"But then there's this: In an interview also with CBS airing last week, Biden painted a lovely picture of how FDR had spoken to the country on television in 1929 to comfort them about the stock market crash. Even though Herbert Hoover was president in 1929 and no one had a TV until 10 years later. Did we hear much about that?

I did hear about this, but I thought it was insignificant. But I'm completely and utterly biased. I'm assured that Biden knows what he is talking about but ya he has his f*ck-ups.

And I agree about him not appearing condescending or pointing out her mistakes.

No, we didn't hear about it, because there are oodles and oodles tape of Biden giving a flippity squillion interviews, so his slip ups are maybe 2% of what's out there about him, whereas Palin has given three interviews, so while she hasn't made a long, long list of mistakes, it'sa much larger percentage of what we know about her.

Ha! That FDR comment is actually kind of funny. But, yes, I think Biden has gotten off quite easy with everyone focusing on Palin. At the same time, I think he has said way less to attack than Palin. Can't wait for the debate!

"Flippity squillion?" This is a number I must adopt immediately!

Oh, how I wish I could take credit for flippity squillion because for some reason I find it to be an absolutely darling hyperbole, but I stole it from How I Met Your Mother.

Does anyone remember seeing Biden and Hillary Clinton in debates together? It wasn't that long ago. She's a woman and Biden seemed to handle that okay.
No one cautioned McCain against being condescending to Obama - and he was - is Palin a special case?

Ya I think Palin is a special case.

I can't wait for Election 2008 the movie to come out in a couple of decades. ... or maybe next year, since W is already hitting theaters.

I seriously worry that Palin has won by virtue of expectations. If she doesn't trip over her own feet or drool, she can call it a victory.

I will be seeing W. That movie looks hilarious. "Who do you think you are, a Kennedy?"

I actually had heard about the FDR one. But to me, mixing up a date and a president (who was known for his fireside chats) isn't nearly as blatant as saying you can see Russia from your back yard and b/c Canadians and Russians share your air space, you have foreign policy experience. At least with Biden, he got the general idea correct (thought it was FDR, on the radio, talking about WWII). So yes, there is a degree of wrongness

I also agree that if the McCain campaign wasn't hiding Palin like she has something seriously wrong with her and let her give more than three interviews, like Biden and his brazillian interviews, it wouldn't be so much of an issue. I think if Biden's post-pres. debate interview is any indication, it's going to be a tough night for Mrs. Barracuda.

True, the funny thing is, we can't rule out tripping over her shoelaces or drooling.
If anyone had told me she would continue to defend the 'Russia's close to Alaska' theory of foreign affairs, I would have said 'no one's that stupid', if anyone had said 'bet she can't name more cases than Roe v Wade', I'd have said 'don't be silly, she's a politician, there's gotta be an oil case or something involving Alaska that'll make her sound well informed.'

A movie of this would be exhausting to watch, with it's relentless bizarre dialogue.

that's its without the apostrophe.

*that's brazillion interviews, like the Bush joke.

I have to say that I actually like Biden because he says what's on his mind, and yes sometimes that turns into diarreha of the mouth it can also be refreshing. I think it's worked out for the Obama/Biden campaign that he has kind of laid low.

One, Biden has NOT laid low. He's done something like 100 interviews in the last 30 days, it's just that the media knows a pretty dumb girl gets more eyeballs for their advertsisers (Oh my, I just realized Palin is the Kelly Pickler, or perhaps even the Jessica Simpson of politics. Do you think maybe she's faking it because she knows we as Americans find pretty but dumb girls endearing? This seriously just occurred to me as I was typing, and now I want to wretch.)

Obama said almost that same exact thing at the DNC "john McCain said he would follow Bin Laden to the gates of hell but he wont even follow him to the caves where he lives" get an original quote Biden.

BUT in truth they all say stupid things all the time, both parties

Biden has saturated the gaffe market so much that his slip ups have no value. Meanwhile, SP is unknown, so every bit of information is a scoop, and she has limited her media appearances prompting the media to play gotcha when they get the change.

Oops, I gave you my one, but not my two, and that's that as soon as I read that Supreme Court thing, I thought to myself "Plesy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education. And Gore v. Bush." And I felt good about myself.

I heard about Biden's FDR screw up. I can understand how he got his history messed up, though.

I will say, however, concerning the clean coal mistake, it seems that the VP picks on both tickets need to work on remembering their respective campaign history and stances on the issues.

But I'm sure Palin is doing so right now so she can get back to Katie Couric. Wow, that was a real life "lol" moment.

LS-exactly. That's exactly what I was trying to say, except with more fun made up numbers. I said this on another thread, but the Republicans are supposed to be the masters of capitalism but they can't understand supply and demand! They've made Palin a scarce resource, so now we're all clamoring for her. They gotta flood the market.

True Song-- yeees it is eyeballs to advertisers!! Right on, and yay for media studies terms!

JB, speaking of exercising your education, I got to use the word "metonymy" in conversation today. I was thrilled.

Haha...I just looked that up. Nice.

Yeah she said "I bet Sarah Palin doesn't even know what metonymy means!"

(I looked it up too, but got a headache trying to figure what to do with it)

From Merriam - Webster... so no one else has to look it up:

Main Entry:
me·ton·y·my Listen to the pronunciation of metonymy
Pronunciation:
\mə-ˈtä-nə-mē\
Function:
noun
Inflected Form(s):
plural me·ton·y·mies
Etymology:
Latin metonymia, from Greek metōnymia, from meta- + -ōnymon -onym
Date:
1547

: a figure of speech consisting of the use of the name of one thing for that of another of which it is an attribute or with which it is associated (as “crown” in “lands belonging to the crown”)

It was in a discussion about Miss Manners. I clarified that I meant the actual Miss Manners and I was not using metonymy, invoking the name of Miss Mannes to represent the school of old school etiquette in its entirety but rather just the wonder of Judith Martin, who I adore.

The example your English teacher probably gave you was something like, "The White House announced today..." where the White House stands in for the Bush administration on the whole (or whoever was president then, I guess).

Yes Sen. Byden has let go of some zingers. However, the difference between statements like the FDR/1929/TV statement and Gov. Palins not having a clue on how to answer is that Sen. Byden may have mixed up historical references but he does have a clue and he does have answer.

Biden should just pretend he's on Jeopardy, sweep all the categories, charm the host and modestly shake hands with the loser at the end.

Biden is more qualified than Palin -- hands down!

Thank you for posting this.

I have to say it is hilarious that he is being excused for this and that reason. From the very same people who attack the other side, and not just palin, JM too. It is expected, but still so shockingly predictable.

Palin's got nerve, I'll give her that:

'Katie Couric: You made a funny comment, you've said you have been listening to Joe Biden's speeches since you were in second grade.

Gov. Palin: It's been since like '72, yah.

Katie Couric: You have a 72-year-old running mate, is that kind of a risky thing to say, insinuating that Joe Biden's been around awhile?

Gov. Palin: Oh no, it's nothing negative at all. He's got a lot of experience and just stating the fact there, that we've been hearing his speeches for all these years. So he's got a tremendous amount of experience and, you know, I'm the new energy, the new face, the new ideas and he's got the experience based on many many years in the Senate and voters are gonna have a choice there of what it is that they want in these next four years.'

What new ideas has she presented?

I think it's hilarious that "predictable" is the new backhanded insult on these boards. Big news, people are defending their candidate of choice. What a scathing analysis!

lol. Well, aren't you in fine form today?

It also seems weird, all this thanking for certain posts. I can't put my finger on it, but somehow it seems as grating to me as all this complaining about a "neutral forum," whatever that means.

I LOL at Biden when he gaffed.

Sometimes I think it's kind of 'cute' for his slip-ups, and sometimes the way he kind of 'jumped' at you (not literally) when saying things like (that 'higher tax--patriotic thing'), scares me sh*tless.

I don't know why, but his slip-ups (and Palin's as well) don't bother me that much. I can't expect both of the VP candidates to be perfect all the time. Sure, they'll make mistakes, plus I can't expect Biden to memorize everything the Presidential candidate/Obama's plans/records/etc. They will be complementary to the President, after all (unless something horrible happens).
I'm very excited to hear about Palin's energy/finance plans and Biden's foreign policy expertise, on how those two can help strengthen and build memorable and effective government. SO definitely watching the debate.

I do realize that Palin's mistakes are more 'infamous' than Biden's, maybe it's because she has done very little interview. I really wish that the McCain's campaign has let her do more interviews after RNC convention.

I think that Biden could say that he was born in a box of hair and the United States won it's independence from Russia, and he'd still be more qualified than Sarah Palin to step in as President if Barack Obama won and had to leave office or died.

TADOW! LMAO. I don't know dude, as much as I know of Palin's lack of experience compared to Biden, but if Biden actually says that he's born in box of hair and US won its independence from Russia, I'd RUN AWAY from that guy.
But it is kind of funny if he actually said those.

True, Are you trying to say that "your predictable" is the new "your generalizing"?

So Biden has been involved in sniper fire as well?!?! That's hilarious. Didn't he realize that "sniper fire" claims backfire? Look what it did for Hillary?

Liberty, you said that Biden's gaffes aren't noteworthy because he's made so many of them that they're expected, and that's why we don't hear about them while we hear so much about Palin's. However, I'll admit I hadn't heard about any gaffes from Biden until very, very recently. So perhaps these things aren't as common knowledge as you think.

TS, I think it's things like what I just said that make people (and myself) thank the writers for certain posts. I want to feel like I'm getting the whole story, and sometimes I just don't.

i love that he's prepping with Gov. Granholm. she tore apart Dick DeVos in the last gubenotorial election, although that probably wasn't much of a challenge lol

Kas, yes! That is exactly it, I wish I had been able to put my finger on that--thanks!

Mich-a thanks for an underreported story is fine, I just get exasperated with all the complaints that there's some secret liberal agenda and being so grateful for anything that shows Obama in a bad light. It just rubs me the wrong way.

Biden's gaffes are common knowledge to me since he is a Senator from a neighboring state. That said, he did try to run for president himself and has been vetted in the media a lot. If someone really cared about Biden (i.e. the public felt that the Biden pick had some kind of very significant underlying meaning like the Palin pick did for McCain) more people would be pulling up the oodles of public information available about all his gaffes.

But people don't care about Biden, why? Because Obama can carry his own and McCain can't, not in this current climate, so doing a hail mary pass like picking Palin (a total 'huh?' moment for me) has demanded more public and media attention.

Pretty amusing slip-ups from Biden. I actually enjoy hearing the boners pulled on both sides. Makes them all seem a little more human, and less "untouchable". Not that it helps me feel any more secure about the state of things... This election has become comical. Women buying lipstick fashioned after Palin, Obama worshippers. I just wish everyone could look past the stupidity and focus on the issues so they will make intelligent votes based upon what they believe is best for the country (whatever that may be, I have my preferences, as do others.) But OTOH, this is politics and I suppose all this nonsense is to be expected. ):

Mydiadem, I don't care about Biden, but not because I think Obama can carry the ticket on his own. I wouldn't care about anybody Obama picked for his running mate. He could have picked Ron Paul and I still wouldn't vote for him.