SmashMouth

Thoughts and conjectures ...


Biden helped his side, IMHO. But he was very disrespectful in the manner in which he smirked and interrupted. Ryan knew his facts and clearly articulated them, save the lone time he was challenged on the 2 pork requests for his district. Ryan missed an opportunity to challenge Biden with BenghaziGate; then again the moderator, Mrs. Raddatz, did not let him respond. The end result in the polls remains to be seen.

SmashMouth

In a head-to-head battle of proxies, Vice President Biden wasted no time Thursday trying to do what many Democrats felt President Obama failed to against Mitt Romney, going on offense with an often disdainful attack on Paul Ryan -- who stood his ground against a barrage of Biden grins, guffaws, snickers and interruptions.
The dueling running mates turned the lone vice presidential debate into an uncharacteristically feisty affair, scrapping over everything from the economy to Libya to taxes. But it was the vice president who set the aggressive tone, blatantly striving to hit the reset after President Obama was panned for his lackluster performance at last week's opening debate.
If Obama was too cold, Biden at times bordered on too hot, analysts said afterward.
He chuckled and smirked through many of Ryan's responses. But unlike Obama a week ago, he let few points go unchallenged.
Biden went after the Romney/Ryan ticket with a directness that Obama did not. Notably, he hammered Mitt Romney over his secretly videotaped comment in which he said he doesn't have to worry about the "47 percent" of Americans who don't pay federal income taxes.
"These people are my mom and dad, the people I grew up with, my neighbors," Biden said, adding he's "had it up to here" with those kinds of comments.
Ryan shot back, in reference to Biden's tendency to make gaffes: "As the vice president very well knows ... sometimes the words don't come out of your mouth the right way."
"But I always say what I mean," Biden responded.
Ryan, though, got his points in, maintaining a steady and comparatively reserved demeanor throughout.
Ryan accused Obama of "projecting weakness" with his foreign policy, particularly in his response to the terror attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. At home, he accused the administration of presiding over a shoddy recovery.
"This is not what a real recovery looks like," Ryan said.
Whether the debate will alter the course of the race remains to be seen. There are two more presidential debates on the calendar, and the polls have started to swing in Romney's favor. The tightening was reflected in the candidates' attitude onstage Thursday, each loath to give the other too many seconds of speech-time without a challenge.
The economy, the budget deficit and foreign policy were central. Each candidate made frequent appeals to the middle class, Biden by pledging to protect programs in the federal budget and Ryan by pledging to grow the economy for everybody.
Ryan opened the debate with tough criticism of the Obama administration over its handling of the Libya terror attack.
"What we are watching on our TV screens is the unraveling of the Obama foreign policy," Ryan said.
With the moderator, ABC News' Martha Raddatz, opening the debate with a question about the Libya strike, which happened a month ago Thursday, Ryan criticized the administration for waiting more than a week after the strike to call it a coordinated terror attack.
"This is becoming more troubling by the day. They first blamed the YouTube video. Now they're trying to blame the Romney/Ryan ticket for making this an issue," he said. Ryan was referring to a claim by an Obama aide earlier Thursday that the only reason the attack had entered the political debate was because of Romney's criticism - a claim Romney rejected.
Biden was quick to retort: "With all due respect, that's just a bunch of malarkey. ... Not a single thing he said is accurate."
He added: "This talk about this weakness, I don't understand what my friend's talking about."
Biden also criticized Romney for making a "political statement"on the night of the attack, a reference to Romney's criticism of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo's early response to protests there. On the question of why the administration initially claimed the attack was the result of a protest, Biden explained "the intelligence community told us that."
The face-off Thursday night was taking on outsized importance for a vice presidential debate.
After Obama's debate performance last week, the pressure was on Biden to recapture the momentum -- while equally on Ryan to prevent the Obama ticket from blunting Romney's surge.
Ryan referred to the weight on Biden's shoulders about mid-way through, as the two talked over each other on Medicare.
"Mr. vice president, I know you're under a lot of duress to make up for lost ground, but I think people would be better served if we don't keep interrupting each other," Ryan said.
On Medicare, Biden charged that the Republican ticket's plan would raise costs for future seniors with a de facto "voucher" system. "Their ideas are old and their ideas are bad and they eliminate the guarantee of Medicare," he said.
Ryan shot back: "They got caught with their hand in the cookie jar turning Medicare into a piggy bank for ObamaCare."
The debate veered across the spectrum of topics from the campaign trail. On Iran's nuclear program, Biden repeatedly suggested Romney and Ryan would too readily choose the military option to stop it. On abortion, he cautioned that the next president will get to choose one or two justices on the Supreme Court -- "that's how close Roe v. Wade is."
Ryan, toward the end of the debate, warned that a "debt crisis is coming" and claimed the sitting president offers little more than speeches to address the deficit.
"That's what we get in this administration -- speeches. But we're not getting leadership," he said.


Read more: Sparks fly as Biden, Ryan face off in feisty vice presidential debate | Fox News

Danno

Biden looked and acted a lot like a fool IMHO.

The moderator was so in the tank for Biden it was embarrassing.

dam1953

First let me preface a few things. I was raised democrat during a time when LA republicans were an endangered species and now live in S. Ohio. That said, I have never been liberal, am currently conservative, but trending to libertarian ( as in leave me the f*%$@ alone). My political views have to some extent tracked Chuchill's quote “If you're not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you're not a conservative at forty you have no brain.”

All that said, having Biden one heartbeat away from the oval office scares the living hell out of me. I guess Obama saw him as a good insurance policy; much better than any secret service agent. I know few if any VPs are selected with the potential of ascending to the presidency in mind. But every 20 years or so it happens and I would like to think that the backup is up for the job. JB just seems like he's a better fit doing standup at the Improv. Of course, listening to many of Obama's recent campaign speeches, that looks like the whole party platform.

Halo

Biden is probably a great guy to have a beer with, but I've had little respect for him politically.

What he did accomplish during the debate was chip the Obama campaign out of the rough and back somewhere near the green.

By no means is the Obama campaign on the fairway, but Biden could have laid an egg that would have spun their campaign totally out of control.

Otherwise it was 50/50 split for those who actually watched the damn thing because it was a snoozer. Biden played to his base, and Ryan bounced off that playing to the conservative base.

SloMotion

I listened to it on the radio and Biden sounded more self-assured, though a bit of a smart-alec at times, which is totally 'Biden'. The fact he didn't make some sort of off-the-wall remark that could be construed as inappropriate or offensive was probably a victory in itself, but the debate seemed pretty even to me.

saintfan

I agree. Joe is probably a very nice fellow. And he properly and successfully held the party line - which is to say he managed to find an opportunity to blame GW.

Ryan was steady. Calm and cool. Very much collected. Biden was emotional and I thought Ryan managed to keep him on the defensive.

I agree it was a draw. Tuesday should be interesting...

Danno

If you truly believe that Obama/Biden policies are extremely harmful to our childrens future, there is absolutely no way on this planet that you should think Joe is a "very nice fellow". I do not find one single thing about Joe Biden that makes me think he's a "very nice fellow".

Does anyone think a thief is a pretty nice fellow? Is a rapist a pretty nice fellow? Is a child molestor a pretty nice fellow? Is Chaves a "very nice fellow"? Is Castro a "very nice fellow"?

Hell no they aren't. Their actions are hamful to my children's future. Not a damn thing nice about them in my book.

saintfan

To be fair Danno, he's not an evil man. As I've said before - and this is just my opinion - I believe Obama is genuine, and I believe the same of Biden. They aren't evil. They are severely misguided, but I believe THEY truly believe they're doing the right thing. Neither has a respect for our Constitution of course, and they are hardly the first.

I don't equate either of them with rapists or child molesters. I think Obama has an agenda that goes beyond even the liberal democrats that you and I dislike - like Biden. But that's what happens when you're mother is a whore, your father is a son of a ****, and your grandparents thought it'd be a good idea to have you mentored by a card carrying Communist before you were 10 years old. Barry was brainwashed from a very early age.

Trust in Allah, but tie up your camel...

Crusader

This is exactly the way a Radical Muslim views somebody that doesn't share their beliefs.