“The issue is how different is John McCain’s policy going to be than George Bush’s,” Biden said. “I haven’t heard how his policy is going to be different on Iran than George Bush’s. I haven’t heard how his policy is going to be different with Israel than George Bush’s. I haven’t heard how his policy in Afghanistan is going to be different than George Bush’s. I haven’t heard how his policy in Pakistan is going to be different than George Bush’s.

“It may be, but so far it is the same as George Bush’s,” he said.

Biden also turned tougher in the final half-hour after Palin had, several times, referred to McCain as a “maverick.”

“He’s not been a maverick when it comes to education — he has not supported tax cuts and significant changes for people being able to send their kids to college,” Biden said. “He’s not been a maverick on the war. He’s not been a maverick on virtually anything that generally affects the things that people really talk about.”

Last night’s debate between the two potential Vice Presidents was can’t-miss television after the recent CBS interview of Sarah Palin.

Some quick thoughts on the debate:

1. Palin took the tactic of “answering the question you wish you had gotten” to the stratospheric level. Asked a question about the mortgage crisis, she instead started talking about energy (an area she is much more comfortable with).
2. I don’t think Palin mentioned even one number or statistic throughout the whole debate, whereas Biden backed up his arguments all the way (too much, to the detriment of the clarity of his message, one might surmise). A cliche, but this was substance versus style, althougn not saying Biden didn’t have style because he had.
3. The loser of the night? The moderator. Instead of the moderator taking charge and control of the debate, the two instead seemed content with giving a talk instead of debating. Biden didn’t want to attack Palin because of obvious reasons, while Palin went through her talking points (see first point), even explicitly saying at one point that she wasn’t going to answer the moderator’s question or Joe’s comments, but instead “directly address the American public”.
4. I was impressed with Biden overall – clear voice, sincere, thoughtful. Good balance between being composed but taking the offense when needed. 
5. Success for Palin = not saying anything that would make it into Saturday Night Live. Three cheers for meeting expectations so low you cannot get lower or otherwise you would come out at the other end of the world.
6. Palin mispronouncing “nuclear”. Standard baseline test: people who cannot pronounce the word nuclear probably shouldn’t be put in a position where they have the actual nuclear codes.
7. Finally, Dutch football coach Co Adriaanse once said that good race horses not necessarily always make good equestrians (“een goed paard is nog geen goede ruiter”). Similarly, the fact that Palin seems to be like ‘one of us’ doesn’t mean she actually knows how to capably govern us.