Biden Being Biden
English: Barack Obama and Joe Biden (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Now that all the Tweets and FaceBook posts about the debate are in, it’s time to reflect on what really happened. Vice-President Joe Biden was, unlike Barack Obama, fully prepared and armed with an obvious political campaign strategy. The moderator was not overly biased as many had feared, and Paul Ryan was as expected thoroughly prepared and ready to make all the usual points emphasizing the differences between the two sides.
All in all, Ryan did an admirable job presenting his positions, but he clearly didn’t land any knockout blows. But, the real story of this debate was Biden’s attempt to marginalize Ryan by interrupting him every time he started making an important point. It was clearly a defensive tactic and it worked about as well as Biden could have hoped. He was aided by the moderator who seemed to have lost control of the debate early on, and in several instances joined in by interrupting Ryan herself.
Biden’s defensive strategy is not uncommon for any “champ” when facing an aggressive challenger, and it would have been very successful had he just stuck with it. However, Biden clearly lost the debate because of what can only be described as immature antics that were distracting from his own message. He also showed a wanton disrespect for his opposition, the debate process and all those who were watching. Charles Krauthammer summed up the net effect when he said that if you had listened to the debate on radio Biden won, but if you watched on TV Ryan clearly won.
This debate was a classic example of one man’s ego snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Biden simply could not help himself because like all leftists, he has no respect for anyone who he perceives to be among the “unenlightened.”
Based on the fact that Obama called to congratulate Joe on his performance right after the debate, you can look for a similar, yet perhaps more polished effort from the president next week. This brash and even cavalier style plays well to the far left and explains the popularity of personalities like Chris Mathews, Rachel Maddow, Jon Stewart and Bill Mayer. But it is not surprising that the majority of Americans appear to be turned off by a total lack of decorum. What is surprising though is the willingness of the left to pursue these tactics despite the fact they aren’t working. Perhaps their “cocksure” attitude and lack of appropriate regard for their opposition and the electorate will be their ultimate undoing.
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