanks everyone...what a blast!!!!!

    I am very proud to have a group of readers like you.

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