VP Debate

The Debate:  My Take

I’m not sure what Biden was doing.  He actually did pretty well on some parts, but his condensing laughter and his constant interrupting made him a thoroughly unlikeable participant.  His performance was like watching a 40 yard pass play that gets called back for unsportsmanlike conduct.  

I’m almost wondering if he was trying to get Ryan to lose it on a national stage and then the campaign could say Ryan didn’t have the temperament to be president.  They could then drop Big Bird and show a video of Ryan being unpresidential.  To be perfectly honest that probably would have worked on me (I wouldn’t have been a cool as Paul Ryan was).   You have to give Ryan a lot of credit especially with the moderator failing to rein Biden in with his constant interrupting and even joining in and interrupting Ryan as well. 

I think Biden pumped up the Democratic base, but I think he hurt the ticket with independents and undecided.   Advantage Romney/Ryan. 

The Debate:  Peggy Noonan’s take

Last week Mr. Obama was weirdly passive. Last night Mr.Biden was weirdly aggressive, if that is the right word for someone who grimaces, laughs derisively, interrupts, hectors, rolls his eyes, browbeats and attempts to bully. He meant to dominate, to seem strong and no-nonsense. 

Sometimes he did—he had his moments. But he was also disrespectful and full of bluster. "Oh, now you're Jack Kennedy!" he snapped at one point. It was an echo of Lloyd Bentsen to Dan Quayle, in 1988. But Mr. Quayle, who had compared himself to Kennedy, had invited the insult. Mr. Ryan had not. It came from nowhere. Did Mr. Biden look good? No, he looked mean and second-rate. He meant to undercut Mr. Ryan, but he undercut himself. His grimaces and laughter were reminiscent of Al Gore's sighs in 2000—theatrical, off-putting and in the end self-indicting... 

In terms of content—the seriousness and strength of one's positions and the ability to argue for them—the debate was probably a draw, with both candidates having strong moments. But in terms of style, Mr. Biden was so childishly manipulative that it will be surprising if independents and undecideds liked what they saw.

National Democrats keep confusing strength with aggression and command with sarcasm. Even the latter didn't work for Mr. Biden. The things he said had the rhythm and smirk of sarcasm without the cutting substance. 

After two debates here is my impression.  At the first debate it looked as if President Obama was medicated and almost comatose.  In the second debate it looked as if Joe Biden was off his meds and in a manic state.  The question for the Democrats in the third debate is will they get the dosage right this time? 

The Debate:  The Weekly Standard:  Biden Bombed

You don’t win a nationally televised debate by being rude and obnoxious.  You don’t win by interrupting your opponent time after time after time or by being a blowhard.  You don’t win with facial expressions, especially smirks or fake laughs, or by pretending to be utterly exasperated with what your opponent is saying.

And apparently Biden didn’t win.

Was Biden strategy a winning one?

I expected “table-pounding atmospherics” from Biden but I didn’t expect him to act like a total jackhole for fully 90 minutes. Give him credit for knowing his target audience, though: His task tonight was to get the left excited again after Obama fell into a semi-coma in Denver, and evincing utter disdain for Ryan — grimacing, shouting, laughing inappropriately, constantly interrupting, the total jackhole experience — is just what the doctor ordered. He might have irritated independents and undecideds, but probably not so much that it’ll change people’s votes. The Democrats needed someone to go out there and clown for liberals, and if there’s one thing this guy knows, it’s clowning.

So we have Obama in the first debate looking like someone who felt imposed upon to be there and we have Biden in the second debate looking like someone’s nasty old uncle.  I found Obama’s endorsement of Biden to be bad—“I couldn’t have been prouder of him?”  Perhaps with all the discussion about Sesame Street,  Oscar the Grouch was Biden’s inspiration.  

The Bully vs the Wonk

So now we know what Team Obama's comeback plan was following last week's defeat in the Presidential debate. Unleash Joe Biden to interrupt, filibuster,snarl, smirk and otherwise show contempt for Paul Ryan. The carnival act contributed to the least illuminating presidential or vice presidential debate of our lifetimes. 

From the opening bell, Mr. Biden seemed to take to heart the interpretation that President Obama offered this week of his debate performance—that he had been "too polite." That was not a problem for the Veep, whose marching orders were clearly to steamroll the overmatched moderator Martha Raddatz and dismiss everything Mr. Ryan said with a condescending sneer. 

Did Joe Biden Shore up the woman’s vote?

Tonight, Joe Biden is embodying everything that women hate about talking with men.

Apparently not.  What will people remember about this debate by the weekend?  Only a rude, obnoxious and condensing Biden and that’s exactly how they will remember him.

Do women like men being jerks?

After the calamity they experienced in last week’s presidential debate, liberals needed to be bucked up by the Obama campaign, and I think they got that tonight. It probably came at a real cost—I have a feeling that Biden’s hyper-aggressive and at times buffoonish performance (and perhaps especially his Joker grin, which seemed to me as much a product of nervousness as of intent) hurt the ticket some with independent voters and especially with women—but it was a price the Obama campaign is probably quite willing to pay given the situation they’re now in. This debate didn’t help them win persuadable voters, and it probably won’t move the polls in their direction, but it will calm liberals down and it was absolutely essential for them to do that. The MSNBC types needed someone to be a jerk toward Paul Ryan to his face, and they got it.

This may explain why the Catholic Church is suing the government

In last night debate, Biden made a strong statement which has been called into question by The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Joe Biden:  "With regard to the assault on the Catholic Church, let me make it absolutely clear. No religious institution—Catholic or otherwise, including Catholic social services, Georgetown hospital, Mercy hospital, any hospital—none has to either refer contraception, none has to pay for contraception, none has to be a vehicle to get contraception in any insurance policy they provide. 

That is a fact. That is a fact." 

This is not a fact. The HHS mandate contains a narrow, four-part exemption for certain "religious employers." That exemption was made final in February and does not extend to "Catholic social services, Georgetown hospital, Mercy hospital, any hospital," or any other religious charity that offers its services to all, regardless of the faith of those served.

Hmmm, I don’t think you want to lie to the American public about the church that defines you.  Because in doing so, it will define you as a liar. 

The Polls on the debate

Most polls and media talking heads gave the advantage in the vice presidential debate to GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, but said that Vice President Joe Biden also won by reviving Democratic morale following the disastrous Oct. 3 presidential debate.

A quick CNN poll of registered voters said 48 percent thought Ryan was the winner, while 44 percent thought Biden claimed the title. Sixty percent of CNN’s respondents said Ryan was presidential, and 53 percent said he was more likable.

A CNBC poll said that 56 percent thought Ryan was the winner, while 36 declared Biden to be the winner.

Florida Poll:  Romney up by 7

Barack Obama's lackluster debate performance last week has dramatically altered the presidential race in Florida, with Mitt Romney opening up a decisive 7 percentage point lead, according to a new Tampa Bay Times/Bay News 9/Miami Herald poll.

Is Benghazi the nail in Obama’s coffin?

It couldn’t have happened at a worse time and the administration couldn’t have handled it worse. 

However, from the Obama administration’s point of view, the discussion of Libya these days is a bad thing. It seems clearer and clearer that the critics of the Libyan intervention had a better understanding of the risks and costs than the supporters.

And the resurgence of al-Qaeda in Libya also undermines the narrative the administration has tried to promote: that thanks to its intelligent and thoughtful policies terrorism is on its last legs.

And in last night debate, Biden’s argument seems to be it is un-American to question the administration on this.

The end is near

What’s New Today

Story # 1 tells of a Colorado Polysci Prof who has correctly predicted the 8 presidential elections.  Obama will lose according to him.  #2 is an ad for Mia Love, a rising star in the Republican party.  #3 tells of a new CBO report on a disaster looming.  #4 also relates to the problem.  It seems the Democrats are willing to live with your pain.  #5 is about the Paul Ryan difference.  #6 tells the story of how the election is slipping away from Obama. #7 points out the difference between the Democrats and the Republicans. 

Today’s Thoughts

Obama’s campaign has spent $325 million so far in his bid for reelection.  At this point in 2004 W. had spent $204 million.  The Romney campaign has spent 165 million.  It’s no wonder the Obama campaign is in Panic mode.  They’ve spent twice as much as Romney and Romney now has over $50 million more than Obama does in the bank.  What happens when Romney starts to outspend him? 

 

“An Oklahoma City kindergartner was forced to turn his University of Michigan shirt inside out last week because it violated a city ban on any apparel not supportive of the state’s college teams.” This is a simple example of government tyranny.  It’s petty and stupid, but it’s the law.

Joe Biden:  “I’ve known eight presidents and three of them intimately.”  Well he did call for gay marriage before Obama had evolved enough.

Sandra Fluke is going to be a speaker at the Democratic National Convention.  As far as I can tell her main qualification for this is that she has a uterus. 

Lie of the Day

Obama Campaign Manager Stephanie Cutter:  "Over the past, you know, 27 months, we've created 4.5 million private sector jobs; that's more jobs than in the Bush recovery, in the Reagan recovery..."

The problem with this claim is that during that same time period, Reagan created 9.8 million jobs with a smaller population and economy.  If you correct for that it would be approximately 12 million jobs.  And Bush created 4.8 million jobs. 

1.  Signs of Desperation—Political Scientist sees Obama loss

 An analysis from the University of Colorado that has correctly predicted the outcome of presidential elections since 1980 is forecasting Mitt Romney as the frontrunner, with voters in Colorado helping the presumptive Republican nominee unseat President Barack Obama. 

Political science professors Kenneth Bickers, of CU's Boulder campus, and Michael Berry, of CU's Denver campus, found that the ailing economy spells trouble for the president's re-election bid. The professors conduct a state-by-state analysis, incorporating economic data such as unemployment figures.

The results of their analysis show that Obama will win 218 votes in the electoral college, short of the 270 that he would need to be re-elected. 

While their study focuses on the electoral college, the political scientists predict Romney will win 52.9 percent of the popular vote compared to 47.1 for Obama when considering only the two major political parties. 

The economy is a main driver in elections, said Bickers, who also runs the "CU in DC" internship program.

"If the economy were just average, we would be forecasting Obama to win," Bickers said. "But the economy is below average, and he is struggling." 

Bickers said this election cycle has some parallels with 1980 -- a period when the economy was slumping and inflation was skyrocketing -- and voters chose Republican Ronald Reagan over Democratic incumbent President Jimmy Carter. 

In Colorado, which turned blue for Obama in 2008, the model predicts that Romney will receive 51.9 percent of the vote to Obama's 48.1 percent, again with only the two major parties considered. 

http://www.dailycamera.com/news/ci_21372873/cu-boulder-study-predicts-win-mitt-romney-general

This shouldn’t be a surprise if you read history.  I think Ryan is a boost to Romney, but the economy dictates a Romney win regardless.    

2. Mia Love:   A Republican Young Gun’s Ad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3zPyVe5rjY&feature=player_embedded

She’s a candidate for the House and a rising star in the Republican Party.  It seems our women politicians have an actual record of success as they climb the ladder.

3.   CBO:  Disaster Ahead—Obama refuses to do anything

The nation would be plunged into a deep recession during the first half of next year if Congress fails to avert nearly $500 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts set to hit in January, congressional budget analysts said Wednesday.

The massive round of New Year’s belt-tightening — variously known as the fiscal cliff or Taxmageddon — would disrupt recent economic progress, push the unemployment rate back up to 9.1 percent by the end of 2013 and cause economic conditions “that will probably be considered a recession,” the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/deeper-recession-imminent-if-congress-doesnt-act-on-fiscal-cliff-cbo-report/2012/08/22/0da7a07a-ec60-11e1-a80b-9f898562d010_story.html?hpid=z1

 

Obama is pushing on the accelerator as we speed toward the fiscal cliff.  I think he’s not only willing for this to happen, but if he’s going to lose wants it to happen. 

4.  Democrats willing to live with your pain

The Congressional Budget Office released its Update to the Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2012 to 2022 today, showing that if Congress and President Obama do nothing to stop Taxmageddon and the sequester unemployment will rise to 9/1 percent next year.  

Sounds bad right? But guess what? This is the preferred plan of a growing number of Democrats.
Former-Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, NY Times Executive Editor Bill Keller, former-Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Patty Murray have all advocated forcing the Unites States economy off the fiscal cliff just so Democrats can tell their constituents they raised taxes on the rich.

Even President Obama has expressed a willingness to take the fiscal jump. The New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza reports that unlike 2010 and 2011, Obama is prepared to follow through on his threat to let taxes go up after he no longer has to face voters ever again: “Several White House officials I talked to made it clear that if a deal, or at least the framework of a deal, is not reached before December 31st Obama would allow all the Bush tax cuts to expire – a tactic that would achieve huge deficit reduction, but in a particularly painful and ill-conceived fashion.”

http://washingtonexaminer.com/the-democrats-plan-for-9-percent-unemployment/article/2505638#.UDYsZqDfWSp

The Bush tax cuts removed about 22% of the electorate from paying income taxes.  Obama is willing to impose taxes on them so he can say he’s taxing the wealthy.  The Democrats apparently are reenacting the Biblical story of the Wisdom of Solomon sans the wisdom.  If you want to know who is really looking out for the middleclass see who is not willing to cut the baby in half.   

5.  Democrats target Ryan

The more voters learn about Congressman Paul Ryan's leadership style and his thoughtful and creative approach to solving problems, the more they will decide that the Romney-Ryan ticket looks presidential and electable. That's why there has been a coordinated effort in recent days to ramp up not just the "Mediscare" rhetoric against Mr. Ryan, but to depict him as a partisan ideologue who was instrumental in derailing a grand bargain on the deficit. This line of attack is cynical and, most of all, false.

First, Paul Ryan didn't force President Obama to abandon the budget recommendations of his own 2010 deficit commission, known as Bowles-Simpson. Mr. Obama's decision to punt on deficit reduction—and then to ridicule Mr. Ryan's plan to address the deficit—offended and disappointed Republicans and Democrats alike.

 

For example, Erskine Bowles, President Clinton's former chief of staff and the co-chairman of the Bowles-Simpson commission, described the Ryan budget that passed the House in March as "sensible, straightforward, honest, [and] serious." About President's Obama's budget, which failed in the Senate in May by a vote of 97 to zero, Mr. Bowles said, "I don't think anybody took that budget very seriously."

Second, even though I served on the president's debt commission and supported its recommendations, I recognize that we already have a debt commission. It's called Congress. No one in Congress has done more to offer specific solutions to our fiscal challenges than Paul Ryan. He also has demonstrated the rarest and most important trait in politics—moral courage… 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444443504577599120307000312.html?mod=opinion_newsreel

With the federal government voting “present” over and over again regarding the looming financial disaster, Paul Ryan stands out as someone who actually would and could save us all.  The Democrats attack because they can’t defend.  They build themselves up by trying to tear others down.  They are the party of mudslinging, hate mongering, and lies.   

6.  2012 slipping away from Obama

Liberal television networks and newspapers won’t tell you this, but the election is gradually slipping away from President Obama. As the latest Gallup poll reports this week, Republican challenger Mitt Romney has pulled ahead nationally by 2 points. According to the Associated Press, Mitt is ahead with the all-important independent voter by a sizable margin of 41 percent to 30 percent. In a year when the election is all about the economy, stupid, support for the president’s economic policies and handling of deficits is in the 30s. With high unemployment and the economy going nowhere, it would be historically unprecedented for Mr. Obama to be reelected in November.

The former Massachusetts governor got a boost after naming Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate, with the pair now leading in the congressman’s very blue home state of Wisconsin. In the 72 hours after Mr. Ryan was tapped, the GOP ticket raised an impressive $7.4 million. The Badger State has gone for Democrats in the last six presidential elections dating to 1988, and cheeseheads gave Mr. Obama a massive 14-point victory against Sen. John McCain in 2008. In the 2010 midterm, however, two statewide offices - governor and U.S. senator - went Republican, and conservative Gov. Scott Walker beat back a serious union-funded recall drive by a comfortable 7 points just two months ago.

Wisconsin going to the elephants is very bad news for Barack. It signals that blue-collar, Rustbelt states like Pennsylvania and Michigan are in play and is consistent with a gradual shift in momentum toward Mr. Romney in other key battlegrounds. Mr. Romney is winning in Florida and tied or within the margin of error in Colorado, Virginia and Ohio….

DECKER: Romney's advantage over Obama - Washington Times

 

Slipping perhaps is the wrong word.  I think the sentence “With high unemployment and the economy going nowhere, it would be historically unprecedented for Mr. Obama to be reelected in November” is much more telling.  History says Obama will lose.  Obama campaign is a scorched earth policy trying to build himself up by tearing others down.  The problem is that it won’t work.  It’s the economy stupid.  

7.  Difference between Democrats and Republicans

While obviously nothing good ever comes of a disturbing comment like Rep. Todd Akin of Missouri made on Sunday regarding rape with its abortion implications, the controversy surrounding his ill-spoken comment shows a stark and interesting contrast between the Republicans and Democrats in current – as well as in historical – times.

After Rep. Akin made his remarks on Sunday stating that there are “legitimate” rapes suggesting that there are different types of rape, the first of the strong denouncements came from fellow-Republicans who immediately called for the representative to remove his name from the upcoming election ballot in Missouri. These strong suggestions came from the likes of the currently-most-influential Republican in the land, GOP presidential nominee-to-be Mitt Romney.

The denouncements of Akin came swiftly, loudly, and with dramatic force from the Republicans. They want Akin and his ill-spoken words out of the upcoming senatorial race, out of their Party, and out of the nation’s politics all together.

Imagine that. A politician does something wrong and the “good ole boys” – and “girls” – in politics don’t try to “explain” what the politician meant, “re-explain” what the politician meant, or even apologize for what was said.

Politicians’ horrendous words and horrific actions have become much too common in American politics. Far too often, politicians – primarily Democratic politicians – line up to defend the wrongdoings of a politician who has done wrong.

The most extreme example of Democrats supporting a failed politician recently was in Chicago this past spring when Illinois and Chicago Democratic politicians continued to support a Democratic candidate, Rep. Derrick Smith, who ultimately won his Illinois state representative’s seat just days after allegedly being caught ‘red-handed’ in a recorded incident in which he accepted a bribe – though the representative still denies doing anything wrong and is running for office again. A Democrat who took $7,000 in bribes a week before an election was still supported by the Democratic politicians – and the supportive politicians then got the electorate to blindly vote for the alleged crook. Unbelievable….

http://washington.cbslocal.com/2012/08/23/akin-incident-shows-contrast-between-the-republicans-and-democrats/

 

And while that example is powerful, it isn’t the only one.  Look at Ted Kennedy, Joe Baca, Barney Frank, Jesse Jackson Jr., Alan B. Mollohan, John Murtha, Pete Visclosky, Charlie Rangel and Maxine Waters to name a few.