Episode Four: The Social Constructs of a Vice-Presidential debate

There are things that you just don’t talk about during dinner: politics and religion.  I’ve put this age-old adage to the test last Thursday, when the new student reception for LGBT students coincided with the Vice-Presidential debate. 

It was interesting to observe the dynamics of my fellow students at dinner.   We decided to watch the debates after dinner, so as to facilitate a more “social” environment.  And for the most part, before the debates, the conversations skirted away from the impending train-wreck, and focused on the getting-to-know-each-other topics.  But occasionally, someone will breach the subject of politics, and normally, I would think it would be a little uncomfortable to be discussing politics with strangers, but somehow, that wasn’t the case.  Granted, the dinner party was a bit skewed; it’s almost oxymoronic to be a gay Republican, but it is possible.

And on to the main event: Thursday’s much-anticipated debate between Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and Delaware Senator Joseph Biden was pretty much what I have expected: political discourse filled with half-truths and not-so-subtle attacks, and pandering language with little substance.  In today’s political world, it’s not necessarily what you say but how you present it that matters the most; that’s the most that I can come up with as to how and why we have courageously elected (and re-elected) Dubya.  While we were all relieved and disappointed that Palin didn’t completely fall flat on her face (and I mean, really, with that Katie Couric interview, she couldn’t have done any worse), it definitely deflated the chance of the comedy-of-horrors show that I wanted to have seen.  The idea was thrown around that we should’ve done a drinking game, taking a shot whenever Biden repeated or over-emphasized a word or when Palin threw around the word “maverick” like it’s going out of style; I probably would’ve required a liver transplant afterwards. 

However, the hour and a half debate definitely rewarded us with a few laughs.  First off, Gwen Ifill must have felt the pressure from her critics, pointing out a possible bias with her upcoming book: “Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama”, with an appropriately release date of January 2009, the day after the inauguration.  As a moderator, she failed to reign in the candidates when they go on tangents. Biden’s feeble attempt to shake off his elitist background to appeal to Main Street America by mentioning his humble beginnings in Scranton, Pennsylvania, while in the same breath, talking about his nice house in Delaware, was both endearing and laughable at the same time.  It was also amazing that Biden was able to keep a straight face the entire night and straying away from inflicting low blows to Palin when she’s handing it to him in a silver platter. 

But the star of the night was Sarah Palin.  We got a chuckle once Palin started ranting about women’s right.  Or her inability to answer the questions she was being asked, and instead, offering up memorized incantations about taxes and the economy, even if it is not remotely related to what she was being asked. 

It is a pity that there’s only one Vice-Presidential debate; factcheck.org would have less things to do now.