Posted on 10/10/2012 2:12:26 PM PDT by Kaslin
Gallup is reporting that Mitt Romney has received a five-point bounce from his trouncing of the President in last week’s debate, with the race tied at 47-47. The race is a dead heat, and, just like the MLB playoffs happening in Washington for the first time in decades, every single play now counts.
This week, Vice-President Biden will face Congressman Paul Ryan in the Vice Presidential Debate. Conservatives have been licking their lips for this one ever since Ryan was selected by Governor Romney as his running mate back in early August.
But don’t count Biden out too soon: he has thirty years of experience in the Senate—the most talkative group of people in history—and has run for president a zillion times. His debates with Sarah Palin were a draw, but Biden handily beat Obama and Clinton in the earlier primary debates, back in 2008. He has also another zillion in television appearances and interviews over the past thirty years, and is taking six whole days to prepare to face Ryan.
Don’t get me wrong, though: Paul Ryan will win. He is the sharpest guy in Washington right now, and is one of the most disciplined and focused public speakers I’ve ever seen. Nobody stays on message like this guy. Biden will throw the kitchen sink at him—spurious factoids, equally doubtful anecdotes about people in swing states, farfetched Scranton aphorisms, and pure campaign spin—and Ryan should not be tempted to try to catch everything. One of the things Romney did best in the first debate was respond to criticism: the President didn’t know what to do, and so he kept repeating the same debunked nonsense (five trillion, five trillion, five trillion).
Ryan’s focus will be a great opportunity to speak directly to the American people without spin. This was largely a missed opportunity during the Republican National Convention, because of the Ministry of Truth’s frenzied response to Ryan’s speech, which was to call him a liar, which is a lie.
No doubt they will employ these same rationalizations, these same defense mechanisms this time too. One good way to measure the effectiveness of a politician is the reaction of his enemies. Chris Matthews’ mouth-frothing word salad nervous breakdown following the debate was a good sign that Romney had won in a blowout; I’ll be watching him intently on Thursday night.
Biden’s biggest weakness, apart from being the Yogi Berra of American politics—a Hall of Famer in terms of success, but a man whose foot is lodged in his esophagus—is the same as Obama’s and Al Gore’s: they’re at their best when they’re in a friendly crowd. Compare the Barack Obama of the debate to the Barack Obama the following morning in front of a rabid left-wing crowd in Colorado. They’re as different from each other as they are from the Barack Obama of the Selma speech and the Hampton College speech. Obama is most comfortable doing his Hugo Chavez impression in front of adoring college students and Hollywood celebrities; he melts when confronted by opposition, and, from how few press conferences he’s done this year (2), he feels the same way about questions.
Biden’s trademark, increasingly, is to shout at his audience. What he shouts can be incoherent garble, such as “they don’t understand us!” or “I can dream as much as any rich man can!” It doesn’t have to make sense or be relevant to the election to become the habit of a demagogue. When there are no dragons to slay, one must tilt at windmills to seem brave.
How will this Biden fare on a quiet stage across from a mild-mannered, self-effacing Midwesterner? It’s hard to fight a straw man when there’s flesh and blood right across from you.
Ryan will prove to be not only a bold choice by Mitt Romney, but evidence of Governor Romney’s wise judgment. Had he not chosen Ryan, Ryan would be the bogeyman he is on the Left for the entire country. But now, with the country seeing Paul Ryan, hearing him speak directly to them, he is harder to slander.
Ryan will win, but it won’t be the blowout that conservatives are giddy for. Biden is preparing hard, and Ryan has never debated on this stage before. Ryan is a Congressman representing a tiny Midwestern district; this is a big jump for him.
I predict another 1-point bounce for Romney after Thursday night.
I’ll be honest, I’m actually a little worried about Ryan vs Biden. In any fair measure, I’m sure Ryan would win. Handily.
But it won’t be fair. We already know the moderator is in the bag for Biden. Heck, he’s probably already got the questions.
But while Obama off-script is a collection of “uh”s and “um”s, Biden is a lot sharper.
Ryan’s challenge will be to knife through the sheer volume of straw men and fictitious facts. If Biden can throw enough his way, he might be able to bog Ryan down by making him waste time refuting BS.
Hopefully this won’t be the case. But still, the Biden+Moderator combo will be much better prepared than Obama was before he got bent over the lectern by Romney. And also don’t forget that the spin machine will also be much better prepared for a Biden defeat for this debate.
We’ll see. Here’s hoping it will be a bloodbath.
An addendum to my previous comment:
One thing to hope for is for Biden’s handlers to try and minimize his gaffe potential by keeping him on strict talking points. If he’s restricted to talking points, Ryan ought to be prepared to shoot them all down then go on the offensive.
Kick @$$, Mr. Ryan!
Um.... You do realize who you are talking about dont you? This guy doesnt have a brain in his head. He even plagiarized a speech because well... he doesnt have a thought of his own. Biden will be revealed as the idiot that he is, or be so afraid of saying something wrong he will look like Obama.
I’m nervous about this debate. Biden is goofy and gaffe-prone, but most of this image is a contrivance. I know that Ryan will be well-prepared, but the risk is that Ryan will seem like a pencil pusher, and affable Joe will connect with viewers despite Ryan’s superior intellect.
Biden is an arrogant blowhard but not nearly to the degree his boss is. While Obama underestimated Romney, I have no doubt that Slow Joe is taking Ryan very seriously. Why, he may even describe his opponent as “clean and articulate.”
No! The fix is in...the moderator will push Ryan to the breaking point asking him the same question over and over again until Ryan snaps. Pray that God will stiffen the tongue of that liberal angry evil women moderating the debate! Pray folks, just continue to pray...WE ARE WALKING ON EGG SHELLS until Nov. 6!!
Ryan is debating Biden AND the MSM.
The MSM are in on this: Biden's job is not to go head to head with Ryan, it is to deliver lines and points WHICH WILL ALLOW THE MSM to caste Biden as the winner, and someone who has recovered Obama's losses.
Paul Ryan Takes Chris Matthews "To School" On Deficits and Taxes
Ryan has the access time of an SSD, Joe is still using tape.
Unfortunately, I have to agree with you. I don’t have any belief that this is going to be a cake-walk for Ryan.
I am a little worried about this debate. I am sure Ryan will trounce Biden, no problem. HOWEVER, if Ryan is seen as being “mean” or disrespectful to old Plugs, it could definitely backfire. People really run on emotion. The GOP is already seen by many as the “mean” party that wants to throw Grandma’s Medicare under the bus. I hope Ryan will be very careful not to cross that line.
I agree that, despite his image, we should not take Biden too lightly. I think his weakest point may be his temper. If Paul Ryan can keep his composure and stay on message (which I’m confident that he can), I think that Biden will start to become frustrated, lose his cool, and will begin lashing out at Ryan. Once that happens, Biden’s talking points will fall by the wayside, and Ryan can move in for the kill.
If Obama has lost Gallopp, then it’s OVAHH.
Prognosis of Ryan/Biden debate
FReep Mail me if you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list.
What Ryan needs to do is to lure him off topic. Get him to answer an unscripted question. The moderator won't allow it, but thats Ryan's best stratagem.
My concern is that Biden has been studying solid for the last week with that scumbag David Axelrod.
Biden could slip on a bannana peel. Something in his brain may not work right when pressed for a staight answer.
Ryan is smart however so hopefully not. He will fight like he is down 10 points. And like Biden is the smartest, best debater ever in politics.
Oh, Yea of Little Faith!
Quit buying into the meme the MSM mas been spouting for the past two weeks; even the entrenched Pubbies are ‘lowering expectations’ for Ryan, just as the LefTards did for 0bama in the weeks prior to his DEFEAT at the hands of a Better Man!
Paul Ryan will kick @ss tonight. He is affable, confident, an EXCELLENT debater, has FACTS on his side and is just more intelligent than Biden by a million miles.
Relax.
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