Thursday, October 11, 2012

VP Debate Winner

Disclaimer:
Due to prior engagements, I was unable to catch the entire debate between Vice President Joe Biden and Congressman Paul Ryan.  I tuned in at around 8:45 pm. That means I saw about half of it. I will review what I saw, and not speculate on the rest. Maybe I'll come back and do a post-edit when I see the entire debate.


Taxes
Ryan has the facts on his side. His problem is delivery.  Biden looks engaged and in control of the debate. Ryan sounds a bit like the whiny kid who isn't getting his way. Ryan looks like that super-skinny nerdy kid who likely got his lunch money stolen a few times.

Winner: VP Joe Biden


Bringing the Military home
Both candidates in favor of a deadline. Only difference is that Ryan doesn't want to broadcast that date, and Biden is OK with it. Still, Ryan just sounds whiny, and Biden sounds very relaxed and in control.

Winner: VP Joe Biden 


Abortion
Both candidates said they personally were against abortion. Ryan inferred, but did not state outright, that he would make it illegal with a few exceptions. Biden said he would not force his opinion on others.

Winner: VP Joe Biden


Presence
Ryan was trying to be respectful and under control. He came across in the end as a bit too passive - almost Beta-male passive. "He was way too weak," said Mrs. Usagi. She was right. Wish Sarah Palin had been Ryan's coach.

Biden had a wealth of experience and it showed. Biden had far better energy than Obama did last week. I'd like to see Biden spar with Romney. That would make for a good debate. Biden avoided gaffes (rare for him) and brought a common man's feeling to the stage, which is his real strength. Some said he was smirking and laughing too much. I say he really looked like he felt underwhelmed with the lackluster presence of his opponent this evening.

Winner: VP Joe Biden


Zingers
Only one that I saw, and that the afterwards commentary on TV talked about: Biden's reference to Romney's "47%" comment, countered by Ryan's statement that Biden himself knows what it is like to have something come out of his mouth that was later to be regretted.

Winner: Congressman Paul Ryan


SOMSOM
"Stay On Message, Stay On Mission"
Both candidates were really good here. Really good. Biden took more ownership, and only referred to the President a few times. Ryan emphatically and continually referenced Romney. One might call that further Beta activity... but the clear strategy was to get the Romney name spoken more. Get that name in the minds of the voters, and they will vote for him.

Closing statements went clearly to Ryan, who summed up well. Biden seemed to ramble a bit. To be fair, there were not any accomplishments for him to hang his hat on.

Winner: Congressman Paul Ryan


Party Base
Biden is a Democrat's Democrat. He is not overly leftist as is Obama. He wears his heart on his sleeve - the very symbol of the bleeding heart notion.

Ryan is a step better than a Neocon, and certainly is not as leftist as Romney. In all fairness, I'd vote for this ticket if Ryan was the Presidential nominee and Romney the VP pick.

Ultimately, though, which debater winds up motivating? Biden with his "smirking" and laughing and being "disrespectful" to Ryan motivating conservatives to vote? Biden with his sincerity motivating liberals to vote? Ryan didn't motivate anything - one way or the other.

Winner: VP Joe Biden


Avoiding Liberalism
Both men successfully avoided sounding liberal. Neither man pinned liberalism effectively to the other. This is where Ryan failed (yet again). Biden is fairly liberal - albeit not as liberal as Obama or Romney. Ryan had a perfect opportunity to paint Biden or even Obama as overly liberal, and he ignored the opportunity. Biden wins by not getting painted as a liberal.

Winner: VP Joe Biden


Bias
Debate moderator Martha Raddatz was clearly liberal, and would jump to interrupt Ryan and allow Biden to do as he wished. It was way worse than the Presidential debate last week.

It was bad. Really... REALLY bad. I mean that it was BAD!


Conclusion
Four years ago, I watched Sarah Palin spar with Joe Biden. She more than held her own against a seasoned debater, and I feel (and most people felt) she won hands down. Not this time. Biden tore Ryan apart as bad as Cheney tore Edwards apart in 2004. 

Debate Winner: JOE BIDEN


Parting Shots
There was a clear winner here: Joe Biden.
There was another winner here: Judge Jim Gray, the Libertarian candidate for VP, who was not invited. Romney and Obama are terribly frightened of letting Gary Johnson and Jim Grey get any air time. The leftist media is going right along with them, as they will get a liberal in office with either a Romney win or an Obama win.

Oh, and now how good does Sarah Palin look?
Best candidate for Pres or VP since the 1980's.

Post-edit:
Different questions:
Which man do you want to be one heartbeat away from being President? Easy: Ryan. 
Which man had facts in his corner? Ryan
.
Ryan just came across a bit like Ron Paul. Ugh.

Which man do I agree with more on principle: Ryan.
Will this sway anybody? Probably not.

Obama should have been taking notes, though. Most notably on how to debate.
Can't learn that on a teleprompter.


Gary Johnson 2012.


.

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