Biden and Palin Clash Over the Economy and the War

By Ben Pershing
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Thursday, October 2, 2008 7:38 PM

Delaware Sen. Joe Biden (D) and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) concluded their highly anticipated vice presidential debate in St. Louis tonight aftter 90 minutes of mostly friendly but often pointed exchanges on the economy, taxes and the war, as the bulk of their discussions focused more on the presidential nominees than the records of the two running mates.

Biden sought to closely link Sen. John McCain, Palin's running mate, to the economic policies of the Bush administration, while Palin portrayed McCain as a reformist who had sounded an early warning about the country's financial crisis.

Palin made her most aggressive move so far on Iraq, saying that Obama "opposed funding for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan," and bringing up a comment from Biden's days as a presidential candidate, when he criticized an Obama vote on troop funding as "political."

Biden dismissed the suggestion of a difference between the two ticketmates. "Barack Obama and I agree completely on one thing -- you've got to have a timeline" to draw down the number of troops in Iraq and hand over responsibilities to the Iraqi government, Biden said.

To Palin's charge that the Democratic plan was tantamount to "waving the white flag of surrender," Biden responded by saying that "John McCain has been dead wrong on the fundamental issues related to the conduct of the war. Barack Obama has been right. Those are the facts."

Biden and Palin launched their highly anticipated vice presidential debate in St. Louis, as the Democratic ticket appears to be on the upswing with less than five weeks until Election Day.

Propelled by an intense focus on the economy at the expense of all other issues, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has opened up a narrow but consistent polling lead over McCain (R-Ariz.). But even as the two presidential nominees have battled, their running mates -- particularly Palin -- have become the subjects of intense curiosity for the media and the wider voting public, making their debate a must-see event.

Along with touting her reformist credentials, Palin emphasized that she was not a creature of the capital city.

"It's so obvious that I'm a Washington outsider and not used to the way you guys operate," Palin said, mocking Biden for supporting the Iraq war initially and then backing away from it.

Biden also cast himself as a man of the people, repeatedly referencing his hometowns of Wilmington, Del., and Scranton, Pa., and the wisdom of regular folks there. At one point he suggested he spent "a lot of time" at Home Depot.

The debate kicked off with a question on whether the debate over financial rescue legislation was an example of Washington at its best or worst.

Biden said the Bush administration had promulgated the "worst economic policies we've ever had," then ticked off the four guiding principles Obama had outlined for the rescue plan, the same ones Obama emphasized in his first debate with McCain.

"We're going to fundamentally change economic policy. We're going to focus on the middle class," Biden said.

Palin suggested the best way to gauge the health of the economy was to go to a "kids' soccer game' and talk to parents on the sidelines. "I betcha you're going to hear some fear," Palin said.

She praised McCain for his efforts in the past to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and for his efforts to get a deal on the rescue bill last week, an example of what she said was McCain "putting the country first."

The exchange came after Palin and Biden met for the first time.

"Nice to meet you," Palin said as the two shook hands at the debate's start. "Hey, can I call you Joe?"

Palin appeared confident at the start. "I may not answer the questions the way you or the moderator want to hear," Palin said, adding that she would instead talk straight to the American voters.

Palin repeatedly emphasized the GOP ticket's reformist credentials and willingness to depart from party orthodoxy. She contrasted that with Obama, saying "96 percent of his votes have been solely along party lines."

As for Biden's record, Palin said: "I do respect your years in the United States Senate, but I think Americans are craving something new and different."

Asked about the causes of the mortgage crisis, Palin said, "Darn right it was the predator lenders . ... There was deception there, there was greed, and there is corruption on Wall Street."

Biden said that Obama had warned two years ago of a coming subprime mortgage crisis, while McCain had repeatedly called for deregulation of the financial industry. The two candidates quibbled over which presidential nominee had voted the most to raise taxes, with Biden accusing Palin of using "a bogus standard" to count tax increase votes.

Biden and Palin next faced off over health care. Palin suggested that McCain's plan to offer tax credits for individuals to buy health care would be "affordable" and "accessible," as well as budget-neutral. She contrasted that with what she described as Obama's plan to force Americans into a government-run universal health care plan, a characterization Obama's campaign has previously said is inaccurate.

Biden hit back, saying that McCain would pay for his plan by taxing the health care benefits workers already get from their employers. "I call that the ultimate 'Bridge to Nowhere,'" Biden said, prompting laughter from the audience.

On energy, Palin bragged that she had instituted a windfall profits tax on oil companies in Alaska. Spying an opening, Biden noted that Palin may have backed such a tax - as Obama does - but McCain did not. "I hope the governor is able to convince John Mccain to support a windfall profits tax," Biden said.

After a discussion of bankruptcy reform, Palin again steered the conversation back to energy, chastising "East Coast politicians" who won't let states like Alaska produce the energy the country needs.

Asked about the causes of global climate change, Palin - who has given conflicting answers on the topic in the past -- used phrasing similar to that which she used earlier this week. "I'm not one to attribute every activity of man to the change in the climate. ... I don't want to argue about the causes," Palin said, suggesting again that the discussion should center on how to fix it.

Biden was more straitforward on the causes of global warming: "It's man-made," he said, outlining McCain's past record of voting against alternative fuels.

Like the presidential nominees did in their debate, Palin and Biden differed on whether the central front on the war in terror was in Iraq, as McCain has said, or in Afghanistan, as Obama contends. In another reprise from the presidential debate, Palin rapped Obama for his suggestion that the U.S. should meet with foreign dictators without preconditions. As Obama did last week, Biden called that charge untrue and emphasized that past secretaries of State have made similar suggestions.

"There have been huge blunders with the war, there have been huge blunders with the administration," Palin said, but suggested the McCain administration would forge ahead and said Americans would get tired of the Democratic ticket always looking backwards. Biden responded that McCain hadn't yet said how his policies would differ with Bush's on a host of foreign policy issues.

After a discussion of the responsibilities of the vice presidency, Ifill asked Palin whether she agreed with Vice President Cheney's contention in the past that his office is not fully controlled by the executive branch. (Cheney's office has made the contention that it is protected from some disclosure requirements by the fact that it is also part of the legislative branch, since the vice president is also President of the Senate.)

Palin did not directly answer the question, though she did suggest that there was some "flexibility" in the Constitution's outline of the vice president's duties.

Biden gave a more direct answer. "Cheney probably been the most dangerous vice president we've had in American history," he said, adding that the Constitution made it crystal clear which branch of government the office belonged in.

The sheer unpredictability of both vice presidential candidates fueled strong interest in their first and only face-to-face meeting. Biden, a six-term Senator and two-time presidential candidate, is a veteran debater who has nonetheless developed a reputation for being long-winded and gaffe-prone. Palin, a first-term governor and former small-town mayor, was largely unknown on the national scene until two months ago and has been uneven in her relatively rare media appearances so far. Questions about her levels of experience and preparedness -- both for the vice presidency and a national campaign -- have prompted anxiety even among some fellow Republicans over whether she is ready for the spotlight of the debate stage.

The debate is being moderated by Gwen Ifill, the PBS news anchor whose forthcoming book on politics and race has prompted recent complaints by McCain supporters that she may be biased in favor of Obama. Ifill has strongly denied that her authorship of "The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama," scheduled for release on Inauguration Day, will influence how she conducts the debate.

"Frankly, I wish they had picked a moderator that isn't writing a book that is favorable to Barack Obama -- I mean let's face it," McCain said this morning on "Fox and Friends." But the Republican nominee did not call for the selection of a new moderator, and he added: "Whoever the moderator is and no matter what the questions are, it doesn't matter because Sarah Palin is great."

McCain's decision in late August to select Palin as his running mate shook up the presidential contest, surprising both friends and foes of the Republican nominee alike and quickly attracting scrutiny from the press. Palin was almost immediately embraced by the conservative base, and she delivered a well-received speech at the Republican National Convention that appeared to energize the party and helped drive McCain to a temporary post-convention lead in the polls.

But the financial meltdown on Wall Street and mounting media criticism of Palin have combined to erode popular support, both for the combined GOP ticket and Palin personally. A Washington Post-ABC News poll released this week found that six in 10 voters believe Palin is not qualified to be president, and a Pew Research survey similarly found that a majority of respondents thought she lacked the experience necessary for the top job. Palin's favorability rating has also plummeted since early September.

At the same time, polls have given Obama a consistent single-digit lead on the national level, while a host of state-specific polls have given the Democratic ticket an edge in key battlegrounds. McCain's campaign announced today that it is pulling its ads and campaign resources out of Michigan, a state that Republicans had hoped to coax out of the blue column.

Biden has given dozens of interviews since being nominated for vice president, occasionally contradicting Obama and causing headaches for the Democrat's campaign. Palin, by contrast, has been largely shielded from the media on a day-to-day basis by McCain's camp, with her advisers choosing instead to only grant a handful of interviews.

Her recent series of sit-downs with CBS anchor Katie Couric have drawn particular scrutiny, as Palin has appeared uncomfortable and poorly prepared to answer basic questions on the Supreme Court, the media and her past contention that Alaska's proximity to Russia has given her foreign policy experience.

Some supporters have suggested that Palin's poor performance has been the result of overcoaching by the McCain campaign.

McCain and his surrogates have also attempted to paint the media as unfair in its treatment of Palin, decrying "gotcha" questions and occasionally suggesting that she is receiving extra scrutiny because she is a woman.