Palin and Populism: Experienced debater urges Biden to ‘ignore Palin’

Gov. Sarah Palin and Sen. Joe Biden. Photo: WDCpix.com

As a former candidate for governor, Alaska state representative Andrew Halcro has debated Sarah Palin some two dozen times. In an essay and audio interview with the Christian Science Monitor, the blogger and Independent candidate calls Palin a “master of the non-answer” and recalls a conversation he had with Palin during the campaign. In a coffeeshop, she reportedly told him, “Andrew, I watch you at these debates with no notes, no papers, and yet when asked questions, you spout off facts, figures, and policies, and I’m amazed. But then I look out into the audience and I ask myself, ‘Does any of this really matter?’”

While galling, the quote suggests that Biden be aware of Palin’s “gift of the glittering generality” that allows her to shift the debate from policy to populism. His advice for Biden:

“[S]imply ignore Palin in a respectful manner on the stage and answer the questions as though he were alone. Any attempt to flex his public-policy knowledge and show Palin is not ready for prime time will inevitably cast him in the role of the bully.”