Who won, Biden or Palin?

Scoring the vice-presidential candidates' performances in their only debate

“Sarah Palin saved John McCain again Thursday night,” said Peggy Noonan in The Wall Street Journal. Joe Biden seemed to have walked into the vice-presidential debate thinking she was “an idiot” and all he had to do was wait for her to prove it. Instead, she “killed” with her “good-natured” appeal to “Joe Six-pack” and “hockey moms.”

Expectations for Palin were so low this must feel like a victory for McCain, said E.J. Dionne Jr. in The Washington Post. But she did nothing to change the impression, left from her recent interviews with CBS anchor Katie Couric, that she is “profoundly uninformed.” It was Biden who looked like he “knew what he was talking about,” and who reflected well on the presidential candidate who chose him.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us