Biden, Ryan exchange ideas, insults in only VP debate

DANVILLE, Ky - If you were done watching Major League Baseball and bored watching the Tennessee Titans, Vice President Joe Biden and Republican Vice Presidential pick Paul Ryan didn't disappoint.

During their only 90-minute debate a Centre College Thursday, each candidate hurled insults, smirks, and smiles while debating foreign policy and domestic spending. But perhaps the bigger story of the night was how aggressive Biden was when answering Ryan's criticism of the Obama Administration.

Vice President Joe Biden (left), ABC's Martha Radditz, and Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan. Photo: AP

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Biden labeled Ryan's version of the events in Libya as "a bunch of malarkey." He also smiled and frequently interrupted Ryan throughout most of the debate - leaving conservatives fuming, liberals cheering, and pundits wondering whether it would help or hurt their re-election campaign.

But perhaps the biggest thing Biden pulled off was that he would not allow anything charge from Ryan to left unchallenged - something that was lacking during the first debate between President Barack Obama and Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney.

"Facts matter," he said.

At the same time, Ryan kept his cool responding to Biden and answering questions from ABC's Martha Radditz, the debate's moderator. Later, Ryan told Biden that he was not only "under duress to make up for lost ground" from last week's debate performance from Obama. He lectured Biden that people would become better informed from the issues without interrupting each other and then zinged him.

"Sometimes the words don't come out of your mouth the right way," Ryan said.

On Twitter, Facebook, and television, pundits called this a tie for both candidates heading into next presidential debate on Tuesday.

Other observations:
- Biden is 69 while Ryan is 42. It's the largest age gap between vice presidential candidates in an election year, according to NBC's Brian Williams.
- Like Obama, Biden wore a blue tie while Ryan sported a red tie like Romney.
- Biden sat on the right side of the debate table while Ryan sat on the left. Romney sat on the right side during the first debate and showed passion and energy against Obama, who lacked passion and attempted to play it safe like Ryan.

Frowning and scowling a popular theme for incumbents

As I was driving to and from work today, I reflected on President Barack Obama's performance (or lack thereof) against Mitt Romney, his Republican challenger for the White House.

Specifically, it was Obama's facial expressions and overall tone not only with Romney, but with PBS' Jim Lehrer, the debate's moderator. Obama looked annoyed, perturbed, and snippy - which took away that cool, crisp, poised person we've grown accustomed to since he took that national stage at the 2004 Democractic National Convention. And a big thing that's helped Obama is the use of teleprompters on the campaign trail and his time in the White House.

Mitt Romney and President Obama in the first debate Wednesday.

But then I remembered another president who faced similar challenges in his first debate with a challenger. It was none other than George W. Bush, who ran for re-election in 2004 against John Kerry, his Democratic rival.

Like Obama, Bush was ahead in the polls and had enough support heading into the first debate that would coast him to another term. And like Romney, Kerry's biggest campaign flaw is that he flip-flopped the issues.

But during their first debate on September 30, 2004, Kerry successfully hit Bush on economic and foreign policy measures. Instead of offering tactful responses, Bush stumbled with his responses and occasionally flashed a scowled toward his opponent.

Let's face it. It's tough running for re-election when you're President of the United States and the economy is in the tank. It's worse when your supporters and members of the press are expecting you to mop the floor with your challenger during the debate - only it sets you up for failure.

John Kerry and President Bush at their first debate Sept. 30, 2004

And if Obama didn't seem with it or too cautious, it's because he was. While listening to National Public Radio on the drive home Wednesday, national correspondent Mara Liasson touched on the high expectations of both candidates - with Romney needing a strong performance and Obama having a lot of debate ammo with Bain Capital and "the 47 percent."

But then she played an interesting soundbite of Obama sounding less charismatic while downplaying the upcoming debate. It then got me thinking if Obama would just take it easy instead of forcefully going after his opponent and Republicans in Congress.

It turns out Obama struggled against Romney's attacks on national television and allowed himself to get zinged not once, but twice.

As I said Wednesday, this isn't the end of the election and Obama still has time to rebound from this. Only now he has to prove that Romney's performance was not only a fluke, but that Romney presented half-truths and lies about his policies - something fact checkers pointed out Thursday morning.


Whatever happens, I just hope Big Bird doesn't become the trending topic on Twitter.

Romney strong in first debate; Obama too cautious

DENVER -Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney came out swinging like a challenger taking on a boxing champion Wednesday night.

And a lot of his hits against President Barack Obama stung - knocking the incumbent off his game and leaving him to struggle with explanations and defenses on Obamacare, the economy, and Medicare, among other topics.

Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama

After enduring weeks of negative headlines and doubts from Republican and conservative activists, Romney may have given them some hope about defeating Obama Nov. 3. NBC Political Director Chuck Todd opined that Romney came off as someone who knew details of his plan. Romney even zinged Obama by saying, "Mr. President, you're entitled to your own airplane and your own house, but not your own facts."

Obama, meanwhile, struggled to reiterate why his health care plan was beneficial to Americans. He also did a poor job playing to the camera while addressing viewers and rarely addressed Romney while responding - unless it was to give him a look of annoyance.

But the biggest surprise was that Obama didn't address Romney's comment about 47 percent of Americans who are victims dependent on government - the very comment that led to the negative headlines.

Overall, this debate was interesting - although both candidates were a bit long-winded at times with truths, half-truths, and lies. It didn't help that Big Bird and the debate's moderator, Jim Lehrer, are sure to become popular headlines than the candidates' plans for the country.

Romney said he would cut funding to programs such as Public Broadcasting Service despite his love for Big Bird and Lehrer himself.

Lehrer, meanwhile, lost control of the debate and struggled to keep the candidates on topic and to wait their turn to speak. Most notably, Romney wouldn't allow Lehrer to interject when his time was up or while Obama was responding to a question. Heck, even Obama got a little snippy with Lehrer, at one point saying, "I had five seconds until you interrupted me."

The good news for Obama and Democrats is that they have time to rebound before their next debate Oct. 16 at Hofstra University in New York. And as gaffe-prone as Vice President Joe Biden is, he knows how to debate and will be able to debate effectively against Paul Ryan, Romney's VP pick on Oct. 11.

I'll be writing thoughts and analysis about these debates and other news topics from now until Nov. 4. All arguments and opinions are encouraged.