Who Won VP Debate: Paul Ryan Wins, Joe Biden Provides No Vision for Jobs, Growth, or the Economy

For political junkies, Thursday is once again "must see TV." At 9:00 p.m., Joe Biden and Paul Ryan will square off in a much anticipated debate in Danville, Kentucky. The debate became all the more important after President Obama's poor debate performance last week. Following the convention, polls suggested the president was pulling away from the Republican contender, Mitt Romney. Had Romney stumbled in the debate, the race may have been over. But that didn't happen. Instead, Romney took Obama to the wood shed and the polls have changed dramatically in the Republican's favor.

President Obama was criticized for being lethargic and non-combattive at the Denver debate. You can bet Joe Biden will go to the other extreme on Thursday night. He will surely come out swinging against Paul Ryan. This may set the stage for a patented Bidenism. When Biden becomes overly zealous, he is prone to gaffes. The vice president has had so many over the years, that it hardly raises an eyebrow anymore. It's simply chalked up as "Joe being Joe."

Since Ryan was named as Romney's running mate, conservatives have been licking their chops waiting for this debate. The representative from Wisconsin is a sharp policy wonk, who can debate fiscal policy with anyone. He has an ability to discuss complex budgetary issues in a plain manner.

When it comes to foreign policy, Ryan is less versed, while Biden touts himself as a foreign policy expert. However, Biden has been on the wrong side of history too many times to count.

The stage is set for a riveting night of politics. Will Biden stop the bleeding, or will the Republicans continue their momentum heading into election day? 

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.

In sum- Biden just had 90 minutes to tell us about what a second term would look like.  What did you hear? Anything about jobs, growth, the coming debt tsunami? No, no, and no.

10:32- Shocker of the night, Biden talks about what he "inherited" when he took office. 

10:31- Closing statement from the Grinner. Again, not one word about what they plan to do in a second term to help the economy move forward. 

10:28 Joe "Whatever I say, I mean".  Last week he told us they plan to raise taxes by a trillion over the next ten years.  That ought to really get the economy humming!  He also told us that the middle class has been buried over the past 4 years.  Joe, weren't you the VP over that term? 

10:27 Gotta love how Biden and Democrats view "cuts". Ryan plans to grow gov't by 3% per year.  Because the Democrats want 4.5%, that's considered a cut. 

10:25- Five minutes to go.  I still haven't heard one word out of ole grinning Joe about how they plan to get the economy moving in a second term.  Not one word. 

10:23- Biden we need to ask the wealthy to pay something.  I guess the top 10% paying 70% of the total income tax revenue is nothing. 

10:20- Biden misrepresents reality of Roe v. Wade.  Even if it were overturned, the issue would simply return to the states, where elected representatives would make the determination as opposed to judges appointed for life. 

10:18- So Biden believes life begins at conception, but won't come between a woman and her choice to destroy that life.  Does he have a problem prohibiting one human being from killing another? 

10:17- Ryan gives a good explanation of his Catholic faith and its relation to his abortion policies.  

10:14- Glad to hear Ryan say he would only commit troops in the interest of national security, as opposed to humanitarian reasons. We can't be the world's policeman. 

10:12  Here's a better idea- Let's just stay out of it all together. 

10:08- Sect. Gates acknowledged we had no vital national interest in Libya.  Bombs away nonetheless.  Without congressional consent I might add, in violation of the War Powers Act. Maybe if these people were fighting Qaddafi today, they wouldn't have time to kill our Ambassador. 

10:07- On to Libya- Obama wanted to send troops to Libya to "prevent slaughter".  For some reason the same logic didn't hold when stopping Hussein from filling up mass graves in Iraq. 

10:03- On to Afghanistan. 

9:59- Obama extended the Bush tax cuts in 2011 because he determined the economy was too weak to raise taxes.  Is it any better today?  GDP growth has fallen since then. 

9:52- Enrst & Young found that Obama's plan to raise taxes on the wealthy will cost 710,000 jobs in 2013.  http://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/washingtonbureau/2012/07/17/study-raising-taxes-on-wealthy-would.html?page=all

9:50- On to taxes- Obama wants to raise taxes on the "wealthy", i.e. those making more than $250k.  How's that going to help GDP growth and unemployment?

9:48  Here's why we have to address Medicare:

9:41What is the Obama plan for Medicare/Social Security? Nada.  It's far better to have the political issue going forward. Just kick the can down the road. 

9:38 Biden "Imagine where you would be if your social security money was in the market."  Hmm.  Hasn't the market nearly doubled in the last few years. Does anyone think you would get a better return on your investment in Social Security vs. the private sector over 40 years?

9:37  Biden cites the AARP, as though they're non-partisan. 

9:33  How many of you work in the green jobs industry?

9:30- Biden- They would have let GM go bankrupt. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/02/business/02auto.html?_r=0 

GM did declare bankruptcy!   

9:27  The best line of the night.  Ryan tells Biden he should know that not everything that comes out of our mouth is well put. 

9:26 Biden just snickers as Ryan says exactly what the graph below shows. Anemic growth. 

9:25- Biden drops the 47% bomb.  He's been chomping at the bit to get that out. 

9:21- Here's Obama chumming around with Barbara Walters and the gang on the View. He didn't have time to meet with Netanyahu that day.

9:17- Not sure Joe's constant grinning and bright white choppers is winning the day. 

9:13- Topic turns to Iran.

9:11- One problem with your story Joe, those who were being attacked in Bengazi were giving live reports to the State Department as it was happening.  They knew there was no mob protesting outside the embassy as the Adminstration told us for a week. 

9:10 Moderator not letting Biden off the hook on the movie/mob story line.

9:09- Embassy was unsafe b/c of GOP cuts, says Biden. What a laugher. Can these guys take responsibility for anything?

9:07- Ryan nails the Obama Admin for hiding the fact that attack on Bengazi was terrorism, not some movie related mob as we were told for days. 

9:03- Libya question right out of the box.

9:00- Here we go!

8:53- Almost time to "unchain" Biden!

8:47- This isn't what a recovery looks like.  The U6 Unemployment rate, which measures the percentage of Americans underemployed has been virtually flat for a year.

8:41- Something to think about tonight.  GDP growth this year has been tumbling, down to 1.3% in the second quarter.  What's the Obama/Biden plan to get the economy moving? All we heard from Obama last week was more gov't spending, higher taxes, and 100K new teachers.

8:35- Just 25 minutes to game time.  Follow along live right here.