PostPartisan - Quick takes by The Post's opinion writers - September 28, 2008

The VP Debate: The Read-Only Version

Having just had the surreal experience of watching snippets of the Biden-Palin debate on a BlackBerry while sitting in a car traveling between Nagoyo and Kyoto (don't ask), I thought it worth pointing out, belatedly, how different the vice-presidential...

The VP Debate: Odd Moments

In every debate, there are odd moments that tend to pass unnoticed because they do not concern the central issues of the day. Thursday night’s vice-presidential debate featured two such episodes. In one, Sen. Joseph Biden was illogical on...

The VP Debate: Biden's Distortions

Joe Biden is getting credit for being more “factual” and substantive than Sarah Palin in last night’s debate. He shouldn’t. A good deal of what Biden said was exaggerated, distorted or simply false — especially in his nominal area...

In the Cold Light of Morning: Veep Debate Not a Game Changer

I hate to use that cliché, but the question that really matters about last night’s vice presidential debate is: Did it arrest the drift toward Obama? The evidence from the early polling is that it didn’t. The polls showed...

The VP Debate: Sarah the Speedy

She spoke almost as fast as Joe Biden. She smiled. She responded to any question that required real-time thinking by ignoring it and dredging up a canned answer from the McCain campaign’s canned-answer pool. She resurrected the phrase “doggone...

The VP Debate: Palin Good, Biden Better

I have a question for the guy standing at the podium on the left side of my TV screen tonight: Who are you and what have you done with Joe Biden? Sarah Palin was good. Biden was better. Neither...

The VP Debate: Palin's Big Mistake

It's hard to look past the strangeness of tonight's vice presidential debate and assess it as if it had been a normal debate. But it's our job to try. I thought Sarah Palin made one huge, central mistake --...

The VP Debate: She Won Fersure, Also

Well, darnit all, if that dadgum girl (wink, wink) didn't beat the tarnation out of Joe Biden. Maverick Sarah Palin fersure surpassed expectations and said everything under the sun, also. And Biden smiled and smiled. Palin is a populist...

The VP Debate: A Victory -- of Sorts

Neither of the candidates embarrassed themselves -- which was a victory of sorts for Sarah Palin -- but the debate itself was hardly a pleasure to watch. At their best, both candidates made effective points that served their running...

The VP Debate: Maintaining Momentum

The debate is over. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin didn't self-immolate, even though a lot of her answers sounded like a document dump. Sen. Joe Biden didn't make any perceptible gaffes, even though he did run on a little long...

The VP Debate: Remember Health Care

The phantom menace appeared at the vice presidential debate, but you could be forgiven if somehow you missed it. After weeks, if not months of absence from the campaign debate, Republican Sarah Palin and Democrat Joe Biden discussed the...

The VP Debate: The Strangest I've Ever Seen

Exactly an hour into the debate, Joe Biden began an answer by saying, "Facts matter, Gwen." To him, maybe. To Sarah Palin, maybe not. The pattern, so far, has been one of Biden presenting facts and Palin countering with…...

The VP Debate: On Benefits for Same-Sex Couples

In response to the question about allowing Alaska's policy of offering benefits to same-sex couples to go nationwide, Gov. Palin said, "I am tolerant." The good governor of Alaska doesn't understand that gays and lesbians don't want "tolerance." They...

McCain Moving Out of Motown

Word leaked this afternoon that John McCain's campaign is pulling its resources out of Michigan – campaign workers, money for television ads – because that state no longer looks promising. The Republicans had hoped to win Michigan, usually a...

From Asset to Anvil?

The week before his convention in St. Paul, Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain was staring at the prospect of Mayhem on the Mississippi. Conservatives, not overly enamored with the senator from Arizona in the first place, were threatening...

The McCain Campaign Works the Refs

The McCain campaign, aided by right-wing commentators, is playing up the fact that vice presidential debate moderator Gwen Ifill has been writing a book about new black political leaders, which features, among such up and coming politicians of color,...

Live Q&A

I'll be online at 2 p.m. ET to take your questions about the debates, PostPartisan, my recent columns, and anything else on your mind. Come join the conversation....

Choices

"But as for homosexuality, I am not going to judge Americans and the decisions that they make in their adult personal relationships. I have one of my absolute best friends for the last 30 years happens to be gay,...

The Young Evangelical Difference

For some time now, there has been a great deal of discussion over whether younger white evangelicals differed from older white evangelicals in their political attitudes and priorities. Now comes a fascinating and important pre-election survey suggesting that younger...

PostPartisan: September 28, 2008 - October 4, 2008