Exclusive Webcast: Vice Presidential Debate 2008 Video

Exclusive Webcast: Vice Presidential Debate 2008 Video Transcript

[ Music ]

>> Campaign '08. CBS news coverage of the vice presidential debate continues. Here again, is Katie Couric.

>> Very official opening for our hopefully hipper webcast. Hi everybody, I'm Katie Couric here in St. Louis, and welcome to our webcast. This is when I can actually wear my glasses. It's kind of our post-debate after-party, if you will, and we're just a couple of Joe and Josephine six-packs sitting around talking to and over what was said at the debate, and Bob Schieffer is sitting next to me, and by the way I just want to mention -- and you know, this started as a small dream among a few frustrated CBS news employees, Bob, but there's a big development in our webcast tonight, guess what?

>> What?

>> We have a sponsor.

>> Really?

>> Yeah, who would have thunk it. The little webcast that could. Our sponsor tonight is Intel. So I just want to say I've been practicing this all day -- dah-dah-dah [Phonetic]. Anyway, I just had to sort of give them a hats off, and say thank you to them. And I think we'll even have a slate that we'll put up during several points during -- you know, sponsors, you have to kind of do that. So listen, let's talk a little bit more. We talked earlier in our actual prime time coverage, and you were struck by the fact that our instant poll said Joe Biden won this debate 2 to 1. Were you surprised at those numbers?

>> I really wasn't. I thought this was a good night for Joe Biden, and I said so on the broadcast. You know, people kept talking about all this pressure on Governor Palin, but there was a lot of pressure on Joe Biden too, I thought. And I thought his demeanor was just perfect. I thought he was very smart about making this a debate about John McCain; and he did that.

>> That was interesting, how he kept calling her Governor Palin and John. In fact at one time he called her Sarah, I think, and he corrected himself and said Governor Palin. He really wanted to be respectful. There was a lot of conversation about sort of the gender dynamics of the two of them getting together. And I think that was a very conscious thing on Joe Biden's part, don't you think?

>> Well, I think it was a very smart thing. You know, he does have a tendency, those of us who covered him over the years to kind of run on, and tonight --

>> He's a bit of a blow viator, as they say.

>> -- tonight I thought he was concise, he was to the point. He is very sure of his facts. He was clear, listening to Senator Biden tonight, he has dealt with these issues before, you could tell he's a person who had considerable experience here.

>> Now, apparently former mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani is wired up in Spin Alley. Mayor Giuliani -- oh, there you are. Hey mayor.

>> How are you, Katie?

>> I'm fine, thank you. So what did you think? I know that you actually saw Governor Palin right before she went on stage -- that's what I heard anyway -- and you wished her luck.

>> I sure did. I thought she did an absolutely great job when you consider the pressure that was on her to perform well. I think she gave the American people a real indication of why John McCain selected her. I think she was very intelligent, I thought she very clearly explained her position. I thought she put Joe on the defensive over and over again. Particularly pointing out all of his criticism of Barack Obama. After all, it was Joe Biden who said that Barack Obama isn't prepared to be commander and chief. And of course once he gets selected on the ticket he changes his mind about that. And I thought when she said there you go again, she sort of demonstrated the difference between her and Joe Biden. He's the past and she's the future.

>> But she was trying to borrow a phrase from Ronald Reagan, and she did that a few times during tonight's debate.

>> I can't imagine trying to find anyone else who would be better than Ronald Reagan to borrow a phrase from. Like, shining city on a hill. She did a very effective job. For someone who's been put under an extraordinary amount of scrutiny I think you have to admit she did a very good job tonight. I've done a lot of debating, I've watched a lot of debates. This is one of the best performances I've ever seen.

>> But did you find it at all disconcerting, Mayor Giuliani, that often times Governor Palin would be asked a question, she would kind of give a cursory response, a very short response, and then she would say, but I want to talk about X, energy policy, I want to talk about this. And she went so far to say, you know, I'm not going to -- I think as a way to sort of preempt criticism of that I may not answer it the way you want me, being Joe Biden, to answer it. You me [Inaudible] moderator, but I'm going talk straight to the American people.

>> Wow.

>> Do you think that's going to be off-putting to some people that she wasn't more responsive?

>> That's a leader. That's somebody who wants to -- look, there's been an awful lot of time been spent trying to characterize her as this thing or that thing, or something else. This is her chance to talk to the American people. And the reality is I've been in court, you know, many, many times, and I've done many debates. You don't necessarily want to answer the -- ask -- you want your agenda to get out there. This is your chance to talk to the American people and she did. She talked to them in a very direct way and I think in a much more effective way than Joe Biden did.

>> All right, we have a question from someone from North Carolina, Broony, or Brony, in North Carolina, sent this over the Internet. You've heard of that, right Giuliani?

>> I sure have.

>> America has given George Bush and the Republican party eight years and things seem to be in the tank. Many Americans are being left behind. Why should Americans trust Palin and John McCain, both Republicans, after the last eight years of Republican rule.

>> Well, I mean the reality is you're selecting two people and they are -- and you have to select them for what they can do and what they can accomplish. I mean, John McCain is an extraordinary person. He's someone who has fought Washington from the day he got there. Sarah Palin has an extraordinary record as a reform governor. And if you really want change I think they're going to bring it about. Joe Biden and Barack Obama say nothing new. I know they use the word "change," but these are classical liberal democrats. Joe Biden has the third most liberal voting record in the Senate. Barack Obama has the most liberal voting record in the Senate. They're going to take us back to failed liberal policies. It's John McCain and Sarah Palin who were talking about the future, and I thought she did a great job of illustrating that tonight.

>> All right. Rudy Giuliani, very appropriately standing in Spin Alley tonight. Mayor Giuliani, thanks a lot.

>> Thank you.

>> I want to go to Jeff Greenfield who's watching this in New York. And you know, Jeff, this is ran interesting notion. Obviously John McCain and Sarah Palin have been trying to distance themselves from the Bush administration. She talked about the blunders. I thought it was more concrete language than we've heard before. The blunders of the Bush administration, more than once tonight. John McCain, obviously, in his acceptance speech during the convention never mentioned President Bush's name, although I think he said the president. How effective do you think they've been in distancing themselves from the Bush administration and conversely, how effective has the Obama campaign and -- sort of attaching them at the hip to it.

>> Well, if you listened tonight, and if you listened to Barack Obama in the first debate, you'd believe that bush was John McCain's middle name. When you've got a president with a 22% approval rating you want the candidate of that same party -- and you're the opponent -- as attached to that candidate as you could, short of an operation ajoining them at the hip. And I do think that's why on more than one occasion Governor Palin referred to them as a team of mavericks. They're trying as hard as they can to separate that out. Beyond that, when was the last time, maybe since Teddy Roosevelt, that Republicans have denounced corporate greed and predators. They really do sound more like Dennis Dusinish than republicans because right now the country is furious or beyond furious at the fact that it finds itself in economic distress. It is interesting, by the way, that I think that Governor Palin did an effective job to the point where our snap poll [Assumed spelling] says that 55% think better of her now, and 53% think better of Biden even though they thought Biden won the debate and Biden's a great debater. So you have to look at this as the Republican party having had two very bad weeks, trying desperately to make the argument that they represent change. And I think that Governor Palin did as effective as joy as you can when you're running with that party label, Katie.

>> All right, Jeff. I'm going to go to Richard Hoss, because Richard I think there's an Internet question that might be appropriate for you. This is from Ryan in Virginia, and he asks if Palin's lack of foreign policy experience is reason to disqualify her, why is not more made of Obama's lack of foreign policy experience. Both Biden and the Clintons have questioned his experience. If elected he will be president, not just one heart-beat away. Any thoughts on that? I know you haven't endorsed any candidate and you won't do that. But I'm just curious, what about that argument?

>> Well, it probably cancels out in the sense that neither one of them has great career experience with foreign policy. Secondly, some would say the current administration gave a bad name to experience. You had some people with senior jobs in this administration who served literally for decades, and it's hard to argue that results somehow proved that experience itself is a guarantee of anything positive. At the end of the day what really matters much more is character, it's judgment, and someone like Barack Obama with his emphasis on the opposition to the Iraq war is clearly reenforcing the message with a lot of Americans that his judgment on foreign policy is pretty good.

>> And do you see a significant difference -- a significant difference, Richard, in terms of how McCain Palin administration would operate, foreign policy-wise, from a Bush administration?

>> Well, you saw a couple of differences in emphasis. First of all, the idea that you would put the Israeli Palestinian issue, the "peace process" as we used to call it, towards or at the top of the foreign policy agenda. That wasn't something that -- that -- that this administration clearly has done. The greater openness to talking about climate change, despite some of the caveats. Again, a significant difference from this administration. So I would think regardless of who wins, I'd say two things. One is you will see some differences, certainly from the first four years of the administration. Less from the second four years where bush himself is something of a departure from himself. But each more important, Katie, no matter who wins, and it didn't come out at all tonight, the next president is going to be severely constrained. No one seems to be connecting the discussion in any debates on economics with the discussion on foreign policy. This next president is going to find his hands tied. There's very little we're going to be able to do that involves military forces or economic policy. The hands are going to be seriously tied. The one area the next president is going have some discretion is the one thing that doesn't cost, which is diplomacy. And I think there you see the -- the Biden and obviously Barack Obama. You see a slightly greater emphasis on a willingness to talk to other governments than you see with Senator McCain or Governor Palin.

>> Can you clear something up real quickly, Richard, because so much has been made of this, and it seems like Barack Obama did suggest having negotiations with Iranian president Ahmadinejad. And then he kind of retreated from that, talking about sort of high-level negotiations, but starting at a lower level. Did -- can you just explain what he said and if that was something that was sort of an anthema to foreign policy experts in any way?

>> Well, I think in his initial question or response to a question on this subject, people listening to it thought he did say that he wouldn't rule out meeting directly or talking directly to Ahmadinejad. That got a lot of criticism, given all the things that Ahmadinejad has said. What I think you're seeing subsequent is a consensus in the foreign policy community that it's fine to talk to Iranians, indeed just tonight, Katie, my institution, the Council on Foreign Relations, we hosted the Iranian foreign minister. No one objects to that. There's many other Iranian officials, no one objects talking to them. I think this administration is willing to talk directly to Iranians. They talk to North Koreans. So I think there's a general foreign policy community consensus that it's okay to talk to most other governments. I think Ahmadinejad is the one flashing light where people would say he's gone beyond the pale, and he's someone that we shouldn't talk to, in part of matters of principal. But also as you heard Senator Biden say tonight, Katie, that it's not clear that he really is calling all the shots. The supreme --

>> Right. He talked about the theocracy, right, is really in charge of that country.

>> The supreme leader, Mr. Khamenei, that -- it's more important to talk to others and not grant in any way that Ahmadinejad is somehow the voice of Iran, when in fact he is a voice in Iran, but he's not the voice of Iran.

>> All right, Richard. I'm going to go to Bob Schieffer to ask -- answer a question from Joanne Rogers in New Durham, New Hampshire, Bob, if that's okay. And by the way, did I mention we're sponsored by Intel tonight?

>> You did mention that.

>> Dah-dah-dah! You see, we don't have a big budget for music, so I have to supply it.

>> It's great. You're such a multi-tasker.

>> Thank you. So, all right, the moderator of this vice presidential debate, this is about Gwen Eiffel, and this did get a lot of publicity. Hi Vaughn. This is Vaughn Ververs [Assumed spelling] by the way. If you want to go to a three shot, because then poor Vaughn doesn't have to sit here feeling like the third wheel, that we don't care. Anyway, he's the political director of cbsnews.com. Is that your exact title?

>> Senior political editor, but close enough.

>> Okay. Thank you. Anyway, nice to have you here, Vaughn. So Joanne Rogers writes, the moderator of this vice presidential debate is writing a book about Barack Obama that's scheduled to be released on inauguration day. Should she have been asked to step down as moderator? I know you have some strong feelings about this.

>> Well, I really think this is kind of a bad wrap. Number one, this is a book that's not even set in print yet, it's still in manuscript. It's a book that Gwen is writing, and all I know about it is, I'm told, it is a book about the lives of African Americans in American politics. I don't think it's about Barack Obama. So I don't understand how that could disqualify someone?

>> Do you think she should have said to the debate commission, you know, by the way --

>> I believe she has written stories in Time Magazine about it.

>> So it wasn't as if she wasn't being forthcoming about it.

>> Yeah. This is something that has been out there for a time.

>> What about you, Vaughn? A lot was made of this prior to this debate.

>> Well, you know, it's very interesting timing that the day before the debate this suddenly came out and was on the front page of gossip web sites and all this stuff. You know, I think it's typical gamesmanship from people who may want to at least put some question into things, maybe skew it a little bit. At least put that in the minds of conservatives, especially Republicans who have questioned Sarah Palin. It gives them sort of an excuse if things go bad to blame the moderator.

>> But I think she did a very nice job.

>> Yeah. All right. So I'm going to go to Dan and Dee Dee. Dan, are you still there?

>> I'm here, I'm here, Katie, beautiful.

>> Okay, let me ask you --

>> Standing guard here at the Spin Alley.

>> All right, let me ask you, Ellen in California writes, what one thing would define for you a successful term as vice president? Dan, why don't you take a shot at that, and then Dee Dee.

>> Not publicly breaking ranks with your boss. You know, we've had some interesting moments in the past seven years with a very forceful, and interestingly enough, one of the interesting dynamics in the Bush White House was the fact that you had a vice president who had no political ambition whatsoever. Which is really a different type of dynamic, because typically a president is always looking over their shoulder because they think the vice president wants their job and always at some point in the presidency will try to separate themselves from the president. But that's probably principally the one thing you don't want to happen, is look like there's any public break between president and the vice president.

>> So being in lock-step, the two can't --

>> That doesn't mean, you know, privately you want candid advice. But once a decision is made you want to make sure that your vice president is on board.

>> All right. Dee Dee, what about you? What one thing would you define as a successful term as vice president?

>> Well, I think it's a vice president who can help the president govern in whatever way the president wants. For example, present Clinton gave Vice President Gore a couple of initiatives which he asked him to manage, then he asked for his advice on a day-to-day basis on a number of different issues. So he was a partner to President Clinton. And I think if there's one advantage to having a vice president with political ambition it's that it sometimes helps keep the administration on track in those last years. You know, you don't have a vice president that says I don't care what the public thinks, you have a vice president that thinks we need to get the party reelected. And I think that can be oddly helpful at times.

>> All right, Dee Dee. Thanks a lot. Hey Rick, I'm going to go to Cheryl Atkinson [Assumed spelling]. Cheryl, are you there?

>> I am, Katie. Lose and ready to rock-n-roll.

>> Good. Cheryl, see, nobody sees you as this kind of wild party animal, except for on our webcasts.

>> Here, I'm going to get my cup of water out -- [ Multiple voices speaking ]

>> -- I'm getting my water out.

>> Oh wow, you are a crazy, crazy chic there, Cheryl. I'm glad you're really taking chances tonight. All right, go through some of the -- I know, Senator McCaskill just sat down and she's like, what, where am I? Who am I and why am I here? Kind of an Admiral Stockdale [Assumed spelling] moment. But tell us a few more poll results, if you could Cheryl, because I wanted to get Senator McCaskill to say a comment on some of them.

>> Okay, let me breeze through the ones reviewing what we already did, and then we have a few extra. Who won the debate. Rather striking. Biden, 46% said. Our pool of about 473 so-called uncommitted voters. Palin, just 21%. But more importantly, among those who made up their mind as a result of the debate, 18% say they're not committed to Obama, 10% now committed to McCain. 71% still uncommitted. But we can also look at some key stats for individual candidates. For example, how did tonight's debate effect voter opinion of Joe Biden. 53% think better of him after the debate. 42% no change. Sarah Palin did quite well here as well. 55% said their opinion of her changed for the better. As to whether the uncommitted voters think Joe Biden is knowledgeable about important issues -- look at this, before the debate, 79%. Afterwards, 98%. Sarah Palin didn't start off as high and didn't end as high, but she also showed improvement with 66 thinking she's knowledgeable about issues -- important issues -- after the debate. Now this is a new question we didn't have a half hour ago. Do you think Joe Biden is prepared for the VP job? 81% before said yes, 97% now. And for Sarah Palin, 39% before, 55% afterwards. She went up, but she's still far below him when you compare the two. And do you think Joe Biden has the ability to be an effective president if necessary. 91% says yes, he meets that standard after the debate. Let's look at the number for Sarah Palin. She improved, but is only up to 44%. Katie?

>> All right, hey Cheryl, thanks a lot. Go ahead, drink the water on air. You can go -- do anything.

>> I can even gargle.

>> Go ahead. No -- don't gargle. That would be a little gross. Thank you, Cheryl. All right, Claire McCaskill is here. And Claire -- Senator McCaskill, you said earlier that you thought that Joe Biden did well. That you were sort of disconcerted that Sarah Palin didn't respond to the questions. So we know how you feel about that, you saw that instant poll results -- those poll results -- but I want to ask you, why are things so close in Missouri? It's like one point separating these two campaigns. Missouri is a bell-weather state. What's going on in your state?

>> Well, it is a microcosm of the country. Our east coast is here in the St. Louis region, our west coast is the Kansas City region. The rest is pretty -- pretty conservative. And so we -- it's that rural-urban mix. So we are like the country. We have been evenly divided for many years. We are willing to vote against some of our principled issues. If we feel like the person works hard, is straight-forward, is constant and steady. And I think, frankly, that's why Obama's doing a little bit better. Because I think the last two weeks John McCain has been erratic about how to handle this crisis. And one day bail out, next day don't bail out. One day I won't debate, next day, I'm debating. One day I'm suspending my campaign, next day I'm doing interviews. So it's -- it's really I think kind of becoming clear to many moderate people in Missouri that the steadier hand here is Barack Obama, and I think that's why it's closed.

>> Let me ask you about this, because I know this was a big campaign issue for you when you ran for the Senate, and it's actually an e-mail question that we got. It's from Ki ki, who happens to be my sister's name -- just thought I'd give a shout-out to her. I'm sure she's watching. And it's what is Sarah Palin's stand on stem cell research. I spoke with Governor Palin about this, and of course she opposes federal funding, expanded federal funding, for embryonic stem cell research. Because, she says, she's unapologetically pro-life. She differs with John McCain in this issue. He endorsed, obviously, expanding federal funding, along with Nancy Reagan. How do you think that will resonate with voters, or do you think that's a sort of a top of mind issue these days?

>> Well, it certainly was a huge issue two years ago because we did this on the ballot to constitutionally protect stem cell research from criminal penalties. And it narrowly won. So on this issue, too, Missouri is very evenly divided. The evangelical community that is very strong in the Republican party agrees with Sarah Palin. Most of the independent voters and a lot of the suburban voters agree with Barack Obama's position, my position, and I think John McCain's position; I'm not sure.

>> Let me ask you this. We all knew that this debate was going to attract attention like no other vice presidential debate that I can recall. Do you think in the end the running mates will make a difference?

>> I don't think so. I thought what was really striking tonight was Sarah Palin's complete failure to differentiate the policies of John McCain from those of George Bush. She just failed to do that; ever. With any facts, even with just generalities. She didn't specify any kind of differences with their policies. And you know, I -- what I don't get about this, honestly, you guys, I don't get why John McCain has kept her out of the glare of the free journalisms in this country. I don't understand. I think he's done her a disservice. If I were Sarah Palin after tonight I'd say to John McCain, hey, let me answer questions. Let me go out there like every other vice presidential candidate that's been a man in this country has always done and answer questions that come out.

>> You know, you talked about differentiating them from the Bush administration. But did she -- she did say repeatedly, and I thought to some effect -- stop talking about the past. If you're all about change, stop, you know, pointing fingers at the past. At some point this Bush-McCain attached-at-the-hip philosophy that the Obama campaign has been employing for many, many months now, isn't that kind of going to growth in with voters, do you think?

>> Not if John McCain's record mirrors George Bush's mirrors. And not if his policies are a carbon copy of George Bush's policies. And they are. I mean, his economic policy is the same. If tax cuts for the rich were going to create jobs we wouldn't be looking at 700,000 jobs lost in this country just since the first of the year, because they did tax cuts for the rich. When they, you know, if they -- the world view that George Bush is wrong about his world view and his foreign policy, then why can't John McCain differentiate his world view? And the only thing he says is I think George Bush messed up how we prosecuted the war in Iraq, in terms of the surge. But no difference in foreign policy.

>> All right, Senator Claire McCaskill, thanks so much for coming by our little webcast tonight.

>> It's great to be here.

>> All right. Thanks very much. We're going to go now to Molly Wood, executive editor at CNET TV. Hey Molly, how are you? We should mention that Molly has been monitoring blogs and Twitter's new political site for online reaction from both sides. And he's going to tell us what some various web sites, both liberal and conservative, are saying about the debate tonight. So what do you have for us, Molly?

>> Well, I was reading, obviously, like you said, both the liberal and conservative blogs; dailycoast.com and Wonkette on the liberal side. Instapundit and Hughhewitt.com on the conservative side. And you know, not very many surprises there.

>> So, you know what Molly -- I'm sorry -- I'm sorry, you know what, I don't know if folks at home are watching this on the web are having audio problems, but I couldn't hear the first part. Do you mind starting over for us? We're having some technical difficulties, I believe.

>> Not at all. Well, like you said, I was monitoring liberal and conservative blogs, and there weren't a lot of surprises there. Obviously, at that point you're looking to see if anybody's going to break ranks. Someone does an extremely bad job and all of a sudden the conservatives are pointing out that Palin somehow blew it. That of course did not happen. Much more interesting was to follow twitter.com, which is a site where people can go and post really short kind of comments, about 140 characters, and they have set up a political site called election.twitter.com. And you can see here, it's just mesmerizing. The comments about the debate just roll in --

>> Can you read some of that for us?

>> Sorry?

>> Can you read a few of them for us?

>> Yeah, absolutely. I heard you asking Mayor Giuliani whether people would be turned off by Palin not answering questions, Governor Palin, and here's a comment that says after tonight I liked Joe Biden a lot more. Palin did a lot better than I expected, but I think she dodged a lot of the questions. On the other hand, though, you have this commenter saying people who thought Biden would kick her butt are sorely disappointed. Now also on the Internet they notice everything, so you had, of course, early on in the debate people talked about their looks. How Joe Biden seemed like maybe he had gotten Botox, how Sarah Palin's hair was in her eye lashes. It's kind of -- this is a lot more fun than following the blogs because it feels like you're watching the debate with your friends.

>> At the same time, you know, that -- those are very deep comments, aren't they? I guess that is what you'd say when you're hanging with your friends, truth be told. But gee, I don't know. It just seems like there are more important things to discuss, but hey, whatever, right?

>> And there's no question that further into the -- further into the debate, you know, that's the beginning moments of the debate. Further in you've got people saying that Governor Palin is really making a strong populace push, that message is really resonating among her populace viewers. You have people saying that Biden is really taking the reins when it comes to that foreign policy message. So you definitely are all over the map when you're watching that Internet audience, and of course it skews almost the same way that the numbers that you've been mentioning skew. That people were feeling like Senator Biden ultimately came out on top, but that Governor Palin did hold her own.

>> All right. Well Molly, thank you so much. Interesting stuff. And we just want to mention we have a three shot now because Senator Fred Thompson came by. Senator from Tennessee, former presidential candidate. Nice to see you, Senator.

>> Thank you.

>> Can I ask you a quick question? Would you mind terribly if I just go quickly to Byron Pitts? He's in Las Vegas with a bunch of uncommitted voters -- do you mind? Do you have a little time?

>> Well, I've got a plane load of people waiting on me, but other than that -- [ Laughter ]

>> Okay, well you're flying private, right? [ Inaudible comment ]

>> All right.

>> Tonight I am.

>> Okay, all right, Byron, tell us what those uncommitted voters are saying, because I know a lot of those folks want to go home. And tell your cameraman to stop napping, because he's all over the place.

>> That's right. Well, these folks are waiting for the slot machines. Everybody's got things to do, right?

>> Okay, all right --

>> Interesting things that people talked about here was how the whole expectations game. This young lady here, you're from where again, you're from Seattle, Washington.

>> State.

>> The point you made about the expectations you had for Governor Palin?

>> Yeah, sorry Katie, I didn't see the interview that you did with the governor, but I heard that it went really bad. And so my expectations of her were pretty low. However, watching this debate, she looked a lot more prepared than I expected her to be and I just thought she did really well.

>> And you thought the same thing, yes, that she did tore than you expected her to do.

>> That's for sure.

>> Now does better mean good?

>> I think she presented herself well. I don't think she had as much substance, but her form was outstanding.

>> Okay. You wanted to make a point, the same point as well, that you thought that she did better than you thought she might do.

>> I thought she did better than I thought she was going to. I don't think she did that well. I think that the Senator is -- answered the questions more articulately, or articulated the answers better, and I also thought he stuck with the questions more so than she did. [Inaudible] out for a second. A show of hands if for you this debate was a game change, that based on what you saw tonight you made up your mind. Really? Why? I heard you say you're a veteran, correct? U.S. Army. Okay, so why was tonight for you a game-changer?

>> Well, now you got me on the spot. I just --

>> We're all friends, brother, take your time.

>> I'm nervous. I -- being a veteran, I believe that -- oh --

>> Tell you what, we'll come back. Hold that thought. It's all good. Yes ma'am? You wanted to make a point?

>> I definitely made up my mind.

>> Because?

>> I'm definitely going to go with Obama-Biden because I trust that they have more knowledge. That they know how to handle the situations better. They're better prepared on the Iraq issue. I mean, they understand that it's not just about Iraq, it's also about Afghanistan. And I trust Biden on the health issue as well.

>> All right. Thank you so much. Katie?

>> All right.

>> Waiving your hand, yes ma'am?

>> Yeah, I want to agree with that. I think I made up my mind this evening too. I think that they were both very well prepared, but I believe she was overrehearsed, and I think that she was just waiting for opportunities to give back some of the opinions that she had been schooled in. And I think that what I've heard about her being a fast-learner is definitely true. I think she's picked up an awful lot of facts. But my confidence in her being able to really assimilate that and put them to use is -- is not there. I don't have faith that she could do that. I think she's still too -- too much of a new-comer, too new on the scene to really be effective in the position.

>> Okay. Thank you, ma'am. I think we're about out of time. Thank you all very much, and I'd like to thank our two veterans for serving the country and for making time for us tonight. Thank you so much. Katie, back to you.

>> Now they can get to those slot machines. Byron, thanks a lot. And as I mentioned before, joining us right now, Senator Fred Thompson. We had a little Law and Order music.

>> Hey, listen, music to my ears. I still get residuals, you know.

>> You do? How big are they?

>> Smaller and smaller.

>> Really? We heard a lot, some of those voters. Oh, by the way did I mention to you that we are sponsored -- our webcast is sponsored by Intel, the nice folks at Intel?

>> No. You didn't mention that.

>> Isn't that fascinating?

>> That is very fascinating.

>> Okay, good. I'm glad to hear that. All right, we heard some people say that they thought Governor Palin did much better than they expected. Do you think she's the beneficiary of low expectation factor?

>> Yeah. I guess so. Frank [Inaudible] will be interested to see the focus group. I just came off of another show where they were hooked up with him and Palin won that focus group overwhelmingly. But certainly, her expectations were very low. When she got into the race she was subjected to probably more negativity than anybody that I've ever seen in public office. The blogisphere and others, you know, went after her with a vengeance, and now more recently tried to ridicule her and, you know, show excerpts of your interview and other interviews. And -- and take the worst parts of those and air them. So yeah, her expectations were very low. But she shouldn't be looked upon tonight as someone who exceeded expectations. I think Joe Biden, about mid-way through this thing was thinking to himself I've been set up.

>> You really think she did that well?

>> Yeah, absolutely. You look at the numbers tomorrow and I'll have -- if I have to come back on with you and eat [Inaudible] I'll do it. But I have never seen a more masterful performance, and I've been watching these presidential things for a while and been in some of them. It wasn't just the rote stuff. The questions were varied, the questions were quick. Gwen Eiffel did a great job, I thought it was a great debate all the way around, all three of them for many respects.

>> It was pleasant, right?

>> It was a pleasant exchange. You felt comfortable listening to it. And she had a depth. She was able to talk about McCain's record, she was able to talk about Obama's record. She was able to talk about Biden's record. And wove it all into a view of the world. And so I thought she was not only exceeded expectations, she showed what those who know her best expected of her. And -- and -- that those who -- felt that she was just someone who was uninformed and maybe not very intelligent and just a mom they brought in off the soccer field or something like that. I think we were have I surprised tonight. But more importantly, I think she shows she's a good partner for John McCain. They have a lot of the same characteristics.

>> Do you think she'll now start holding news conferences and talking to reporters on the campaign plane? I mean, why do they -- why do they keep her kind of under wraps. She's talked to Katie and a few others, but --

>> I don't know. I don't know. Some are asking why she talked to Katie. I'm just --

>> Really?

>> Really now, isn't that -- I mean, Senator McCaskill was just here a minute ago and she said she thought in a way this is not her word -- somewhat demeaning -- that they not let her get out and talk to reporters.

>> You're talking about campaign decisions and campaign tactics. I know -- which I'm not a part of -- I think that the more that she can be out there in an open forum where she can spend, like, tonight an hour-and-a-half of just out there, and have people ask her questions -- I think the better. I strongly believe that. And I don't know whether the criticism I've heard is valid or not. It very well may be that some staff people have made a decision to gradually, you know, have her come out and so forth, and get behind the curve on that and so forth. But we're talking about ancient history now. I think this is a whole new ball game. I think that nobody can not take her seriously any more. They can disagree with her views, of course. But she -- she was extremely effective, and Joe in response, I think we'll see over the next view days for those that don't keep up with it, made several misrepresentations during the night. Some things that I was personally there, and when he's talking about McCain not supporting Bosnia in the beginning -- McCain twisted my arm to support Clinton. I wasn't sure I wanted to do that with that Bosnia operation. That -- [Inaudible] treaty, vote, that all the other Republicans voted for. They most certainly did not. That was the reason it was defeated. That he did not really vote for what had a felt was a war resolution in Iraq. Of course he did. Did Obama did not say he would specifically sit down with Ahmadinejad? Of course he did. That he was taken out of context on the rope [Inaudible]? No he wasn't. We have the words -- you can see what he said. No coal plants in the U.S.. So I -- you know, for those who follow these things pretty closely, I have felt seriously that they're going to have that on her coming in the morning.

>> Senator Thompson, your aides are saying you're leaving --

>> Is the plane revving up?

>> Yeah, the plane is -- the engines are starting. The catering is ready.

>> I'll do better now.

>> Bloody Marys for everyone.

>> In a support role than I did when I was running. [ Laughter ]

>> Well, that's for the [Inaudible] to decide. Senator Thompson, thanks very much for coming by. I appreciate it.

>> Thank you a lot, thanks for having me.

>> Think you'll ever go back into the movies?

>> Well, you know, I am available for discussions.

>> Maybe you could be his agent. All right, you better go, seriously. You two can talk about his movie career later. Meanwhile, I just wanted to talk to Dean Reynolds. He's in Denver with John McCain who was watching the debate. What can you tell us, Dean?

>> Katie, I think that I am struck by the substance that people are keying on in this debate. They're all talking about the substantive issues that we've discussed. Just go back eight years ago and we were all talking about pancake makeup and size. And maybe in the eight years interim people began to focus more on actually what these candidates are saying. The McCain people are very pleased with the debate this evening. They had very low expectations, if not no expectations, about Sarah Palin. They believed she held her own. Whether or not that actually equates with qualified to be president or vice president is another matter. But they are -- they are optimistic that she has put to rest the questions about whether she can hold her own on the stage, at least with Joe Biden. So tonight they see this as a plus.

>> How nervous do you think were they? I talked to some campaign staffers who said Governor Palin seemed to have a breakthrough a couple of days ago during her debate prep in Cedonia. But did you sense that they were sort of on pins and needles, or did they feel confident going in?

>> They were on knives and swords. Yeah, they were very worried about how this was going to turn out. They've seen their -- Sarah Palin's interviews with you, certainly. They saw the reaction in public, they've seen the polls. They knew they had to hold their position tonight, and certainly not go backwards. Because she's dug herself a pretty deep hole. And I must say that the polling that we see as to who won this debate tells me that there is already a predetermined view point on Sarah Palin which could be very disheartening for the McCain campaign. Regardless of how well she does now there seems to be somewhat set in concrete that she may not be up to the job.

>> All right, Dean Reynolds > Hey Dean, thanks a lot. What are you guys doing now?

>> Well, I just hang out in darkened urban parking lots around this time every week. So this is my -- this is my hang-out.

>> Well, you know what, you're good-nighted, as they say in the biz. I think you should go have a cocktail with your crew.

>> I think I will.

>> All right, thanks Dean. Good to talk to you. All right. Now we're joined by Lynn Sweet [Assumed spelling] Washington bureau chief for the Chicago Sun Times. Hey Lynn.

>> Hey.

>> How are you?

>> Good.

>> So nice to have you on our webcast.

>> It's great to be here.

>> By the way, we're sponsored tonight by the nice people from Intel.

>> Okay, that's good. I'll go -- [ Laughter ]

>> We've even got the music. So we're a low-budget operation. Listen. I was singing it before because we couldn't afford that.

>> And just to help, I'm a proud user of Intel in my laptop. So --

>> Oh my God, excellent. Thank you for the plug. All right, so just real quickly, what do you think?

>> She survived.

>> It's like Gloria Daner [Assumed spelling].

>> Or as Faulkner would say -- [ Multiple voices speaking ]

>> But go ahead, sorry.

>> But not only survived, she stood there, I might say, in spike heels -- which is no easy task for 90 minutes. But in all seriousness, she -- look, Biden did better, but he was supposed to do better. And he didn't make any big mistakes. Neither of them did. But she survived because she figured out a way to kind of go over the heads of everybody and get her message out. A little awkward at time. Looked like she was reading, but so what. You know, with her Joe six-pack, and her little media-bashing of the eastern politicians. I think she --

>> Do you think it was about you?

>> No. I don't think it was about me. No, no, no. I mean, I'm one of them, I guess, in their view, but --

>> Well also it's a little ridiculous, because Obama's not from the east. It was -- it was a little over the top in the media bashing. But --

>> But they did that at the convention too.

>> But now we've been listening to it more because they've been going on this more and more, and the run-up to this. But she seemed to do a kind of clever preemptive of -- of criticisms. You might not like the answers I'm going give to the moderator, to you -- Joe -- she said. Can I call you Joe -- a little disarming. But she figured out a technique, in a sense, for saying I may not really answer the questions --

>> Yeah, she preempted the criticism, probably. But still, people were bothered, I think, according to our Internet traffic, that she seemed to go off -- off topics.

>> Absolutely. And people pick up on it. We were doing a live blog -- live chat on my blog at the Sun Times, and that was a constant complaint of people. But when you think of how it could have turned out that she survived, she was able to -- it was interesting, I thought, she was also looking for areas of agreement between them, I think to show --

>> That she could work across the aisle?

>> She was across the aisle, appeal to independents. That was an important part, I think, of her strategy too.

>> Okay, we're going to do sort of a round robin with all our pundits, Lynn. But first I'm sorry, I interrupted you. You couldn't quote Falkner, you were going to sound so erudite. Falkner once said --

>> I'm not sure which quote you're looking --

>> You said she survived, and you took out prevailed.

>> Right, right. That was -- now I can't remember the whole thing. Darn. [ Laughter ]

>> You had it right there and I ruined it for you.

>> She gets worse.

>> You know what, think about it for a minute and get back to me.

>> I was almost there.

>> All right, Dee Dee and Dan, are you guys still there or are you taking a nap?

>> We're here, we're here, we're here.

>> All right, listen, let me get to a couple Internet questions because we're wrapping things up. Brian Cullin wrote who's Joe six-pack. Dan, you're kind of a Joe six-pack, so tells who are people like you?

>> I think people who don't play -- follow politics on a daily basis, but tune in, in the last kind of strength of a campaign. Take a measure of a person -- you know, I think it's really interesting. I don't think people really practice what they preach when they say they want it to be about the issues. I think they do like to see who they are as a person, their personality , their character. Try to make a judgment call on the two candidates. And I think that's what the typical persons do now. And I think what's going to happen now, now with the expectations with this debate and it's behind us, I think we're going go back to the historical norm and that is the vice presidents aren't going matter that much in this race down the stretch. It's going to go back to McCain and Obama. And I think since she didn't, you know, fall on her face and all the expectations of her not doing well, I think it's going to actually make the vice presidential cover recede pretty dramatically, and all the focus will now go on McCain and Obama.

>> Okay, Dee Dee I'm going to ask you a simple question. Joe from Rhode Island writes what is clean coal. You have 30 seconds.

>> I was born in Rhode Island. Clean coal is where they recapture some of the emissions from coal so it doesn't pollute as much.

>> But doesn't it take a lot of energy to produce clean coal? So some people say it's an oxymoron, don't they, Dee Dee?

>> You know, I'm not an excerpt on coal, Katie. So I don't know whether it takes more energy to produce energy with clean coal when you recapture the emissions. [Inaudible] to join my birth state of Rhode Island.

>> All right. Well you know what, I'll get more information, I'll get back to you on that as well. All right, let me ask Bob this -- or actually, let me ask Jeff and Bob this. Do you think Gwen should have taken more control of the debate. Was she too easy. Bob we heard you compliment Gwen. You thought she did a good job?

>> I thought Gwen did a -- I thought she did a fine job.

>> Jeff Greenfield, are you still with us?

>> I'm here Katie.

>> What do you think?

>> First, I don't know about clean coal, but I know about Nat King Cole.

>> Oh -- [ Multiple voices speaking ]

>> What -- I thought the questions were right and it was interesting to me that people came away from this debate thinking better of both of them. But I think that Dean Reynolds made a very critical point that either because of Biden's experience in general or because of what Sarah Palin has been through, even though people think better of her according to war numbers and we'll see what happens in 48 hours, way, way more people think Biden is prepared to be vice president than president -- I mean than Palin -- and it also underscores what Mr. Bartlet said, which is that basically people do not vote on vice presidents. Anybody tuning into this to see Sarah Palin have a complete meltdown, like you know, face in the crowd with Andy Griffith, was sorely disappointed. But fundamentally this is going to come down to a decision about Barack Obama versus John McCain.

>> I'll take obscure movie titles for 200, Alex. All right, let me ask you, Bob. You know, will this really change any poll numbers? Because I was talking to some of my colleagues about the Bentsen-Quayle debate, and everybody thought Lloyd Bentsen cleaned Dan Quayle's clock with the I knew Jack Kennedy, you're no Jack Kennedy -- excuse me, people! I'm kidding. Anyway, we're doing a webcast here. But he only -- he only got one -- I guess the democrats gained one point after that debate and they were all waiting to see what would happen. Is this really going to change the dynamics significantly?

>> I think had she made a horrible mistake it might have. But the fact that she didn't I think it probably won't change it very much.

>> What about you Lynn?

>> I -- I -- whoever says that the vice presidential candidates are off the table I so disagree. It's not going to happen. This is a different kind of election, different kind of candidate. And that she didn't make a big mistake just means that the story lives, frankly I think, for another day.

>> All right. Lynn Sweet. Lynn, thanks for coming by. Do you remember the Falkner quote now?

>> No, no, no. But I do know the coal you're talking about. You -- it is produced across the Mississippi River in southern Illinois.

>> Really?

>> It's either hard or soft coal, and again I now have confused myself.

>> Have you been drinking?

>> No, no, no. It's just -- [ Laughter ]

>> You know, I don't need to drink to get like this. This is just natural.

>> Wow, I'll have whatever she's having!

>> It is. It's either hard or soft coal, and it is a big issue for southern Illinois across the river. But tax credits, actually, are trying to easy the way in technology of developing some of that resource now that they figured out a way to burn it without creating all kinds of -- [ Multiple voices speaking ]

>> I have no idea what you just said. We'll have to discuss this at a later date.

>> We'll do coal later. Not Nat King.

>> All right, thank you for coming by, Lynn.

>> Thanks a lot.

>> Hey Dan and Dee Dee, are you guys there?

>> I'm here, I'm just wiping the coal off my glasses. Sorry.

>> Thank you very much. Jeff Greenfield, Jeff, thank you.

>> Any time, Katie.

>> Thanks for -- thank you for not dissing us for Charlie Rose this time.

>> He didn't ask me.

>> Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to bring up a sore subject. Thank you Jeff. And Bob Schieffer, as always. Thanks a lot. Are you excited about moderating your debate?

>> I am. I'm, you know, it's -- it's amazing. This is an amazing race and it goes on. I sort of tend to agree, while I don't believe that Sarah Palin is going to change the race very much, it is still very, very close. And I do believe that she will still be talked about and will still be an issue.

>> Well, don't you think it's largely because of John McCain's age and his medical history that people are much more interested in his vice presidential selection than --

>> This is an historic confluence of events. Who she is and the age factor, the health factor. So -- anyone who thinks any of this stuff is off the table, I wouldn't be surprised if it comes up in your debate next week.

>> Well, I think it will. But you know the other thing to think about here is this financial crisis has just gobbled up all of the attention about everything. And you know, there are a couple of issues out there like immigration and education and social security that we really haven't had time to get -- talk about at all.

>> Yeah. Did you see our control room? They were sort of waving the white flag. I think they're telling us party's over.

>> Oh my.

>> Anyway, they don't do that to you during Face the Nation. Our webcast gets no respect.

>> I think those are bats. I don't think those are --

>> Anyway, we just want to say to everybody who's watching thank you for coming to our after party, and one more time, a huge thank you to Intel -- thank you. And we'll see you on October 7 for the second presidential debate. That's from Nashville, Tennessee. That's going to be fun. But we're not going to Nashville. Well, you are.

>> I am.

>> I'm not. I'm kind of bummed out about that. Anyway, but we'll see you then. We'll be from New York, Bob will be in Nashville. Lynn, come back to our webcast sometime.

>> I would love to.

>> And bring that Falkner quote, will you?

>> I will bring Falkner and I'm going to get the coal straightened out.

>> Okay, good. Look forward -- especially to the clean coal discussion. Anyway, we'll see you guys later. Thanks again for watching, and see you tomorrow night on the CBS evening news. ^M00:50:05 [ Music ]