Ryan-Biden Smackdown Should Be No Contest

[Conservative]

Pretty obvious that Bloomberg thinks Biden will have a VERY tough time trying to win his debate with Ryan.

Ryan-Biden Smackdown Should Be No Contest - Bloomberg

When Mitt Romney defeated Barack Obama in their first presidential debate last week, and by common consent that’s what happened, he raised the pressure on Joe Biden to even the score in the vice presidential debate on Oct. 11.

Biden will have a tough time doing that. Even though Republicans will be trying to lower expectations for their candidate, Representative Paul Ryan, everyone knows he is a formidable and unflappable debater. He knows the ins and outs of domestic policy at least as well as Biden, and speaks more authoritatively about them. Ryan has also spent more elections having to win voters outside his party. What’s more, Biden has some predilections that will make his own job harder.

Similarly, Biden has a reputation for his foreign-policy expertise, and Ryan has little experience in this area, so the vice president may be tempted to try to show up the younger man. It could backfire, though, since Biden’s reputation is largely undeserved. His record on Iraq -- opposing the first war in the early 1990s, supporting the second one, opposing the surge and uniting Iraq’s factions against him by proposing to split the country in three -- doesn’t seem like an advertisement for his great judgment. Agree with Ryan or not on foreign policy, he is fluent on it even if it hasn’t been the focus of his career.

And the consensus Democratic view that Obama was too passive and disengaged probably misunderstands why he lost the debate. The real problem was that he was less up to speed on the arguments and counterarguments than Romney was. If Biden internalizes the Democratic conventional wisdom, he will be more engaged than Obama was -- but it won’t help unless he is also better informed. An amped-up yet inadequate response can come across as bluster.

So the stakes are higher for Biden than they usually are in vice presidential debates. It’s safe to say that Republicans are looking forward to this one more than Democrats are.

 

[skookerasbil]

I'll be intersted to see if Biden can even find the podium.

 

[Lumpy 1]

I wonder if Biden can still be thrown under bus...



Perhaps a quick Hillary makeover including some new power pant suites are in the offing..

 

[there4eyeM]

As someone who is for neither party, it isn't all that obvious to me that Biden is in great danger. Expectations have been lowered so much that even if he just remains calm and speaks clearly, he will be considered to have done well. If he succeeds at answering a question or two coherently, that will add to his image. If Ryan comes across as cocky, too self assured, superior, that could easily play for Biden. Above all, if the Republican seems to be going after the 'old man' too strenuously (and that could be very subtle), Biden gains again.

....just thoughts.

 

[blastoff]

I think Biden will attack but Ryan will parry and score.

 

[orBeMezaTtnoD]

I'll be intersted to see if Biden can even find the podium.

Well his expertise was foreign affairs wasn't it? I wonder if he was the one who told Obama to send Rice out on 5 tv shows 5 days after the terrorists killed our ambassador and LIE about it..I hope Ryan brings that up. With the truth coming out in the hearings going on if Biden tries to spin that situation he will step in it big time. Guess his "expertise" wasn't of much help was it.

 

[jillian]

i wonder if ryan is going to throw a hissy fit and walk off the stage.

 

[Lumpy 1]

i wonder if ryan is going to throw a hissy fit and walk off the stage.

..why would you wonder that?

 

[Annie]

i wonder if ryan is going to throw a hissy fit and walk off the stage.

Now that would be interesting. Not going to happen though.

 

[Peach]

I'll be surprised if the ugly, ferret faced Ryan doesn't stink up the stage. He is a sack of pig manure in human form.