VP debate at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky:
So Joe Biden and Paul Ryan had their debate last night. Generally speaking, the VP debate has
virtually no impact on the outcome of elections. They usually are just a drumbeat of what the
top of the ticket pushes in their own debates.
What you do have the opportunity to get is a feel for the intellect and temperament
of the potential presidents, poised to assume power should the unfortunate
happen to the man on the throne. So how
did the evening go?
Joe Biden’s job
in this debate was primarily to energize the base of the Democratic party, who
are still fuming over Obama’s abject failure to project a pulse in the first
presidential debate. The party was
offended by the failure, and Biden was the punch back, and Biden was happy to
comply. He was aggressive, commanding,
and did his best to keep Ryan on his heels.
He did tell some whoppers, particularly about the terrorist attack in
Libya. Not sure Biden paid much
attention to the news of the day before the debate, because the State
Department flatly contradicted everything he claimed last night. Someone should have told him, because anyone
who knew of the SD statements watched the lie snowball with every
sentence. The White House had to execute
the requisite spin and roll it back after the debate, saying that Biden was
only referring to himself and Obama, not the administration. But he also was shockingly rude,
unprofessional and condescending – not something I expected, even with Biden’s
propensity for running his mouth without using his brain. I thought Biden would be what made the debate
fun to watch, but I found myself more put off and offended the longer the
debate went on. The non-stop
interruptions, the condescending laughter while shaking his head, the retorts
that flirted with being obnoxiously loud, all of it made Biden look unprofessional. And that may have backfired for him, as
independents and women tend to despise that exact attitude. It’s fortunate that the VP debate has little
impact on the election. That said, Biden
was successful in accomplishing his goal, which was energizing the base. No tangible impact will come of it, but he
did what was expected. Grade:
B+
Paul Ryan is
clearly the novice in these circumstances and, as such, Biden did his best to
smack him around. Ryan never got
flustered, he was even tempered and measured, even when Biden was overpowering
him and talking over him loudly. He
seemed to consciously restrain himself a few times, when it appeared he was
going to run over Biden for interrupting him AGAIN. But he kept his cool, and just plugged
along. He was at a distinct disadvantage,
with the moderator Radditz interrupting him as well, and allowing Biden free
reign in his treatment of Ryan. As for
his substance, I will say I was pleasantly surprised at Ryans’s competence on
military issues and foreign affairs. His
specialty is economics, finance and taxation, so a deft touch with foreign affairs
is a definite plus for Romney. But he
still wouldn’t give specifics in his economic plan, and that’s been a sticking
point with independents. I don’t think
it hurt him, but it didn’t help. In
general he did a good job, and he was respectful of everyone, which is more
than can be said for Biden. Grade:
A
Martha Radditz is ABC's Chief Foreign Correspondent for the State Department, who specializes on national
security and foreign affairs, who spends most of her time overseas with the
military. Her moderation was
appropriate, being that she probably knows more about foreign affairs than
Biden and Ryan combined. I laud her ability to keep the debate moving
along, something Jim Lehrer had difficulty accomplishing. But she
is very liberal, and she appeared to favor Biden most of the night. She did nothing to stop Biden from belittling
and interrupting Ryan, never even trying to quiet him down when he was overly
loud with his interjections. She also
interrupted Ryan herself several times, demanding a specificity she never
demanded of Biden. And with her foreign
affairs acumen, she mostly focused on her specialty, the Middle East. She never talked China or Latin America, and
only tapped domestic policy sparingly, covering Medicare and Social Security
under the same topical segment. It was
generally hit and miss with her. Overall
she was okay, but she will never moderate another debate. Republicans were angry with her tactics and
free reign allowed to Biden’s behavior, so she’ll likely never get approval from
the GOP to moderate again. Grade: B-
The debate was mostly a wash. I graded Ryan a little higher than Biden, mostly on attitude grounds, but I give a sliver of an edge to Biden as the winner - barely. The simple fact is that, while Biden's behavior was poor, Democrats wanted to see some fight in their candidates. Biden went overboard, but he did what they wanted, making his night a success. Ryan had nothing to really gain, but plenty to lose on Romney's success last week. He really just needed to maintain, and he did that very well.
The next presidential debate is October 16, 2012 at Hofstra
University in New York.
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