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Palin and Biden Face Off on Economy, Foreign Policy

In the first and only vice presidential debate this election cycle, Sen. Joe Biden (D) and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) squared off in St. Louis, Mo., Thursday night with friendly but pointed exchanges on the economy, taxes and energy policy.

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Biden seemed ready with a response.

"Look, past is prologue," he said. "The issue is, how different is John McCain's policy going to be than George Bush's? I haven't heard anything yet.

"I haven't heard how his policy is going to be different on Iran than George Bush's. I haven't heard how his policy is going to be different with Israel than George Bush's. I haven't heard how his policy in Afghanistan is going to be different than George Bush's. I haven't heard how his policy in Pakistan is going to be different than George Bush's."

In the foreign policy segment of the debate, the two candidates drew the same sharp distinctions on the war in Iraq that McCain and Obama sketched out in their first debate last week. Palin voiced her support for continuing the war, even using McCain's exact phrasing when attacking the Democrats on the issue.

"Your plan is a white flag of surrender in Iraq," the governor said. "We're getting closer and closer to victory, and it would be a travesty if we quit now in Iraq."

Biden called the war "a fundamental difference between us. We will end this war. For John McCain there is no end in sight to end this war."

In one of their more heated exchanges, Palin charged that Obama "opposed funding for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Senator Biden, I respected you when you called him out on that." After going out of her way to praise Biden for his support of the troops, she added, "Barack Obama, though, another story there."

Biden immediately counterattacked, noting that McCain voted against a measure that would have funded the troops because it included a specific timetable for withdrawal. "John McCain voted to cut off funding for the troops," he replied.

During much of the foreign policy discussion, Palin largely bypassed Biden and focused her attacks on Obama, questioning his pledge to meet with some of America's enemies, such as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"It goes beyond naivete. It goes beyond bad judgment," she said. "A statement like that is downright dangerous."

Palin did not give much ground on foreign policy, mocking Biden by noting his initial support for the Iraq war, which he now opposes, even as she praised him on other fronts. "I'm a Washington outsider, so I'm just not used to the way you guys operate," she declared. "You voted for the war and now you're against it."

Biden took pains to portray the world stage as a more complicated place than Palin described, questioning the utility of applying certain strategies used in Iraq to other areas.