Biden is kicking his butt on the foreign policy stuff.

Can Biden debate Romney? Biden's conviction is impossible to deny. He has gone all Newt Gingrich on this. Completely strong armed this debate, nothing Ryan could do.

Is it just me or does Raddatz seem to be slanting her questions to be biased against the Obama administration? She seems to question tangential contentions of Biden's response critically, and only haltingly questions Ryan with softballs, while ignoring his whoppers.

Again atheists and agnostics are not allowed to be mentioned as a valid group. I hate this "personal religion" malarkey.

Eh....she pressed him for specifics she totally knew he did not have. Wasn't exactly letting him off easy.

Shorter Romney/Ryan-you decide to have an abortion for a quality of lifetime health issue, then you are a criminal.

I don't like tying this into religion. Ask him about abortion. Bush never came across as a Christian, but I can't read his mind or look into his heart. I think most religious answers are just for public consumption considering how few Presidents attend church after getting into office. I think Carter was the only President that attended church regularly while in and after leaving office.

You are right it was a good follow-up on his contradictions of following Catholic beliefs in terms of compassion.

Biden nailin' all the points Obama couln't be bothered to make last week.

Obama needs to be this aggressive on Tuesday.

Obvious Biden win.

Biden really killed it tonight. Very surprised.

I'm pleased with this.

Also, Martha had this shit on lock. Such a contrast with Jim Lehrer.

Thought it was mostly a tie but Biden did come off a bit jerk-like. I personally do not care if he was a jerk or not, just meant that more in terms of how I think a "moderate, undecided" (read: idiot) voter might take it.

They must like jerks CBS Flashpoll of undecideds has it:

Biden-50%
Ryan-31%
Undecided-19%

Apparently so.

This debate was more watchable than last week. As a TV viewer, I'd like a more emotional debate, even a faked one.

However, CNN has it 48-44 in favor of Ryan. Although that may not include only undecideds.

Interesting. Will be interesting to see the number of viewers. As for a previous comment you made about Raddatz questions having a rightward bias, I didn't detect much with regard to the domestic policy questions, but I did get a sense that they were a bit rightwardly directed in some of the foreign policy questions, particularly when she pressed on troops following orders and some of the talks she has had with senior deployed members of the military. Also the questions about Libya that kicked-off the debate were similar to some criticisms I have read in conservative blogs.

Still, I thought Raddatz was mostly a non-presence.

Biden won the debate but not as much as Romney beat Obama last weak though...

However, if Obama does that against Romney then Obama can turn the momentum around.




Mdna, we can argue about stimulus forever.

You think the deficit is not a major issue and frankly we shall see the results of that stupidity by both parties lately on that issue. Sure the house was burning when Obama took over it but frankly the house will continue to be burning when Obama is finished it appears.


About Great Britain, they will suffer short term economic loss but the situation seems quite similar to Canada had in the 90's. We suffered through Austerity but it brought in long term financial stability.



You were suggesting the stimulus has brought the rate down to 8% today, but the facts show that from 2009 and 2010, NO net jobs were created...The stimulus created jobs, but the rate went up.... and peaked in late 2010.

So that clearly showed the Stimulus just saved jobs and stooped a situation from becoming much worse.

The Unemployment rate recover that has been going in the past two years has been to slow and steady economic growth. Meaning by 2016 if we are lucky, we should have around 5-6% unemployment

My feelings are rather mixed. I admit, I enjoyed and was even a bit energized by Biden's bravado and fury and humor. But regarded through more a objective ("undecided") gaze, chances are there was a point where he should have stopped the derisive laughing and comic eye rolling.

Biden can act that way but Obama cannot be acting like that during the next debate... people like fierce debates but not smugness

The reason that Biden was laughing all the time is because, as is typical, Ryan blatantly lied many times. As a Vice Presidential debate, the question you have to ask yourself is who would you rather have as president if their running mate was unable to perform the duties of office, Biden or Ryan. For me, the answer is EASILY Biden. It's actually not as easy when comparing Obama and Romney.

I agree that Biden probably should have stopped the derisive laughing, though I can hardly blame him. It's kind of like Gore sighing when debating Bush. I can hardly blame him, but it didn't look/sound good.

Can we stop with the lying bit? Is everyone you disagree with a liar? There are cases where politicians do lie, but often they are stating their opinion or policy preferences or they are obfuscating (which does get close).

Ryan has described his and Romney's plan to fix Medicare. Now you may think it is wrong and will not work and that is fine, but it is sickening to hear people call them liars for that. That is simply a method for not having to engage in substantive debates about policy. It also contributes to a lack of trust in our social institutions.

^ Except Romney and Ryan do lie or "embellish the truth," frequently.

Isn't it bizarre that Biden's laughter is considered bad while Ryan's lies are just normal?

Such as? Like voting for the Iraq war?