JOE BIDEN VS. SARAH PALIN
***Vice presidential debate***
Thursday, October 2
Time: 9PM
Location: Washington University in St. Louis, Mo.
Moderator: Gwen Ifill (Senior Correspondent, The NewsHour, and Moderator and Managing Editor, Washington Week, PBS)Second presidential debate (town meeting)
Tuesday, October 7
Time: 9PM
Location: Belmont University, Nashville, Tenn.
Moderator: Tom Brokaw (Special Correspondent, NBC News)Third presidential debate
Wednesday, October 15
Time: 9PM
Location: Hofstra University, Hempstead, N.Y.
Moderator: Bob Schieffer (CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent, and Host, Face the Nation)
***The Vice Presidential Debate Drinking Game***
by Benn Ray
1. Drink every time Palin drops the "g" from any word ending in "-ing".
2. Drink every time one of the following words/phrases is used:
"Joe Six-pack"
"small town values"
"Hockey mom"
"Alaska National Guard"
"Bridge to Nowhere"
"shake up Washington"
"change"
"status quo"
"lipstick"
3. Drink for any mention of Putin. Chug if he is mentioned as part of the phrase, "Putin rears his head."
4. 2 drinks if Palin calls herself a feminist. One drink if Biden calls himself a feminist (unless he says it after Palin, in that case, drink 3).
5. Every time Roe V. Wade is mentioned, drink.
6. The mention of the name Tina Fey means you drink.
7. If you notice Biden plagiarize, keep it to yourself by taking 3 drinks.
8. Every time Palin explains that family is important to her, your drink becomes important to you. Drink one.
9. If Palin explains her qualifications as Vice President as having "executive experience" from being a Governor or Mayor, drink one.
10. If Palin uses the debate as an opportunity to announce the wedding of unwed teen daughter Bristol to babydaddy Levi, toast them with 2 drinks.
11. Every question Palin successfully avoids, drink one.
12. If Palin says her role as the Gov. of Alaska has given her the experience in dealing with Big Oil needed to address the energy crisis - drink one - and try hard not to spittake it.
13. If Hillary Clinton and/or Geraldine Ferraro are mentioned, drink.
14. For every newspaper or magazine Palin claims to read, drink one.
15. Every time Palin begins her answer to a question by rephrasing the question, drink.
16. Each time Palin refers to herself or John McCain as a "Maverick", drink. In fact, any time Biden says the word "Maverick," drink just to be safe.
17. Each time Palin says "You can't blink" make sure you can drink - one.
18. If Palin is able to correctly define the Bush Doctrine, drink one. If Biden tries to define the Bush Doctrine, drink one.
19. Each time you hear the word Wasilla, drink.
20. If Joe Biden gets scary, mean, puts his foot in his mouth, makes any sort of awkward movement, is too dominant, seems too smart, seems too dismissive... turn off the TV, turn off the lights, and finish your drink in the dark. It's over.
Good luck, America.
The current assessment, (at least at this point), that Biden won the debate, was a very pleasant surprise.
I was warned that Palin is a very effective debater, and she was at full spring attack from the moment she shook hands w/ Biden.
I was and am greatly concerned that the swing voter would be charmed with her folksy approach laden w/ GOP talking points.
I thought it was smart for Biden to refer to her as "governor". I thought this help reaffirm that she was not a "defenseless neophyte" being picked on by the bad ol' Senator from Delaware.
I know that concept is repugnant to most intelligent people, but, geez, the last four to five presidential elections have seen increasingly and embarrassingly so, more fluff.
In a perfect world Biden would have been allowed to go on full attack and Palin would have forced to actually answer the damn questions posed to her.
Posted by: stevo | October 03, 2008 at 10:39 AM
As for the drinking game, I don't think, even in my heyday, I could have avoided the emergency room, had I chosen to participate.
I just want to clarify that, I really hate the idea that Biden, (or any candidate) could ever possibly lose as a result of being "too mean" to the other candidate.
Yeah, like as president, or heck, even as vice president, you won't have to deal with people being mean to you. Even if Obama/Biden win and Demos get a whole bunch of congressional seats, the US is still far too close to "dangerously stupid".
Posted by: stevo | October 03, 2008 at 11:47 AM
Is anybody who played by these rules still alive?
Best post-debate follow-up is @ several political blogs that posted videos fr/ Palin's 2006 statewide debates. They prove that the "folksiness," dropped g's and all, is an act and a gimmick. She never used it with Alaskans, who know her best, but seems sure she can snowball the lower 48. Absolute. Total. Fraud. You betcha!
Posted by: eo | October 03, 2008 at 09:43 PM
Heh, I seem to remember Hillary getting grilled just for allegedly fakin' er, um, faking folksiness.
Let's face it, Repubs can get away with openly lying, "I said thanks but no thanks...", "I was actively for divestiture of Sudan", not to mention McCain "suspending his campaign" and all of that nonsense.
Feigning folksiness is small potatos.
Posted by: stevo | October 04, 2008 at 08:51 AM
Did you intentionally misspell "potatos" as some kind of Dan Quayle allusion?
Posted by: Rusty Chompers | October 04, 2008 at 02:36 PM
I wish I was that clever, lack of attention to detail and/or coffee. It's funny, I did think of D. Quayle when I typed it, it's kind of hard not to.
I actually never thought Quayle was dumb, (and wasn't "potatoe" archaic, yet an acceptable spelling?) just a lackluster public speaker, that had a specifically difficult time integrating his true beliefs, (that he seemed to do effectively), and the GOP "party speak". In that regard, I held out a sliver of sympathy toward him, although, mostly after he was out of politics.
Posted by: stevo | October 04, 2008 at 03:14 PM