No, I didn’t watch it live. I go to bed too early for that. But from the transcript...
Paul Ryan, currently a Congressman from Wisconsin and the foremost face of Republican economic thought, was well prepared, as expected. Despite flagrant bias against him from moderator Martha Raddatz, he kept his composure throughout and stayed focused on the policy positions of the Romney/Ryan ticket.
Joseph R. Biden, currently the vice-president of these United States, for thirty-six years a United States Senator from Delaware and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, supposedly the Obama Administration’s foreign policy heavyweight, chose not to attend last night’s debate. Instead, he sent a look-alike who alternated between imitations of Don Rickles and Bozo the Clown...and low-grade imitations, at that.
Moderator Martha Raddatz...let’s not go there, shall we?
According to “conventional wisdom,” which is indifferently conventional and often not terribly wise, the significance of the VP debates derives from the significance of the vice-presidential office: He who occupies that office should be capable of running the executive branch of the federal government in a pinch. Thus, the candidates must demonstrate the required intellectual and emotional ballast to persuade the electorate that allowing them to “ride the bench” for their presidential candidates does not disqualify the entire ticket.
Last night, Paul Ryan demonstrated the necessary heft. By contrast, Joseph Biden made quite a number of people wonder why the nation accepted him into the VP slot in the first place.
The subsequent commentary on the debate was, as you might expect, sharply divided on partisan lines. There was talk of Biden having finally served some “red meat” to the Democrat base. If that’s what they were hungry for, I can only wonder why they’re allowed to vote at all; I have a Newfoundland and five cats who show more refined tastes in nourishment – and better grace in setting to it.
Well, best not to belabor the thing. It speaks for itself. I recommend that all of Liberty’s Torch’s Gentle Readers read the transcript of the thing – assuming you didn’t torture yourself with the live rendition, that is – and form your own conclusions. I doubt they’ll vary much from mine as expressed here.
Joe Biden is currently the Vice-President because that pesky Constitution says we've got to have one, so the Democrats decided to give the job to him. Since then, he's been pretty much the model for the kind of role Daniel Webster had in mind when, declining the office, he declared that "I do not propose to be buried, sir, until I am dead". Which, to be fair to Biden, is pretty much the level of participation that anyone else would have had, being #2 man in the Obama White House. And, to be fair to Obama, is about the level of participation that Biden's skills warrant.
ReplyDeleteMitt Romney picking Paul Ryan feels more like Bush/Cheney to me. When Mr. Ryan moves into the Naval Observatory, it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that he's going to be actively involved in shaping and pushing policy. Hell, he's _already_ shown that, even as a pretty junior member of the House.
Say what you will about Romney's squishy policy preferences...the man obviously and demonstrably has a talent for picking good people to work with.
I think there's a decent argument that Biden was successful. There really is no way to "win" an VP debate, as it is a useless show to begin with - the rank and file know that the VP position is basically ceremonial and could care less what is said in the debate.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing a VP candidate can do is lose in the debate. If they come across as stupid, unprepared, etc., they'll get damaged. Ryan easily beat Biden on the issues, but Biden simply dismissed him. Thus, Ryan may have been damaged. Plus, he kind of looked cowardly. Biden's contemptuous behavior was basically an open challenge to Ryan to get in to a (rhetorical) knife fight, and Ryan didn't engage.
In the end, it won't really matter much, since it is only the VP debate, and no one outside political junkies cares.
I didn'think Ryan looked cowardly as much as Smirky Malarkey McSmirk looked desperate to seem superior and patronising. Almost as if he had a gun to his head which would fire if the smirking got too slow. Creepy performance. mara
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