Strictly on content, I thought it was a draw. Biden held his own and managed to get through the debate without saying anything supremely stupid. That’s a big accomplishment for Crazy Joe. I think much of what was debated is beyond the knowledge of low-information voters. But on likability and demeanor, which I think probably matters more to the low-information voters the campaigns are trying to reach now, Ryan came out ahead on that one. Biden was getting boorish, and I don’t think that comes off well to the voters the campaign needs to reach. However, I suspect the Dem base ate up Crazy Joe’s performance, so when it comes to getting morale back on track, I think Biden did a respectable job.
16 thoughts on “Debate Impressions”
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Ryan was the only one to get a laugh or significant reaction from the audience, IIRC, and it was at Biden’s expense.
Biden’s excuses about Benghazi were his low point, ludicrous in light of what has come out in the last weeks and at hearings the day before about requests for help, concerns about AQ, etc. While Biden’s story coincides with Susie Rice’s, I can’t see why he is pushing it.
Biden also pushed the “$5T tax cut for the wealthy” meme, which got blown away at least a week ago. Did he not get the memo? His boss keeps repeating it, so I guess he has to.
Biden’s Algorean antics didn’t work much, either. If his boss was “too polite”, Biden made up for that. Looked like a cranky old man with bowel difficulties.
Not the rout Obama suffered, but Ryan came out ahead, IMO.
Impressions?
I don’t think you can act stupid enough to do impressions of Biden!
;-)
As I said at my abode, I didn’t watch the debates. I watched the people watching the debates via Twitter. The left was in the throws of ECSTASY with Biden being rude and condescending. It’s a common thing for them, to consider any viewpoints not of their own as beneath contempt and thus, smirking and laughing through the whole thing was *exactly what they wanted*.
So in that regard, yes the base got a little fired up.
However, reading about CNN’s little “Love Meter” thing, Biden left everyone flat while Ryan seemed to charge everyone up, male or female. Of course, the people who were Tweeting the live feed of the CNN data (left, right, or Reason Contributed) all said it was like 75% Ryan / 25% Biden, but CNN said it was more 55 / 45, so….
Ryan made a few tactical errors, and really blundered with the “guy who lost his family in a car crash” story, considering Biden’s history. But he also came across as a gentleman, and as wanting to have a calm, respectful, and reasoned debate, whereas Biden came off as rude, boorish, and disrespectful, and willing to simply shout down his opponent anytime it looked like he might not come out ahead in an exchange.
From a content-only view, I think Biden came out just barely ahead, but from an overall viewpoint, Ryan squeaked ahead.
If there had been a real moderator, I think Ryan would have carried it without question, despite his few misses. Unfortunately, being a gentleman and following the normal rules of debate, plus the hostile/ineffective moderation, meant that Biden walked all over Ryan and made him look weak.
I heard Biden say he didn’t vote for either war, in Afghanistan and Iraq? My spider sense made me look that up. He voted to send in troops and approve the money to do so twice. That is a straight out lie.
I found Biden to be angry, then rude, then condescending in the first 45 minutes then he calmed down. But I found Ryan’s answer about the catholic church suing the government to be classic “Gotchya” !! I am bias, so I am saying that Ryan wins because he did not lose to a 40 year lifelong politicians and seasoned debater.
Yeah Dannytheman, he said that.
http://freebeacon.com/biden-claims-he-voted-against-afghanistan-iraq-wars/
Unfortunately Ryan didn’t call him on that during the debate so the aforementioned low-information voters won’t know.
Remember all the liberals saying Ryan disqualified himself by exaggerating his marathon run times? I bet a little thing like Biden lying about what countries he voted to go to war with won’t bother them one bit.
I talked to my mom at lunch who was watching with a low-information voter, and she said that the personality stuff stuck. She also mentioned, absent me presenting the idea to her first, that the low-information voter had to ask a ton of questions about what they were talking about since she doesn’t follow foreign policy very closely – like why on earth was Joe Biden going off about someone named “Bibi” while the question was asked about Benjamin Netanyahu.
Now, just because this person with my mom is someone that I would classify as a low-information voter doesn’t mean she’s up for grabs. She’s already voting Romney, but not because she’s a hardcore partisan. She’s in government work and is absolutely fed up with the way that Obama’s administration has basically opened up the floodgates for abuse of welfare programs. She’s tired of the waste and fraud, and she’s only seen it get worse during the last few years. So, that’s a take from a female low-information, pretty moderate, but already made up her mind for Romney voter in Virginia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCtemaHgjyA&feature=youtube_gdata_player – obtained via Megan McArdle, no friend of the GOP, who suggested this is what they should do.
“Biden was getting boorish, and I don’t think that comes off well to the voters the campaign needs to reach.”
On the other hand, the left seems to have an instant attraction to assholes, so they probably liked him.
I’m beginning to wonder: has the Obama campaign written off the undecided in favor of firing up their base? If they think Republican turn-out will be depressed this might not be a bad idea for them. I think they’re wrong, but…
Romney wasn’t exactly my first choice for GOP candidate (he was 4th) but good golly he is a huge step up from McCain.
And with the Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare a lot of the TEA Party people who don’t like Romney will still hold their noses and vote for him.
Romney still might not win, but this isn’t going to be anything like 2008.
Hell, at the time I said the 2008 election was Obama’s to lose, and he did his best. 2008 should have been close to an 1980-level blowout, IMO, and it wasn’t. Hell, it was closer than 1996, and Dole was a TERRIBLE candidate, worse than McCain. Clinton was a much better candidate than Obama, of course, and had the advantages of incumbency, but still.
Biden was an advertisement for dentistry.
From what I can filter through all the MSM Propaganda, it does looks like Biden made the Base Happy. BUT I don’t think he was able to get the “Undecided Voter.” And with an Election so tight, I think that was a Net Loss for the Dems.
I think you’re right, obviously, but the Obama campaign is all about fire up the base
These debates have been forcing me down memory lane.
Nearly 25 years ago I played a leadership role in a “Vote No” referendum campaign. As a total novice, I got slaughtered in my first couple debates, against a state representative and then a state senator, because both got me flustered via the simple expedient of lying. (BTW, those were Republicans, albeit “liberal” Republicans.) To condense the story, I quickly learned that lying was probably the most basic tool of political debating. I wrapped up the campaign debating someone from the governor’s administration on network TV, and our “Vote No” campaign won, 3 – 1 statewide, 6 – 1 in my county, and up to 9 – 1 locally. (Not claiming it was because of me, though.)
But my theme is, having been there, done that, I no longer get too emotional about anyone lying in a debate. They’d be dead in the water, if they didn’t. It’s like going to war and being outraged when the enemy shoots at you. Shooting first is often the trick.