I knew this would be an ugly one simply because of Joe Biden being there. I also expected the moderator to assist him in attacking Paul Ryan. So no surprises there.
What I did not expect was Biden to be arrogant enough to attack the moderator a couple of times. Despite that, Raddatz continued to help him out like an abused wife who won’t give up on the marriage.
Biden is a pathological and smooth liar who came into the debate with a clear agenda – rally the base with red meat. He succeeded very well, in my opinion. His facial expressions and nastiness will not play well outside that group. It tells me the campaign strategy is purely base rallying now.
Ryan did not do as well as many on the right thought he would. But he scored some serious blows that caused Biden to meltdown a couple of times. It is pretty clear that the campaign goal here is to be steady and appeal to a broader spectrum of voters.
I am not sure if this debate made a difference one way or another. Part of me thinks Biden breathed new life into demoralized Democrats. Part of me thinks Ryan may have won over more undecided moderates and independents.
And part of me has always wondered what difference VP debates make to anyone other than political wonks.
Ryan finished strong, but what a messy debate in total. Biden will not have done well with devout Catholics with the theological gymnastics at the end.
The only clear loser I see was Raddatz, who did an abysmal job. Anybody who complained about Jim Lehrer should take a second look at how he handled things. Man the questions at the end were puff piece interviewer pieces rather than needed debate topics.
We’ll see if this debate makes any difference with the voters.
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