--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Black Focus Inc." group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected]
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/Black-Focus-Inc?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
--- Begin Message ---
---------------------------------------------------------
First Read: The day in politics by NBC News for NBC News
---------------------------------------------------------
FIRST THOUGHTS: Don't believe the hype
ST. LOUIS -- As many had said, last night's debate was about one person, Sarah
Palin. And for those tuning in wondering if we'd see a train wreck between
Palin's inexperience and Joe Biden's verbosity, well, we didn't get it. Palin
started strong and proved to be a folksy cliché machine, which probably came
across as extremely charming to some, particularly to Republicans who sound
relieved this morning. She lit up the screen at times with her smile and
occasional winks. She proved extremely adept at avoiding questions or topics
she didn't want to answer, which is the big difference between her fairly
smooth performance last night and her near-disastrous performances in those
one-on-one interviews. Perhaps more than anything else, Palin rehabilitated her
image and probably stopped her image nosedive. And she came across as a better
advocate for her candidate, John McCain, than Joe Biden was for his guy, Barack
Obama. Biden, too often, defended his own record first before touting Obama's.
By the way, if you got the sense during the debate that McCain was the center
of the conversation and not Obama, that's because he was. By our count, McCain
was referenced by name nearly twice as much as Obama. (Which may or may not be
a good thing; after all, doesn't the McCain camp want Obama to be the
referendum?)
*** As For Biden: He had a senator's grasp of the facts, and we mean that
mostly as a compliment. But longtime Biden watchers could tell he was
struggling with how to deal with her. He spent the first half of the debate on
the defensive. It wasn't until the last half hour that Biden found his
inner-Goldilocks and found the "just right" tone in dealing with Palin. In
fact, Biden ratcheting up his seriousness and emotion may have made Palin's
folksiness seem tonally off for a little bit toward the end. If Palin started
strong, Biden proved to be the better closer. As we said yesterday, if Biden
turned out to be the subject of post-debate chatter, then he had a bad night.
As it turns out, he's not the story and the Obama campaign is satisfied with
that even if the media elite is scoring this better for Palin than the
insta-polls.
*** The Bottom Line: This debate was about Palin surviving and survive she did.
Neither candidate committed a major gaffe, and there were probably no moments
that will get replayed over and over. Indeed, the debate may have a shelf life
of about 24 to 48 hours, and that's about it. We imagine this event quickly
fades as attention today turns to the House vote on the bailout or next
Tuesday's presidential debate. Palin did well enough to prevent the negative
storyline that developed all day Thursday regarding McCain's chances in
November. Had Palin stumbled badly, that news -- combined with the decision by
the campaign to scale back its campaign in Michigan -- would have created a
terrible storyline. Palin's solid performance on the style front prevented the
worst outcome. But did it move the needle in a positive direction for McCain?
Unlikely. At this point, the number of mega-game changing events for McCain are
dwindling. And since he's the candidate trailing, that's not a good sign. The
pressure is now on McCain next Tuesday to get his campaign back on track. Given
the limited window McCain's facing, this likely means we should expect a very
aggressive McCain in the remaining debates.
First Read with NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd, every weekday on
MSNBC-TV at 9 a.m. ET.
For more: The latest edition of First Read is available now at
http://www.FirstRead.MSNBC.com !
=========================================
This e-mail is never sent unsolicited. You have received this MSNBC First Read
Newsletter
newsletter because you subscribed to it or, someone forwarded it to you.
To remove yourself from the list (or to add yourself to the list if this
message was forwarded to you) simply go to
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25810725, select unsubscribe, enter the
email address receiving this message, and click the Go button.
Microsoft Corporation - One Microsoft Way - Redmond, WA 98052
MSN PRIVACY STATEMENT
http://privacy.msn.com <http://privacy.msn.com/>
--- End Message ---
