VP hopefuls face off

Chris Brown / Staff Writer / The USD Vista

“Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) and Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) faced each other in the first and only debate involving vice presidential candidates at Washington University in St. Louis. The moderator, Gwen Ifill, a journalist and a moderator for the 2004 vice presidential debates, began her questioning of the candidates by asking their opinion on the failure of Congress to pass the $700 billion bailout bill earlier that week.

Biden responded that “The economic policies of the last eight years have been the worst economic policies we’ve ever had.”

Palin similarly answered, “The federal government has not provided the sound oversight that we need and that we deserve, and we need reform to that end.”

Continuing on the focus of solutions to the current economic crisis, Biden was adamant about helping the middle class grow by increasing taxes for those making more than $250,000 per year and decreasing taxes for people making less than $150,000 per year. Palin pointed out that small businesses would be negatively affected by the tax increase proposed by Barack Obama. John McCain, on the other hand, plans on proposing a $5,000 tax credit for families to purchase their own health care coverage, a move supported by Palin.

After discussing the economy, Ifill turned to alternative energy sources to which Palin stated we cannot wait for technology to solve the energy crisis and must solve the problem now by drilling for the oil in America. Biden retorted that it would take 10 years for the American citizen to actually receive the benefits from extended drilling operations within American borders and suggested that both clean coal and nuclear sources may be sufficient for current needs.

The next topic that was tackled by the candidates was the war in Iraq. Biden and Palin agreed that the United States needs to bring home troops, the only difference being the time involved with such a withdrawal. Biden set a definite plan of transferring power over to the Iraqi government within the next 16 months and focusing more attention on stabilizing Afghanistan. Palin was hesitant to commit to any immediate date for complete withdrawal. “We’re getting closer and closer to victory. And it would be a travesty if we quit now in Iraq,” said Palin.

According to CNN, 51 percent of viewers said Biden was the better of the two candidates while 36 percent favored Palin. 84 percent said Palin did a better job than expected compared to the 64 percent who said the same of Biden.”