Nonpartisan

During tonight’s Vice Presidential Debate, Senator Joseph Biden paused very briefly when he talked about the time when his wife and daughter were killed. He very briefly talked about how difficult it was to deal with that tragedy, and how he, in an instant, became a single parent. For a very brief moment, he was quiet. I’m sure this moment will play and be magnified with the news in the coming days, but for that moment I appreciated it as being genuine. I really hope that it was genuine.

And then it was Sarah Palin’s turn to talk. I had hoped that she would have said something about this moment, just like people do in the movies. I had hoped that she would have said something like this, after pausing and looking at Senator Biden, whom she had earlier asked if it was okay to call him “Joe”:

“You know what, Joe, I’m sorry that that had to happen to you. I know we’re up here to one-up each other, to try to show how one candidate is better than the other. But some things transcend politics, and family is one of them. I’m sorry that you had to go through that, and I respect and admire you for having the courage to forge through as a single parent, and to get to the point where you are now. We may disagree on many things, but the importance of family is not one of them.”

It would have been nice to hear that, but I’m sure this conduct would not have been within the parameters of the rules of debate.