Who Won the VP Debate: Joe Biden Thoroughly Crushes Paul Ryan, Martha Raddatz Impresses

So let's get one thing straight: Joe Biden won that debate. 

Yeah, you can argue he was irreverent and interrupted too much. But Ryan, on a number of occasions, decided to play games with the truth, and unlike Obama, Biden wasn't going to sit back and let that happen. When Ryan was confronted, he became flustered. He couldn't come up with specifics, while Biden could. Biden was confident, articulate, played to the crowd (quite literally, staring into the camera and beseeching the electorate at least twice), and brought the battle back to the contenders. He hit the talking points that Obama failed to, and pointed out the divisive elements of Republican policies that Romney successfully hid in his last debate, and Ryan was attempting to conceal in this one. Biden didn't give him any slack on his "malarkey" or "stuff." (Definitely not the S-word Biden was implying there.) Biden didn't just hold his own, which was assumed by many to be the best case scenario. He slaughtered Ryan.

Also, she wasn't necessarily the co-MVP here, but Martha Raddatz did an exceptional job as moderator. She pressed the participants on specifics, asked tough questions, and when she was presented with the opportunity, asked relevant follow-up questions that led to a deeper understanding of the issues at hand. Can she please moderate the rest of the debates? Pretty please?

As for Ryan, he'll lick his wounds and wait to see how the rest of the debates play out. Offhand, it seems Biden's managed to halt Romney's momentum coming out of the first presidential debate. I doubt it'll generate much momentum for Obama, but it's still a setback for the Republicans. Still, Romney will have a chance to regain that momentum over the next two debates, and he's proven he's more than capable. This isn't over, and it might have just gotten uglier. Which is just another way of saying things got a lot more interesting.

For a complete run-down on how it went on VP debate night, check out George Shunick's blog.