Politics - Who Won the Vice-Presidential Debate?

A confident, folksy Sarah Palin attacked the Democratic presidential ticket on taxes and partisanship, holding her own against her senior vice-presidential rival. Joe Biden, assiduously avoiding any direct attacks on his opponent, kept his focus trained on the top of the ticket, charging again and again that Palin’s partner, John McCain, wants to give tax breaks to the rich and deregulate the economy. Asked about the economy, Palin suggested talking to a parent at a soccer game. “I’ll betcha you’re going to hear some fear in that parent’s voice,” she said. Asked who was to blame for the subprime lending crisis, she said, “Darn right it was the predator lenders.”
Biden delivered a withering critique of McCain’s economic agenda. He noted that as the economic crisis was spilling over, McCain called the economy fundamentally strong, only to call it a crisis later that same day. “It does point out he’s out of touch,” Sen. Biden said.

The pair disagreed on almost everything. When Palin charged that Barack Obama would raise taxes, Biden replied that only those earning over $250,000 would pay more. “Where I come from it’s called fairness. Simple fairness,” he said.

On foreign policy, the two vice-presidential candidates differed sharply. Biden said Obama favored a timetable for withdrawing American troops, as has President Bush. McCain, he added, is “the only odd man out here, the only man left out.”

Palin was sharp in her response. “Your plan is a white flag of surrender,” she said, adding that “it goes beyond naivete” to suggest otherwise.” She added: “The central war on terror is in Iraq.”

Source: WSJ