Biden Vs. Palin's Economics: Take Care of Middle Class

By Marni Newell
Kalamazoo, Mich---
Biden and Palin spent the first half of the debate on Thursday arguing over semantics of tax increases, both claiming the other was advocating taxing the middle class.
In regard to McCain’s economic policies, Biden stated, “It doesn’t make John McCain a bad guy, it just makes him out of touch.”
Palin claimed Obama voted for tax increases, including taxing small businesses, saying businesses that paid more taxes couldn’t hire as many people.
According to Biden, Obama’s plan wouldn’t tax any household or business making less than $250,000 a year, which includes “95 percent of small businesses.” Biden also disapproved of McCain’s healthcare proposal, which would supply families with $5,000 for health insurance, but would go straight to insurance companies, which he described as the “ultimate bridge to nowhere.”
The debate often strayed from the specific questions Moderator Gwen Ifill asked, sometimes sparking laughter from the moderator’s frank statements, “Neither of you answered the question.” Gov. Palin prefaced some of her answers candidly, “I’m not going to answer the question, instead I’d like to tell you about my track record.”
Meanwhile, Biden had distractions of his own, shown in one speech with the repetitive statements about McCain and Palin’s plans being the same as the Bush Administration’s. Biden’s approval ratings peaked in his description of current Vice President Cheney as, “The most dangerous vice president we’ve had in history.”
Palin maintained her smile during discussions of energy plans where she alluded to her opinion of global warming by saying not all effects of climate change can be attributed to man. She ultimately kept the conversation away from her skepticism of global warming saying “but I don’t want to talk about the cause, I want to talk about the solutions.”
Overall audience approval ratings by men and women stayed consistently above average for both candidates, a contrast to last weeks presidential debate.