VP Debate: My Take

Here it is, the much anticipated VP debate! I'm personally proud of both candidates, seeing as they stayed more on topic than the presidential nominees. Palin, for overcoming the adversity against her from some rather unflattering interviews, and Biden for not making stupid comments and rambling, as he's been known to.



One thing that did bother me was the dishonesty. Both candidates lied about track records and stats. Do they honestly think the American people are naive enough to not check them on these things? Come on, our forefathers wanted us to question our leaders and candidates. Before you vote, check your facts! It came down to on Biden's side, 10 downright fabrications and 4 or 5 that you could argue about, and with Palin I caught 2. All these can be seen and more on FactCheck.org. Here's some of the big ones:

On Biden's side:

• Biden wrongly claimed that McCain had said “he wouldn’t even sit down” with the government of Spain. Actually, McCain didn’t reject a meeting, but simply refused to commit himself one way or the other during an interview.
• Biden falsely said Palin supported a windfall profits tax in Alaska -- she reformed the state tax and revenue system, it's not a windfall profits tax.
• Biden falsely said McCain weakened regulation -- he actually called for more regulation on Fannie and Freddie.
  
• Biden said, “Drill we must.” But Biden has opposed offshore drilling and even compared offshore drilling to “raping” the Outer Continental Shelf.”

On Palin's side:

• She said that troop levels in Iraq were down to pre-surge levels, but she was off by around 3,000 troops
• Palin wrongly claimed that “millions of small businesses” would see tax increases under Obama’s tax proposals. At most, several hundred thousand business owners would see increases.

I think Palin won this round with charisma, facts, and all around chutzpah. She stayed on topic with the exception of when asked to elaborate on healthcare. My favorite line of the debate? "Say it ain't so, Joe!" if you lie, she'll call you on it!

God Bless America!