Democratic vice presidential nominee
Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) speaks as Republican vice presidential nominee
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (R) listens during the vice presidential
debate at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri Oct. 2,
2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo
Gallery>>>
WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- U.S. vice
presidential (VP) candidates Joe Biden and Sarah Palin centered their debate on
economy and diplomacy Thursday night at Washington University in St. Louis,
Miss..
There's a lot of anticipation surrounding the debate,
and the stakes are high for both candidates.
Biden and Palin started their debate with a
discussion of the economy.
Palin, a female Republican governor from Alaska,
blamed some of the U.S. financial crisis on Wall Street.
"You're darn right it was the predator lenders," she
said. "There was greed and corruption on Wall Street."
Biden blamed some of the crisis on deregulation
policies that Republican presidential nominee John McCain believes in.
"McCain voted for deregulation and that is why we are
in the crisis that we are in," he said.
Democratic vice presidential nominee
Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) and Republican vice presidential nominee Alaska
Governor Sarah Palin take part in the vice presidential debate at
Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri Oct. 2, 2008.
(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>
Biden said the economic bailout bill is evidence that
the United States has had the "worst economic policy we ever had."
Palin said a barometer for how Americans are feeling
about the economy can be felt at kids' soccer games.
She said Americans are "scared."
Palin said Democratic presidential nominee Obama's
economic plans are "the backwards way of trying to grow our economy" because she
believes he would raise taxes too high on too many people.
She noted that Biden said recently it would be
"patriotic" of the wealthy to pay higher taxes.
"That's not patriotic," she says. In her view,
millions of Americans believe government is "the problem" and doesn't need more
in taxes.
She added that "millions of small businesses" would
pay higher taxes because Obama would raise them on those who earn more than
250,000 U.S. dollars a year while Biden said the fact is that 95 percent of
small businesses earn less than that amount.
The two candidates also disagreed about the causes of
climate change.
Republican vice presidential nominee
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin smiles during the U.S. vice presidential
debate at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, Oct. 2, 2008.
(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>
Palin said she isn't one to "attribute every activity
of man to the changes in the climate."
"There is something to be said also for man's
activities, but also for the cyclical temperature changes on our planet," she
said.
Biden disagreed, saying, "I think it is manmade. It's
clearly manmade."
"If you don't understand what the cause is, you
cannot come up with a solution," he added..
Palin praised the surge in Iraq and said Obama voted
against funding the troops in Iraq.
"The surge and counter insurgency has worked," she
said. "It would be a shame if we quit on Iraq."
Palin even said that setting a timetable to withdraw
troops from Iraq, a position Obama supported, was tantamount to "a white flag of
surrender in Iraq."
Biden said he and Obama will be the administration
that will end the war.
"We will end the war. With John McCain there is no
end to the war," he said. Thursday's debate is the only VP debate for this
general election.
Palin accused Barack Obama of voting against funding
for U.S. troops in combat and chastised Biden, for defending the move,
"especially with your son in the National Guard" and headed for Iraq.
"John McCain voted against funding for the troops,"
as well, Biden countered, adding that the Republican presidential candidate had
been "dead wrong on the fundamental issues relating to the conduct of the war."
He did not immediately reply to Palin's mention of
his son, Beau, the Delaware attorney general, who is scheduled to fly to Iraq
with his National Guard unit on Friday.
For much of the evening, the debate unfolded in
traditional vice presidential fashion-- the running mates praising their own
presidential candidate and denigrating the other.
Palin, who has been governor of her state less than
two years, was under intense pressure to demonstrate a strong grasp of the
issues as she stepped onto the stage.
Pre-debate polls show the public has become
increasingly skeptical of her readiness for high public office.
It is still too early to tell if her performance in
the debate improved her image.
Democratic vice presidential nominee Senator Joe
Biden (D-DE) (L) and Republican
vice presidential nominee Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (R) smile as they chat
onstage at the end of their vice presidential debate at
Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, Oct. 2, 2008.
(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo
Gallery>>>
WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- U.S. vice presidential (VP)
candidates Joe Biden and Sarah Palin clashed on economy as they debated at
Washington University in St. Louis, Miss., Thursday night.
Biden and Palin started their debate with a discussion of
the economy.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- Americans are growingly
skeptical of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's readiness as
she is prepared to debate Democratic counterpart Joe Biden Thursday night.
Though she initially transformed the race with her
energizing presence and a fiery convention speech last month, Palin is now a
much less positive force, according to a new Washington Post-ABC poll.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Republican
presidential candidate John McCain appears to be abandoning the state of
Michigan as his campaign is shifting resources from the state to Ohio and
Pennsylvania Thursday.
Michigan was always a long shot for McCain, who lost the
state to native son Mitt Romney in the Republican primary earlier this
year.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Democratic
presidential candidate Barack Obama is widening his leading edge against
Republican opponent John McCain in a number of key states, according to two
polls released Wednesday.
A survey by Quinnipiac University shows Obama's approval
rating passed the threshold of 50 percent in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
