Aftermath of the Vice Presidential Debate

By Douglas V. Gibbs

The opening question was regarding the disaster of Benghazi, and the moderator implied that the story given was a lie.  Biden called it a tragedy, and then went into Obama's "end of Iraq, and getting bin Laden."

Congressman Paul Ryan keyed in on the "it was a video" lie about Benghazi.  "If we are hit by terrorists, we are going to call it what it was, a terrorist attack."

He then brought up Biden's failure to secure an agreement, and then indicated we need to show strength abroad.

The liberal moderator then asked if Romney spoke too soon on the embassy attacks.  "It is never to soon to speak up on values."

Biden called Ryan's statements "a bunch of malarky," and then attacked Romney's statements on Benghazi
"before we even know the ambassador had been killed."

The moderator then surprised me, asking why the lie about protests at the embassy, and lack of security, went on by the Obama administration.

Biden played dumb, and said that the information they had was limited.

"No apologies" went against the moderator as Paul Ryan explained what was meant about not apologizing for our values.

Iran as a topic went to Ryan first, and he used a "peace through strength" angle, also indicating that sanctions against Iran was blocked by the Obama administration.

At this point it was becoming apparent that Ryan was getting more talk-time because he knows what he is talking about, and all the while Biden grinned, shook his head, and then asked Ryan, "Do you want to go to war?"

Ryan replied immediately, "We want to prevent war."

When pushed about Iran, Biden explained that the Ayatollah is worried about their economy, and then argued that Iran is not pursuing a nuclear weapon after Ryan. The war of words was over whether or not the sanctions are stiff enough.

Unemployment rate: Biden went through the history of Obama's presidency, implying "it was Bush's fault".  He then went into a "social justice" pitch. Biden began to get back the "talk-time" edge, while claiming republicans need to take back responsibility for taking care of those in trouble.

Ryan, in response, detailed the facts, our economy is going in the wrong direction, and Biden laughed and interrupted, desperate to stop whatever Ryan was saying - trying to act like Ryan was the amateur, until Ryan nailed Biden with his habit to stick his foot in his mouth.

Biden then went into the "we are for the 47% pitch," and claimed the GOP doesn't care about people. Obama, he said, saved GM, and Romney would have let them fail.

Ryan hit Biden with an accusation of cronyism, but Biden denied that any investigation ever revealed cronyism. "Where are the 5 million green jobs?" said Ryan.

Biden had no answer.

When they tackled medicare and social security, Ryan talked about saving the programs through reform, and brought up that Obamacare would take $716 billion from medicare. Without reform, those programs will fail. Ryan said that the democrats have put nothing on the table to save them.

Biden claimed Romney and Ryan want to wipe out the programs, while the Obama administration will save them.

Something I reminded myself at this point is that the democrats already have in their mind who the republicans are, even though it is wrong, and Biden was speaking from that democrat-created view of the GOP.

Something else I noticed was that Ryan's points were always calm and detailed, while Biden's were rants, tirades, and personal attacks.

As Biden spoke, Ryan always respectfully listened, but Biden interrupted Ryan continuously.

Then the privatization of these programs became the topic, and Biden swore they would have no part in that.   Ryan explained that this plan is for the younger crowd. While Biden called it a way of life, Ryan called it a supplement.

The moderator went to taxes. Who will pay more, or less?

A million dollars and more pay more, according to Biden.  Less taxes for middle class. GOP, he said, holding hostage middle class tax cut for tax cut for wealthy.

Ryan's response: Government is taking enough, we don't need to take more. Tax all you want, there is not enough people to tax to pay for all of the democrat's spending.  Taxing small business income kills job creation. Lower tax rates across the board. Don't raise the deficit, don't raise taxes on middle class, don't raise the share paid by successful.

The banter on military cuts was as expected.

Afghanistan was the same. Ryan: don't lose the gains we've gotten. But "we don't want to stay. . . want all of our troops to come home successfully and safely. We don't want to go beyond 2014. But don't broadcast to our enemies an exact time or date.

Biden: We are leaving in 2014, period.

Moderator: Is Taliban taking advantage of this timeline?

Great question.

Biden: Their responsibility. Step up. We are leaving Afghanistan.

Then laughing Biden stopped, and angry Biden stepped in.

Ryan argued that the Obama administration was pulling out troops during the fighting season, rather than waiting until winter when the fighting season ended.

Biden countered that trained Afghanis replaced American troops that were pulled. "It's the Afghan responsibility. We are sending more Afghans in to do the job."

The moderator asked about why Libya was a smart move to stop the massacre, but Syria wasn't?

Biden: Different country, more dangerous to make that move, and in a volatile region.

Ryan: No one is proposing to send troops to Syria? /We shouldn't be calling Assad a reformer. Work through our allies.

When a came to religion, Ryan stated you can't separate your public life from your faith, but when it came to abortion, it's about science, too. "I believe life begins at conception." Policy is to oppose abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and danger to the mother.  He then talked about how the democrats are imposing on religious liberties.

Biden indicated he believes life begins at conception, but he won't impose that on everyone else. He then defended the accusation that the contraception mandate forced religions to provide contraception.

While Ryan continued to defend life, Biden brought into the argument that the next President will be appointing a Supreme Court justice or two.  Roe v. Wade is that close. . .

Final question was about the nasty attack ads, a question posed by a decorated war veteran.

Biden went into social justice, and Ryan went into thanking our veterans, and then into economic issues.

"Leaders," said Ryan, "run to problems to fix problems. . . with this administration we get speeches."

The distinction of their ideologies was stark, and Biden's bumbling spoke volumes.

Ryan won this one, and rather than just foolish, Biden looked like an angry old man with little to offer.