How To Debate a Girl, and Win

Loved, loved, LOVED the open letter to Sen. Joe Biden from Slate senior editor, Dahlia Lithwick.

Dahlia's sage advice to Sen. Biden? Pretend Sarah Palin is a man. And don't be such a "Joe Biden". Dahlia writes that Gov. Palin is "a charming, confident, and gifted reader of speeches", but points out the differences between the two, extoling Biden as a "six-term senator and chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee" with World leaders as routine friends and qualified from day one to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

While I agree with Dahlia that everyone expects Sen. Biden to win the debate on substance, I disagree with the numerous "sexist bully" remarks.

So, Sen. Biden cannot "act too smart", "condescend", "engage, fight, bicker, or bluster", or he'll lose this debate. Why is Gov. Palin's gender even in play? Why are we such a shallow society that we even consider Sen. Biden may "gaze fixedly at her breasts or ask her to fetch" coffee? What a sad commentary on where we are as a people of this Earth.

Dahlia also refers to Palin as "not a serious candidate" and "that by every obvious metric—experience, knowledge base, decades of public service, policy experience, understanding of the world—Palin is an unserious candidate for the vice presidency of the United States". I think she's VERY serious; she will be aggressive and well-schooled by the time the debate rolls around. She will "argue, tell jokes, kick ass, or get her ass kicked, just like a man".

Yes, I would suggest to Joe Biden, as well as Dahlia did, that we don't need flirting, smirking or flattering. And, he shouldn't be a "blow hard", either. There's nothing wrong with "amiable", but what happened to a good, old-fashioned handshake versus pecks on cheeks unless you're cheek-pecking both genders. Stop with all the pandering and kisses, and let's get down to issues.

Dahlia's line about Gov. Palin's "plans to sell Barack Obama's next celebrity memoir on eBay and give all the money to special-needs children" was hilarious. I also loved Dahlia's suggestion that Sen. Biden "ask politely (and like you really want to know the answer and not just hear yourself say the question) what she learned while leading the Alaska National Guard into that war against Saskatchewan".

In the words of the immortal Bette Davis, I think we're in for a bumpy ride, and a VERY serious one, too!


Photograph of Joe Biden by Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images. Photograph of Sarah Palin by Ethan Miller/Getty Images.