Live Blogging the Vice-Presidential Debate

9:03 Gwen Ifill is giving the opening introduction.

9:04 Biden and Palin walk on stage.

9:05 The bailout is the first question. Biden links Bush policies to the bailout.

9:06 Biden talks about helping the middle class.

9:07 Palin states McCain helped a bipartisan agreement on the bailout. How? Seriously.

9:09 Palin said "reform. Drink up. Palin said "Maverick. Drink again.

9:17

9:15 Biden hits Palin on deregulation. Palin ducks deregulation question and goes back on tax cuts. Biden hits Palin on McCain voting the same as Obama on tax legislation.

9:14 Palin ducks health care but attacks Biden on tax cuts.

9:11 Palin said "Hockey mom." I should have included that in the drinking game.

Palin isn't actually talking about policy. She is just rambling gereralities. She sounds good doing it and that will be her debate strategy.

9:20 the Obama and McCain tax policies are discussed. The Obama plan would not tax all but the two top brackets. The Tax Policy Center breaks down the two policies.

9:21 The crappy McCain health care proposal is debated. I have a recent post explaining what a piece of shit it is.

9:25 This debate will probably help Palin's sagging poll numbers. Palin is a good politician. John McCain may have killed Palin's future.

9:28 Palin hitting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Both institutions are a mess. The Fannie and Freddie talking point will play well to the bloggers at The Corner.

9:29 Biden artfully dodges voting for the horrible bankruptcy bill.

9:30 Palin is talking about energy when the bankruptcy bill was the subject. Ifill is going to let Palin ramble on.

9:35 I have to read the transcript. Did Palin deny global warming? Perhaps she really thinks that is God's way of hugging us.

9:37 How many viewers are tuning out the discussion of clean coal?

9:38 Biden will support equal status for same sex couples.

Palin say she tolerant of gays. Bwah! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

9:40 Obama and Biden will not support same sex marriage. No surprise. When will Democrats grow a spine.

9:42 Biden debunks the Obama voted to defund the troops myth. Hits McCain on the time table Iraq agreed with the Bush administration.

9:46 Biden is correct that Pakistan has nukes. Al-qaeda is training on the Afghanistan/Pakistan border.

9:50 Palin says we need to focus on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad because he says mean things and Israel's national security. What about our national security. Ahmadinejad is a nutcase that should be taken seriously with a serious foreign policy. Not because of hurt feelings. The USA needs to get off of the neocon obsession of putting Israel's security before the United States.

9:55 Palin says the Bush administration's foreign policy has not been a failure. That Alaska air must be thin.

Palin says "Maverick." Drink up.

9:57 Biden successfully links McCain to Bush's foeign policy. McSame.

9:59 Palin denies that Afghanistan civilians are killed in air raids.

The BBC's Alastair Leithead in Kabul says there have been a number of incidents in the past few weeks where US special forces outside Nato remit have been blamed for killing civilians.

In the worst incident, more than 50 civilians were reported killed in the western province of Herat last week.

President Hamid Karzai recently warned of "dire consequences for all" if civilian killings continued.

10:05 Biden and Palin are coming off better than Obama and McCain during the first debate.

10:08 Palin: McCain learns from mistakes. I give her props for saying that with a straight face.

10:10 "Maverick!" Drink up.

10:12 Biden steals the Reagan "are you better off."

"The middle class are getting the short end."

10:13 this is a refreshingly civil debate. Someone should give Biden and Palin their own sitcom.

10:17 Ifill asks Palin if she believes the VP office is a fourth branch of government. Palin gives a resounding yes.

10:18 Biden correctly states the VP's only legislative power is being the tiebreaker vote.

10:19 Palin: My coonection to the heartland. When did Alaska move below Canada?

10:20 Palin: Force for good. Palin is channeling President Wilson. Not a good thing.

10:23 Palin says if you want change vote for McCain. The McCain campaign can't win using the change talking point. McCain, like Hillary, staked his campaign on experience.

10:25 Biden: McCain is no Maverick to the middle class.

10:26 Palin's gaffe of "Senator O'Biden" is one of top keywords on Twitter.

Post Debate:

The defining moment of the debate is Joe Biden talking about being a single dad.



Andrew Sullivan wonders if Palin was reading note cards. I wouldn't be shocked.

I'm watching the response from the C-SPAN viewers. Only the most cynical and angry voters call C-SPAN. Don't believe me. Two callers say they are voting for Ralph Nader and Bob Barr. Keep hopeless candidates alive.

Palin wrongly calls Gen. David D. McKiernan "McClellan."



Biden is correct that Gen. McKiernan does not believe an Iraq-style surge would work in Afghanistan. Afghans are extremely mistrusting of the West; after the brutality of the Soviet occupation. More troops are needed. But we are never going to win hearts and minds. The excellent book "Imperial Hubris: Why The West Is Losing The War On Terror" details the problems with Afghanistan. Author Michael Scheuer ran the CIA Counterterrorist Center's bin Laden station from 1996 to 1999.

WASHINGTON – The new top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said yesterday that more U.S. troops are urgently required to combat a worsening insurgency, but he stated emphatically that no Iraq-style “surge” of forces will end the conflict there.

“Afghanistan is not Iraq,” said Gen. David McKiernan, who led ground forces during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and took over four months ago as head of the NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan. The excellent book

During a news conference yesterday, McKiernan described Afghanistan as “a far more complex environment than I ever found in Iraq.” The country's mountainous terrain and rural population, its poverty and illiteracy, its 400 major tribal networks and history of civil war all make for unique challenges, he said.

CNN poll on the Biden/Palin debate. I thought Palin would exceed expectations. These numbers aren't good.

Biden - 51 percent

Palin 36 percent.