VP Debate 2012 Results: Biden Trounces the GOP and Sends Ryan Packing
After a disappointing show from the president and an unanticipated energetic assault from Mitt Romney, the vice presidential debate will be the next forum where the two parties’ candidates are set to spar over policy and personality. Beginning at 9:00 pm Eastern time, Joe Biden and Paul Ryan will defend their presidential partners’ policies as well as debate their own platforms.
A quick recap of the previous debates events: Mitt Romney, to everybody’s surprise, quickly set the tone for the night by aggressively attacking Barack Obama’s record as well as his philosophy of government. Barack Obama, while clearly articulating his position and goals, displayed a lackluster attitude and seemed more importuned than angered by Romney’s effective sallies. What was more, Obama’s own swipes at the former governor of Massachusetts were quickly shrugged off by his opponent and the resulting counterattacks hit their mark each time. Romney, however, may have overstepped his bounds by misrepresenting certain facts as well as characterizing his own policies in ways unsupported by his campaign’s previous promises. Despite all that, Romney was the clear victor, with most major polls suggesting a healthy bump in his numbers among voters.
After the outcome of last week’s showdown, it is safe to assume that Joe Biden will be on the attack. While it was Obamacare that was under fire in the last debate, it will be Romneycare, or Ryancare, this time around. Given the drastic nature of Ryan's previous budget, with its plans for a healthcare overhaul, as well as Romney’s own vague plans for a healthcare system other than Obamacare, Biden will go straight for the jugular. What is more, Biden’s foreign policy experience is as extensive as his tenure in Congress, while Ryan’s own experience extends just as far as he has been on the campaign. It may seem that Ryan will be fighting an uphill battle, but then again, that was what was expected for Romney for the first debate. It may be Ryan, imbued with the energy and vigor the Romney campaign now exudes, who puts Biden’s back up against the wall ....
My blog will follow the debate, minute by minute, and will provide live commentary, analysis as well as crowd interviews. What's more, I will be posting live multimedia and observations from the venue. I look forward to you joining me at PolicyMic for the evening as well as sharing this historic moment.
The debate is scheduled to take place in the small town of Danville, Kentucky on October 11, Thursday evening.
PolicyMic will be covering the vice presidential debate live. For live updates, bookmark and refresh this page.
UPDATE: 10:37 pm CrowdMic: "Biden definitely won. He prepared, he needed to since Obama failed so badly during the last debate..."
10:33 pm Dear Paul Ryan: What are Mitt Romney's ideas for creating jobs? Please spell them out because we are waiting. Claiming markets will come to the rescue holds no water when it comes to a major recession...
10:30 pm CrowdMic: "What the hell is Biden talking about? What has he and Obama done for the middle class? Incomes are declining and Wall St is thriving...."
10:30 pm
10:27 pm Interesting point by Ryan... Woodward's new book illustrates the lack of leadership in the Obama Whitehouse, especially during the debt negotiations....
10:23 pm The problem with the abortion issue is that it is based on a belief (the point when life begins), not science.... that being the case, it is necessarily a personal philosophy, thus a personal choice...
10:17 pm Oh no, did she just go there? The crowd doesn't like this one... think I hear some booing...
10:11 pm Ryan has a huge opportunity here... Obama is weak on foreign policy, despite the general consenus (Libya is coming undone, Pakistan is being thrown into turmoil etc etc)... the problem is that Ryan does not have enough knowledge or experience to adequately deal with these issues
10:07 pm Pakistan on the brink... what we should be discussing...
10:02 pm The commitment to leaving Afghanistan in 2014 is a tall order, but Obama made good on his promise to withdraw from from Iraq... What people are not talking about right now, is the war in Pakistan. The drone attacks and raids in Pakistan have brought that country to the brink of collapse.... And Pakistan has nuclear weapons....
10:01 pm
9:58 pm What's interesting is how Ryan is talking about how cutting military spending weakens the military. He's right. But the logic behind it also means that cutting spending on the economy weakens the economy....
9:56 pm The classic Kennedy moment:
9:55 pm
9:49 pm The middle class tax cuts that Biden and Obama have been harping on, I suspect, is just politicking.... How are we going to pay for the deficit/debt? Sooner or later the middle class will shoulder this burden...
9:45 pm It's interesting how long the Ryan proposals have survived after having been debunked over and over again
9:38 pm A good breakdown of Ryan's proposed healtchare reforms
9:36 pm Housing Works Cafe!
9:35 pm Uh oh, back to healtchare, this is going to get ugly... will Biden bring up Ryan's voucher care proposal?
9:32 pm Ouch, Ryan's budget fairy tales are gonna kill him... his hometown has recovered because of stimulus funding... Biden prepared for this one
9:32 pm Ryan has a solid point, there has not been a sufficient recovery under the Obama administration.... but the alternative policies the Romney camp has been proposing are the same policies that led to this recession
9:30 pm Alright, alright... great story... but this isn't a book club meeting...
9:28 pm CrowdMic: "This is exactly what Obama should have been doing during the first debate..."
9:25 pm CrowdMic: "I didn't realize that Biden was such a showman, I'm loving it, this guy's hilarious"
9:24 pm The Iran situation is blown way out of proportion... The Ayatollahs are not suicidal, they know that if they get a nuke their country will be blown to smithereens by Israel and America... this whole issue is a way to grandstand.... Ryan is shooting himself in the foot by pursuing an unreasonable hard line on this issue...
9:21 pm BidenMic: "This is a bunch of stuff!" Classic
9:19 pm Dear Paul Ryan, whattya think of going to war with Iran? A third Republican war? Then again, apparently you can read the mind of the ayatollahs... guess we should trust you on this one....
9:17 pm CrowdMic: "I am French... so I only understand 50% of what is being said... but it seems like they don't like to answer any of the questions"
9:14 pm
9:12 pm Did Biden just say malarky? Ryan made a valiant attempt, but Biden just threw a heavy right hook, ouch.... the budget is Ryan's weakness, if Biden is smart he should keep landing his punches there...
9:08 pm Is this an attempt by Ryan to fix the tremendous gaffe originally made by Romney when the Benghazi attacks occured?
8:59 pm If the Obama team has learned from the first debate, then Biden will come out swinging. Ryan's supposed budget proposals and healthcare reforms have been debunked over and over again, even Romney has, to a certain extent, distanced himself from his own running mate's extreme positions. Taking advantage of this is free points for the Obama camp...
8:51 pm Some thoughts from the crowd... CrowdMic: "Biden will win tonight since he has a way better fitness program than Ryan and is so much hotter..."
8:47 pm Ok, so there has been a lot of speculation as to whether a vice presidential debate actually matters... Given the bump in Romney's polling numbers after the first debate, it seems that the debates have more of an effect on the public than pundits assumed. More importantly, a recent article in the WaPo reports that Romney's taken a seven point lead over Obama in Florida, a key swing state. If this report is accurate, then performance tonight could be much more important than is generally supposed. Why? Florida has a huge retired voter population.... Thus, Ryan's healthcare platform and Biden's defense of Obamacare could have a huge impact on this group's decisions at the polls.
8:41 pm
The Wonk vs the the Gaffe Master...
8:37 pm They are selling buckets of PBR, this should be a good night...
8:32 pm Live coverage of the vice presidential debate from the Housing Works Bookstore Cafe in the Lower East Side of Manhattan! The excitement in the room is palpable!
