Last night, the Vice Presidential debate was held and one thing was clear from the start: Joe Biden came to play and more importantly, came to win. Within the first 15 minutes, the Vice President lambasted Paul Ryan over a range of subjects, including (but not limited to), Ryan's running mate's no infamous 47% comment, the thinly failed attempt to gut medicare, and the reasons the tax plan advocated by Mitt and company wouldn't work.
From an objective standpoint, Ryan did manage to not get flustered by the V.P. But the haymaker that Biden "cleared the beach" with was his allusion to the fact that Ryan took money from the very stimulus he has been criticizing on the campaign trail.
Ryan's feeble excuse was that this was all a part of "constituent service." Ryan tried to turn things around by saying that unemployment was higher in Scranton than when the current administration took office. But Biden wasn't biting and he immediately jumped on Ryan and Romney for distorting the facts by trying to dismiss the figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
On foreign policy, Ryan tried to say that the tragic death of American diplomats last month in Libya was the result of poor embassy security on the part of the State Department, and thus the Administration. But Biden was quick to point out that the failure of security was directly tied to the refusal of House Republicans, including Ryan, to grant the White House's request for additional embassy security funding. One thing curiously omitted by both parties was that the facility in Benghazi was actually a Consulate and not an embassy, which in general have lighter security. Nevertheless, Biden derided the response of the Romney campaign and in particular, Romney's attempt to politicize the event without having all the facts.
As to moderation, Martha Raddatz proved very adept at asking the question and then following up questions when she wasn't happy with the answers. Particularly, she held Ryan to the pledge that the tax plan advocated by Romney is workable.
In sum, Democrats were re-energized by Biden's performance and this will likely stop the momentum of Romney and his campaign in the wake of last week's debate.
As to reaction's, Republicans this morning feel that Biden's style was undignified. But when you're bitching about style as opposed to questioning substance, you can be pretty sure you lost.
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From an objective standpoint, Ryan did manage to not get flustered by the V.P. But the haymaker that Biden "cleared the beach" with was his allusion to the fact that Ryan took money from the very stimulus he has been criticizing on the campaign trail.
Ryan's feeble excuse was that this was all a part of "constituent service." Ryan tried to turn things around by saying that unemployment was higher in Scranton than when the current administration took office. But Biden wasn't biting and he immediately jumped on Ryan and Romney for distorting the facts by trying to dismiss the figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
On foreign policy, Ryan tried to say that the tragic death of American diplomats last month in Libya was the result of poor embassy security on the part of the State Department, and thus the Administration. But Biden was quick to point out that the failure of security was directly tied to the refusal of House Republicans, including Ryan, to grant the White House's request for additional embassy security funding. One thing curiously omitted by both parties was that the facility in Benghazi was actually a Consulate and not an embassy, which in general have lighter security. Nevertheless, Biden derided the response of the Romney campaign and in particular, Romney's attempt to politicize the event without having all the facts.
As to moderation, Martha Raddatz proved very adept at asking the question and then following up questions when she wasn't happy with the answers. Particularly, she held Ryan to the pledge that the tax plan advocated by Romney is workable.
In sum, Democrats were re-energized by Biden's performance and this will likely stop the momentum of Romney and his campaign in the wake of last week's debate.
As to reaction's, Republicans this morning feel that Biden's style was undignified. But when you're bitching about style as opposed to questioning substance, you can be pretty sure you lost.
Got a comment? List it here.
Edit: I've turned of mderation on all comments except for posts I've made that are more than 30 days old.
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