The Verdict: Biden won the debate and soundly beat Ryan

I am told that the mainstream media is trying to spin it hard in Ryan’s favor.  Lucky for me, I cut the cord last year so I don’t have to put up with the frantic spinning and pundits telling me what I should or shouldn’t be offended by.

Biden won.  Yeah, he smiled mockingly at Ryan.  Yeah, he laughed and interrupted.  So what?  Did that make what came out of Ryan’s mouth more agreeable?  More worthy of respect and consideration?  Hell no.  Ryan is a Ayn Rand conservative who wants to slash the budget so severely that we’ll become a nation of favelas and gated communities with the not-quite-seniors and poor carrying the burden of decades of tax cuts for the rich.  That’s what he is all about.  All you had to do was listen to the words that came out of his mouth.  Biden simply countered him very effectively.

I did have issues with what Biden was defending at times.  He wasn’t straightforward about Social Security and didn’t take retirement age changes off the table.  That infuriated me and probably all of the other people my age and a bit younger who have been pre-paying our benefits for decades.

But on the other stuff?  He trounced Ryan who came off as even less capable of taking over the office of president than Sarah Palin did four years ago.  Don’t take that as support of Palin or her conservative views. My protest vote in 2008 wasn’t about liking Republicans.  It was a protest.

Please don’t waste your time telling me how “rude” Biden was to Ryan.  That’s the operatives speaking through the media pundits, trying to get the public to condemn Biden by using the appeal to civility and politeness.  It’s the standard way to get effective people to shut up and sidelined.  The media likes Ryan and his budget plan, probably because none of them will be affected by it.

But that doesn’t change the fact that Biden won.

It also doesn’t change the fact that although Biden has demonstrated effectively how to defend his party and command the debate, I’m still voting third party this year.  It’s Obama and Geithner and his Wall Street handlers that I have a problem with and voting for Joe is not going to change that.  Joe is still only the vice president, as much as he seems to be wasted in that position.  Just like Hillary is a great SOS but could have been so much more.  Joe is an enigma to me.  He’s like a bright guy who got stuck in the sales department.  But in general, it just looks to me like the Democrats benched their best players in order to bet everything on Obama.  The whole party structure and function seems out of whack with the most effective parts of it on mute and this weird toxic strain of operatives in charge. Am I just imagining it?

But anyway, Biden- 1, Ryan-0.  That’s how I’m calling it.

The Vice Presidential Debate: Loose Lips vs Howard Roark

Let’s just hope that Ryan’s concluding statement doesn’t go on for 20 pages.

I’m looking forward to this debate.  You can  watch it here on C-span if you’ve cut the cord like I have. Joe Biden’s not a bad guy. If he ever had a chance, he might even be able to rise to greatness. You never know. But what’s fascinating about Biden is his inability to keep a secret. That quirk of his personality could make this an interesting debate.

Paul Ryan just reminds me of one of the business majors in college who I never wanted to go out with. I suspect I would be too weird for him anyway and he would bore me to tears. To Ryan, it’s all about money: acquiring it, controlling it and keeping everyone’s hands off of his stack. Conservatives like Ryan use moral arguments in order to defend some very immoral behavior of the money guys. For the record, it is immoral to lie to 20 somethings in the 80s about prepaying their social security benefits and then reneg on any social contracts in 2012 because it means that some rich people have to give up the tax cuts they’ve benefitted from while the government borrowed against our trust fund. That’s called fraud and theft and it’s immoral. It doesn’t matter how the recipients intend to use their money. They worked for it, they paid for it, they deserve it. It’s not an “entitlement”. It’s a social insurance policy. Don’t let Ryan tell you anything differently.

So, without further moralizing, here is the first live blog thread. See how many times Ryan says “free market” and “market forces”. See Biden take on foreign policy with mastery and let’s count how many times he says “unemployment”. (my guess is none)

Have at it!

Oooooh, Sarah-cuda!

Still Think I Should Quit, Do Ya?

Well, wasn’t that a lot more interesting than the Presidential debate?

I doubt the two combatants did much to change any minds that are already made up. Those that are voting for O’Biden will still vote for them, whereas those who are voting for McPalin are still going to vote for them. However, here is what the debate DID do, in my opinion:

Sarah Palin dispelled the ridiculous caricatures that the media has been busily shoving down our throats.

No, the woman is not a bimbo. No, she is not an ignorant redneck. And she is not crazy or extreme. She is the girl next door – the smart, driven and attractive one, of course. But more importantly, she is a standard-issue Reagan Republican, which is not a compliment from me, since I hate Reagan with a white-hot passion. However, it is more than thrilling for her base, which has been looking for a new Reagan ever since the man left office in 1988, eight years too late for women, minorities and the middle and poorer classes in America. And her strength, energy, passion, and command of the facts should reassure those on the conservative side that were, either sincerely or insincerely, agitating for her replacement. They will no doubt be over the moon today.

Both Sarah and Joe made the points they wanted to make.

Unfortunately for Joe, his points were not particularly convincing. As I’ve said time and again, Barack Obama’s main problem is that he has ceded far too many points to the Republicans. Thus, Biden was stuck defending Obama’s stupid non-positions, like “The surge worked, but I wouldn’t have voted for it anyway.” On gay rights, Biden made it sound as if the Democratic platform is the same as the Republican platform, when in fact, the O’Biden ticket believes in granting civil unions the same rights as marriage. On offshore drilling, Biden also agreed with Palin, practically chanting “Drill, baby, drill” right along with her.

Joe Biden was also determined to follow the Obama line of attack – that McPalin is Bush. Unfortunately, that attack has not been effective – otherwise, Obama would be 25 points ahead, since Republicans, Democrats, Independents and Rosicrucians all agree that Bush is a horrible President. But Americans don’t like Congresscritters either, and Biden is one, as are McCain and Obama. This strategy of blaming Bush for everything worked in 2006, but now the Democrats share the blame for not impeaching him and ending the war, as they promised to do. They said they would drain the swamp, but they left the biggest messes untouched.