Palin's debate debacle

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s performance at the Vice Presidential debate last night concerned me. I have always believed she was a smart choice for VP (see “McCain-Palin is a Winning Ticket”), but last night the “pit-bull with lipstick” I had grown to love during the RNC had too much bark and not enough bite.

I don’t want to criticize without offering some possible solutions, so Governor Palin, here are a few ways you can win back my confidence:

1. Get the facts straight. Fast-talking rhetoric and charm are impressive during a debate, but in this technology-driven world the facts will catch up with you in the morning (probably even sooner). That doesn’t mean you should change your style of speaking, just make sure you have rock-solid facts to back you up. Here’s an example from the debate last night when you could have used a fact-checker:

Palin: “Now, Barack Obama had said that all we're doing in Afghanistan is air-raiding villages and killing civilians. And such a reckless, reckless comment and untrue comment, again, hurts our cause.”

In August 2007 Obama did say that American troops in Afghanistan were killing civilians (“We’ve got to get the job done there and that requires us to have enough troops so that we’re not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous problems there.”). Unfortunately, that’s because it was true. At the time, 286 civilians had been killed by US troops, according to the Associated Press; Afghan insurgents had killed 231.

I hate that he said it too, but the facts are pretty damning.

2. Keep up on current events. When Sen. Joe Biden claimed that our commanding officer in Afghanistan said the surge principles we applied in Iraq will not work there, you admirably tried to call him on it. Unfortunately, Biden’s information was more current. Tuesday’s Washington Post reported that Gen. David McKiernan “stated emphatically that no Iraq-style ‘surge’ of forces will end the conflict [in Afghanistan].”

Here’s the link.

Along those same lines, our commanding general in Afghanistan is McKiernan, not McClellan. I hate to nit-pick, but this is the kind of blunder that made our current president an international laughing stock. Let’s not give Tina Fey any more fodder for SNL.

3. Learn phonics. It’s pronounced NUCLEAR, not “nu-cu-ler.” Way to sound exactly like Bush.

Since you’ve been governor for less than two years, I’m inclined to give you a second chance. My confidence is wavering but not lost. A few simple changes could bring it back in full force.

A Note to Sen. Joe Biden: McCain didn’t vote against funding alternative energy 20 times, it was 11. Stop exaggerating. Also, McCain didn’t refuse to meet with the government of Spain, his simply declined to commit to any meetings during an interview.