Points v. Personality

Posted on 10/01/2008 at 3:33 pm by JumpyPants

Posted by JumpyPants

No, that’s not a Supreme Court case that Sarah Palin read about in her latest John Birch Society periodical. It’s me talking about what debates are decided upon in this nation. Does the debater win on points or on personality?

It saddens me to say this, but the fact is, you can win on points and still “lose” the debate: that’s what happened to Gore and Kerry in every single debate. There was no question that Gore/Kerry knew more than Bush, no question that they had better answers, no question that they speak English like their mother tongue and have a vocabulary larger than a seven-year old. But Gore/Kerry lost their debates, not on points, but on personality.

And Obama won his debate on personality. I think it was a tie on points (though the barbecued media gave the points to McCain, natch), but the American public chose the affable, plain-talking, no-bullshit-taking, unflappable, forward-looking presidential demeanor of Senator Obama over the twitchy, cranky, lie-spewing, festooning, under-the-breath-cussing, backward looking disgruntled civil servant demeanor of Senator McHorseshit.

After the RNC, Sarah Palin seemed a “personality” win — hockey mom, moose slayer, gosh-darn-shucks-talker — how could you not just want her to have the nuclear codes?! But in the ensuing weeks, the view of her personality has dropped like an anvil tied to a boulder, and now every poll has her as more unfavorable than favorable. And that’s because all she’s going on is personality. And her personality, now that we kind of think about it, isn’t so great for someone who would have the nuclear codes.

I’m not trying to game the expectations. I’m just telling it like it is. Sarah Palin can’t win on points. But I would also suggest that she really can’t win on personality, either. Joe Biden has to know this. Barack Obama certainly knows this. And they, I’m fairly confidant, know how to let Sarah Palin hang herself by her own bootstraps tomorrow night.

Damn, it’s good to be supporting people who are really smart not just about policy, but about people.

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  • J M Ashby

    I couldn’t agree more and that was more or less my expectation before even the first debate. To me it didn’t matter what McCain said because either way he would look like an ass.Why is this? Well the people who are steadfast McCain and Palin supporters 9 times out of 10 probably could not even tell you what they stand for. So when McCain and Palin actually show themself to a national audience people get to actually for the first time see what they are all about.Before the debate all the average person heard about McCain was “maverick” “straight talk express” “bbq taste good.” But during the debate they got to see who he really is, and who he really is could not possibly be likeable to anyone. The ones still supporting him either haven’t watched him at all or are just as dead-wrong as McCain is. You could lay this exact same scenario out for Palin in my opinion.

  • http://obamaproject.windonwater.net QueenTiye

    “Damn, it’s good to be supporting people who are really smart not just about policy, but about people.”Oh boy…! From your mouth to God’s ears!QT

  • Rosie

    Can’t wait to hear what snotty sophomoric inappropriate not very funny one liner oozes from her next. She loses on personality points because she sounds like one of the “bitchy uppity in-crowd girls” in high school. This ain’t high school anymore Sarah – no one cares you were a nasty mouthed little barracuda when I was in second grade.

  • ceu

    Right, Jumpy. Biden just has to answer the questions (succinctly, ideally) and then let Sarah be Sarah. Especially after the last two weeks, people aren’t going to be happy to hear snappy one-liners instead of policy & specifics delivered with intelligence and respect for the American voters.

  • Poleezz

    You know Jumpster, I know not who you are but the more I read your posts, the more I’m digging you. Power to the people.