Biden, Palin go head-to-head
2008-10-03 06:47
St Louis - Republican Sarah Palin and
Democrat Joe Biden clashed on the economy and Iraq during a
lively but polite debate on Thursday, but aimed the most
criticism at their rivals at the top of the ticket.
In the only vice presidential debate ahead of the November 4
US election, Biden accused Republican presidential contender
John McCain of being "out of touch" on the economic crisis and
said he was "no maverick" on crucial issues facing Americans.
Palin said Democratic White House candidate Barack Obama
was too partisan to work across party lines to accomplish
change and was waving a "white flag of surrender" in Iraq.
Both camps claimed victory in a debate unlikely to
dramatically change a White House race that Obama leads. Two
polls taken after the debate, by CNN and CBS News, judged Biden
the winner, but the CNN poll found a big majority thought Palin
did better than expected.
With all eyes on Palin in her national debut in an
unscripted format, the 44-year-old Alaska governor turned in a
steady and aggressive performance in which she repeatedly
attacked Obama and pledged she and McCain would work for the
middle-class.
She frequently displayed the folksy style that has become a
favourite target of late-night comics. "Aw, say it ain't so,
Joe," she told Biden at one point, adding a "doggone it" for
good measure.
Biden, 65, also had an emotional moment, choking up when
recalling having to raise his two young sons alone after their
mother died in a car crash.
'Something new'
As the two strode on the stage, Palin greeted Biden,
saying: "Nice to meet you. Can I call you Joe?"
The debate came as Obama solidified his lead in national
polls and gained an edge in crucial battleground states as the
Wall Street crisis spread.
Biden and Palin said they would work to change current US
economic policy to make it more friendly to middle-class
workers, but Biden noted McCain had called the fundamentals of
the economy strong as the Wall Street crisis broke out.
"That doesn't make John McCain a bad guy, but it does point
out he's out of touch," Biden, a Delaware senator, said in the
debate on the campus of Washington University in St Louis,
Missouri.
Palin said McCain had been talking about the American
workforce and said Obama would raise taxes on American workers
and small business owners. Obama in fact has called for a
middle-class tax cut and would raise taxes only on those making
more than $250 000.
"I do respect your years in the US Senate, but I think
Americans are craving something new and different," Palin told
Biden.
Biden pledged he and Obama would end the war. Obama is an
early critic of the Iraq war who has called for a 16-month
timeline to withdraw US troops. "Your plan is a white flag of
surrender," Palin told Biden.
The highly anticipated match-up promised more than the
usual drama because of curiosity about Palin, a relative
unknown who was thrust into instant celebrity when she was
selected as McCain's number two in August.
A team of mavericks
The encounter may have drawn a larger television audience
than the 52 million who watched last week's first debate
between the presidential candidates.
Biden said the $700bn bailout of Wall Street he voted
for, along with Obama and McCain, might force the Democrats to
reconsider their promise to double foreign aid.
"The one thing we might have to slow down is a commitment
we made to double foreign assistance," he said when asked what
programmes might have to be jettisoned because of the financial
risis.
Palin said there was nothing she and McCain would have to
forego. "There hasn't been a whole lot that I've promised,
except to do what is right for the American people," she said.
"I don't believe that John McCain has made any promise that he
would not be able to keep, either."
Palin's lack of national experience and her hesitant
performance in rare media interviews had raised doubts about
her readiness and prompted criticism even from some prominent
conservatives.
But she said her experience as a governor and as a mayor of
tiny Wasilla, Alaska, was her strength as a candidate for vice
president. She frequently said she and McCain were a team of
mavericks who could change Washington.
"John McCain has been the consummate maverick," she said.
"Barack Obama, of course, he's pretty much only voted along his
party lines."
Biden said McCain had not been a maverick on the vital
issues facing the United States from health care to Iraq. "He's
not been a maverick on virtually anything that people talk
about around the kitchen table," he said.
- Reuters