From the Wall Street Journal:
For all the speculation over how Sarah Palin will fare in the vice-presidential debate Thursday night, her Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, faces a challenge of his own: taking on the Alaska governor without coming across as sexist or a bully.
Barack Obama's campaign has assembled a team of top advisers, including several prominent female debaters, to help prepare the Delaware senator, known for his tough attacks and candor, to debate the Republicans' first female vice-presidential nominee. Since Sunday, the team has been hunkered down at the Sheraton Suites hotel in Wilmington, Del.
Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm has been playing the role of Gov. Palin. "I want to beat him up a little, so he does well," Gov. Granholm told reporters. One Biden aide said Gov. Granholm was chosen to portray Gov. Palin in the preparations because she ran as an outsider and reformer in Michigan in 2002 and 2006. Like Gov. Palin, Gov. Granholm is a former beauty queen and sports mom.
Former beauty queen and sports mom?
Has Granholm been mocked for that the way Palin has? Has Granholm been belittled, too?
I digress.
But why get a former beauty queen? Was that necessary?
Did the Obama campaign find a former beauty queen for Biden to practice with to desensitize him? Are the handlers afraid that Biden might give the appearance that he's hitting on Palin?
Being too friendly could be as bad as being too aggressive.
Biden is in trouble if he gives off that creepy lounge lizard vibe.
Sen. Biden also has received advice from Democratic primary opponent Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, California Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, and a number of top campaign aides.
Aides say Sen. Biden will emphasize issues rather than attacks, and debate preparations have centered on making the case for Sen. Obama rather than tearing down Gov. Palin. "I think this will come down to bigger questions than who can throw a sharp elbow. This is a much bigger election" than that, says Patti Solis Doyle, Sen. Biden's campaign chief of staff.
Sen. Biden recently said reporters are in a "time warp" if they think he will prepare any differently to debate a woman than a man. He cited debating Sens. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland and Olympia Snowe of Maine and other women in the U.S. Senate. Sen. Biden debated Sen. Clinton 12 times during the Democratic primaries.
"It seems like the only people in the room that think that debating a woman is going to be fundamentally different are people who don't hang around with smart women," Sen. Biden said aboard his campaign plane.
Biden claims that he hasn't prepared any differently for his debate Gov. Sarah Palin than if his opponent were Gov. "Samuel" Palin.
What a load!
Palin's gender is supposedly irrelevant, yet he's been practicing with a former beauty queen and sports mom.
And Biden chides reporters for being in a time warp.
Funny. Biden has been preparing for tonight's debate in an estrogen den.
It will be interesting to watch Biden try to not come off as sexist or bullying.
Considering the substance and the manner of the Democrats' attacks against Palin to date, the sexist smears and the relentless bullying, Biden is going to have to treat Palin completely differently from the way he, his party, Gwen Ifill, and his other accomplices in the lib media have done since she was announced as John McCain's running mate.
I don't think he'll be successful.
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