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Biden was a bit overzealous at times, but it was clearly out of frustration from debating a man who doesn't know what the hell he's talking about. Even the moderator was calling Ryan out for not giving any kind of specifics, and justifiably so, because the questions were asked more than once and he dodged an actual answer multiple times.
He can't keep himself composed for 90 minutes? You can think your opponent is lying or deceptive and still...keep calm and debate him with the facts. Crying about extra time didn't look professional. That's the problem with Biden's performance...it lacked consistent professonalism for prime time.
Obama kept himself composed. Look how that went.
Biden fought. That's what the Democrats need.
I wouldn't say that Biden owned Ryan when it came to discussing Benghazi. Ryan was very much on top of that argument, with Biden's claims that Ryan was lying about the State Dept. screwing up and admitting being THE lie (and on the day of the hearings no less!). The Obama campaign has since released a statement saying that what Biden meant was that he and Pres. Obama were not informed (i.e., whoops, he screwed up a bit there).My belated thoughts for the forum:
I think Biden slapped Ryan around for the first 60 minutes between Ryan's inability to give a single specific after being prodded repeatedly by the moderator and his opponent, being called out on begging for stimulus money and weakly responding, "that's what we do" in Congress, being called out on empty saber-rattling on Iran and being lumped in with voting for the deficit-exploding wars and tax cuts under Bush as well as supporting attempts to privatize Social Security.
All that said, those who leaned right saw Ryan withstand most of these attacks well enough--even though I think he loses the debate for being able to strongly fight, he didn't look absent-minded or just weakly absent like Obama did a week ago--and can shrug it off as a victory. Biden won the debate, but only by a ledge because while Ryan could barely refute many of Joe's claims and Joe shot down most of his lies, he did so with confidence and calm.
For that reason, and the general fact that few vote on the VP candidate, this will not move the needle. It may help Obama not lose more support, but to gain some back he will have to do it himself next week.
That disclaimer needs to be on more polls. Hence why I'm always suspect of them in general. They're rarely upfront about how many Republicans they poll compared to Democrats.
I wouldn't say that Biden owned Ryan when it came to discussing Benghazi. Ryan was very much on top of that argument, with Biden's claims that Ryan was lying about the State Dept. screwing up and admitting being THE lie (and on the day of the hearings no less!). The Obama campaign has since released a statement saying that what Biden meant was that he and Pres. Obama were not informed (i.e., whoops, he screwed up a bit there).
This is a good point.Biden was acting like he didn't get equal time,but he kept cutting into Ryan's rebuttle time.He can't keep himself composed for 90 minutes? You can think your opponent is lying or deceptive and still...keep calm and debate him with the facts. Crying about extra time didn't look professional. That's the problem with Biden's performance...it lacked consistent professonalism for prime time.
It could be argued that if Biden didn't interrupt Ryan, Ryan would have taken away a lot of time from Biden.This is a good point.Biden was acting like he didn't get equal time,but he kept cutting into Ryan's rebuttle time.
I wouldn't say that Biden owned Ryan when it came to discussing Benghazi. Ryan was very much on top of that argument, with Biden's claims that Ryan was lying about the State Dept. screwing up and admitting being THE lie (and on the day of the hearings no less!). The Obama campaign has since released a statement saying that what Biden meant was that he and Pres. Obama were not informed (i.e., whoops, he screwed up a bit there).
Biden's "so you're Jack Kennedy" line was in bad taste too.What?Was he temporarily possessed by the spirit of Lloyd Benson?
See, Iran is unique in that I don't really think it's a wholly debatable topic. The "right" thing to do regarding that situation boils down to personal preference, meaning Attack Now vs. Let's Wait and See. Strong, legitimate arguments can be made for either side, but the fact remains: we really have no idea.True. I was talking more generally about the areas where I think Biden dominated (Iran, Medicare, Stimulus/Deficit/Debt) were in the first hour and maybe a little bit about Afghanistan at the end.
See, Iran is unique in that I don't really think it's a wholly debatable topic. The "right" thing to do regarding that situation boils down to personal preference, meaning Attack Now vs. Let's Wait and See. Strong, legitimate arguments can be made for either side, but the fact remains: we really have no idea.