On the Vice Presidential Debate

Okay, now that I've waited a bit after the debate, it's time for me to respond.

Note: I just chose this picture because it looks cool.

First off, if you were following my Twitter feed (if you weren't, shame on you), you may have noticed I was very, very irritated at Joe Biden.  On the one hand, he came off more forceful and perhaps slightly more convincing, even when he was wrong.  But his constant smirking and laughing came across as condescending, particularly as so much of it was during serious discussions.  He came across, sadly, as a jerk and it was obvious.

Paul Ryan, on the other hand, as very meek and unassuming.  In fact, he was too meek and unassuming. While Biden was jumping all over him and interrupting him, he let it happen far too often.  The same went for the number of times Martha Raddatz blocked Paul Ryan from rebutting specious charges from the Vice President, which frankly is not right.

Which leads me to the debate's big winner: Jim Lehrer.  This debate proved, above all else, that allowing the candidates to talk to each other is a superior debate format to one where the moderator feels that he (or she, in this case) should be part of the debate.  Frankly, there should have been a separate timer for the amount of time Raddatz spoke, because she should not have been speaking for more than a couple of minutes.  But on more than a few occasions, I heard her interrupt and change the subject, more often than not when it aided Biden.  That should not be happening.  On the other hand, I feel it could have been worse, but Martha Raddatz definitely gets a thumbs down.

To my actual verdict, I call it a draw on substance.  Ryan definitely put his wonkishness to good use, reciting numbers and details off the top of his head with ease.  Biden's counter-arguments appealed, as usual, to the heart and glossed over reality more often than not.  His aggressive rebuttals helped make Ryan look cowed, however.  On style, however, Biden, as Steven Crowder put it early in the debate, "came out swinging and punched himself."  He looked like a jerk and sounded like a jerk.  I'm sure many independents tuned out when he reached "critical mass" at 10PM.  I almost did out of frustration.

In the end, it helps the bases and does little for independents, though Biden definitely turned them off with his oafishness.