The Veepstakes
Well, it's in the books. The vice-presidential debate is history, and as I predicted last week, we got a debate that was certainly more spirited than the first presidential debate. Historically, the vice-presidential candidate is supposed to be the attack dog for the presidential candidate. Vice-president Biden certainly approached the debate with that in mind, while Paul Ryan needed to come off as vice-presidential caliber, and had to be somewhat more restrained. That having been said, I felt that both candidates came off exactly the way they intended to this evening.
There were moments where both candidates were good. Ryan did well early on when discussing Libya and taxes. The entire debate he knew his facts pretty well backwards and forwards, and pretty much everyone forecasting the debate agreed that this would be the case. The question was, which Joe Biden would show up? Well, we got fiery orator Joe, and he excelled when talking about Afghanistan and the effect his religion has had on his life.
But Biden suffered from a problem in this debate, and my wife and I picked it up immediately. Joe smirked, smiled, laughed, guffawed, and pretty much disdained everything Ryan said or did from start to finish. And not in a good way. He was simply disrespectful to his opponent the entire time. Martha Raddatz did little to control Biden, while she stopped Ryan in several places. I believe I predicted that this would happen in the wake of the debate led by Jim Lehrer last week.
Best comment I heard during the post-debate analysis was how if you heard the debate on radio, Biden probably "won," while if you watched it on television, Ryan was the likely victor. It made me think of how everyone has analyzed the Nixon-Kennedy debates all these years. Vice-president Biden's smug, haughty, smiling, giggling demeanor made me think of The Joker very early on. It certainly was not pleasing to watch. Just like Obama, he seemed as if he was "too good for the room," and was certainly far beyond the relatively younger Ryan, while Ryan held his composure and acted more respectful of his opponent and the process the entire evening.
All things considered, I rate this debate as a Draw. Most people don't vote on vice-presidential candidates anyway. The only real thing this does is set the tone for the next presidential debate 6 days away. If there is any small advantage to be gained, it may be by Paul Ryan in his home state of Wisconsin. If he can move the needle even slightly in favor of Governor Romney, it may make a win in Wisconsin possible for the Republicans. We shall have to wait and see poll results come in for that one.
One prediction, though: Tomorrow we will start seeing attack ads based on the Joe Biden line from the debate: "I always say what I mean," combined with his comments insisting he was trying to raise taxes $1 trillion from a week or so ago. Any takers?
There were moments where both candidates were good. Ryan did well early on when discussing Libya and taxes. The entire debate he knew his facts pretty well backwards and forwards, and pretty much everyone forecasting the debate agreed that this would be the case. The question was, which Joe Biden would show up? Well, we got fiery orator Joe, and he excelled when talking about Afghanistan and the effect his religion has had on his life.
But Biden suffered from a problem in this debate, and my wife and I picked it up immediately. Joe smirked, smiled, laughed, guffawed, and pretty much disdained everything Ryan said or did from start to finish. And not in a good way. He was simply disrespectful to his opponent the entire time. Martha Raddatz did little to control Biden, while she stopped Ryan in several places. I believe I predicted that this would happen in the wake of the debate led by Jim Lehrer last week.
Best comment I heard during the post-debate analysis was how if you heard the debate on radio, Biden probably "won," while if you watched it on television, Ryan was the likely victor. It made me think of how everyone has analyzed the Nixon-Kennedy debates all these years. Vice-president Biden's smug, haughty, smiling, giggling demeanor made me think of The Joker very early on. It certainly was not pleasing to watch. Just like Obama, he seemed as if he was "too good for the room," and was certainly far beyond the relatively younger Ryan, while Ryan held his composure and acted more respectful of his opponent and the process the entire evening.
All things considered, I rate this debate as a Draw. Most people don't vote on vice-presidential candidates anyway. The only real thing this does is set the tone for the next presidential debate 6 days away. If there is any small advantage to be gained, it may be by Paul Ryan in his home state of Wisconsin. If he can move the needle even slightly in favor of Governor Romney, it may make a win in Wisconsin possible for the Republicans. We shall have to wait and see poll results come in for that one.
One prediction, though: Tomorrow we will start seeing attack ads based on the Joe Biden line from the debate: "I always say what I mean," combined with his comments insisting he was trying to raise taxes $1 trillion from a week or so ago. Any takers?