Alright, I’m in full political crack monkey mode from here on till the election, so I’ll be the one to throw up the instant reactions thread.
My take: This was not the total blowout that the first presidential debate was. Ryan was calm and professional the entire time. Biden brought his Cerberus-style split personality, one head Cheshire Cat, the other head rabid attack dog. He called Ryan a liar in the very first exchange and kept it up all night, at one point even accusing the moderator of lying. Then, during the last fifteen minutes Biden meds ran out and he fell back on the gravely “I’m so concerned” voice for the rest of the debate.
Overall, I’d rate it a draw. I think partisan Democrats are mostly elated, since all they’ve wanted for the last week is to see someone interrupt a Republican and call him a liar, and Biden did indeed do that constantly. Republicans had nothing to cringe about in Ryan’s performance. Ryan remained cool and collected throughout and scored the one audience reaction line of the night in defusing Biden’s attempt to demagogue the 47% quote.
What Independents will have thought I honestly can’t say, though I see a CNN poll of undecided voters called it for Ryan by a 48 to 44 margin. My guess is, this does nothing to help Obama claw back from his collapse with the ordinary voting public, but it does help the Dem campaign by soothing the utter panic which has gripped much of the left over the last week. I’d guess we’ll see basically consistent poll numbers (between a tie and Romney up one) for the next week until the next Presidential debate. Then we’ll see. The big problem for Obama is that the next debate is strictly foreign policy and the one after that is a town hall meeting, so he never gets to imitate Biden’s mad dog routine on domestic policy.
CNN/ORC POLL October 3 DEBATE WATCHERS Who Was More In Touch With Problems of People Like You? Ryan 51%, Biden 44%
CNN/ORC POLL October 3 DEBATE WATCHERS Who Was More Likeable? Ryan 53% Biden 43%
I thought Ryan played it perfectly. He let the crazy old man keep interrupting, and he never lost his cool. He got off a few zingers, but let Biden basically beat himself.
That said, I think the Veep debate will have next to no bearing on the election. It was a mild diversion that people will chuckle over, but it really won’t sway too many people one way or the other.
I can’t think of any Veep debate that has made any difference, and I doubt if this one was any different. I do think that the Democrats were praying for a win and laughing hyena Biden was unable to deliver.
Can’t see that Biden proved himself qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.
As Darwin wrote, “I think partisan Democrats are mostly elated, since all they’ve wanted for the last week is to see someone interrupt a Republican and call him a liar, and Biden did indeed do that constantly.” I would have liked liked them to feel humiliated and defeated. Ryan may have won the debate, but the liberals I know won’t be made to feel that way. To them, the laughing hyena behavior is victory.
“To them, the laughing hyena behavior is victory.”
Which is a sad commentary on them. Serious times call for serious people. That grinning buffoon we saw last night is not a serious person.
Did not watch the debate, but from your reactions it sounds like the reverse, but lesser version of the expectations/performance of the Pres debate. Seems most people expected Ryan to mop the floor with Uncle Joe, but Uncle Joe did not do as badly as anticipated, while Ryan did not do quite as well as hoped.
Yes, from the Dem point of view, that has to be taken as a victory. Maybe Uncle Joe can pinch-debate for the O next round?
Who could continue watching this debate with Biden acting like a buffoon & interrupting Ryan 82 times & the moderator did nothing about it. Who would want Biden as president after watching this? I have to hand it to Ryan as he remained respectable throughout the debate. Fact checking is showing Biden lied throughout the debate.