There is a two-pronged pitchfork aiming at Joe Biden every time he looks to tear down Sarah Palin in debates or on the stump: 1) she's a woman and it's best not to look like a bully; 2) in the wake of the Barack-Hillary standoff, it's necessary to treat her as a viable candidate (because a woman can be) but not let that treatment vet her for the voting public.
Strategy points to be considered are:
1. Clinton: let Hillary be Hillary; ask her to come in and do some of the grunt-work of blasting both McCain and Palin, let her take on some of the more flagrant attacks, pulling no punches on any point.
2. Spin: Palin is lying about her position on earmarks; the McCain campaign is touting her as a crusading reformer, when in fact she has reacted to Democratic-backed ethics reform, out of necessity and political expedience.
3. Oil: she may not be "in the pockets of big oil", but her energy policy is entirely rooted in her role as an Alaskan politician; her position on oil is not scientific at all, but is about directing foreign oil profits and federal dollars to a socialist fund that is paid to Alaskans; it's a way of steering money to Alaska, not a fix for our energy problems. If she cannot evolve on energy and recognize how little relevance new drilling would really have to reducing overall energy costs, she needs to be exposed on that failing.
4. Economic policy: we need the kind of elbow-grease budgetary work that characterizes Sen. Obama and Sen. Biden both, the complexities that affect our national economy in ways a small-state governor cannot see from her perspective. Is the woman who talks about the bridge to nowhere actually part of McCain's economic plans "from nowhere"?
5. History: Hillary can question Palin's ability to contribute "to history", and if Palin goes in that direction, she risks appearing to diminish the meaning of Sen. Obama's revolutionary candidacy, and she will bring up the stark contrast between the two tickets on that count.
6. Judges: she wants even more conservative judges than we now have; the balance on the Supreme Court is already radically conservative, with two of the most fringe-radical justices ever named now on the court. To continue that shift —when Roe has still not been overturned, due to the Constitutional basis of the ruling— is just to impose on generations of Americans a single ideology that does not represent the mainstream or long-standing judicial precedent.
7. Foreign policy: Biden knows foreign leaders, Obama has traveled to every corner of the world (except South America?) on official Senate business, Palin has negotiated fishing rights with neighboring states.
8. Cute vs. Charismatic: Gov. Palin is an intelligent, informed, well-spoken and determined political figure; she is capable and she can defend her positions with charm and poise. She will rely on that charismatic edge in supporting her rhetoric. Throw it back at her. There is too much about her that makes that tendency seem like a willingness to try to be "cute" instead of fully explaining herself. DO NOT BE CONDESCENDING on this point, but in a statesmanlike way, make her seem irresponsible if she looks like she's playing that card.
9. Joe: let Biden be Biden. He's unpredictable, a wild-card, but an experienced statesman whom no one doubts. Add verbal discipline and sharp answers to that host of edgy qualities, and she will be unprepared to give straight answers.
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