Give 'em hell, Joe
By Richard K. Barry
(Ed. note: Here's a great clip that captures some of Biden's responses to Ryan's incessant lying. What else are you supposed to do when you're confronted with a geyser of bullshit? Instead of obsessing about style, maybe the thin-skinned Beltway pundits who seem so very hurt by Biden's refusal to let Ryan get away with it should focus on substance for a change. -- MJWS)
It's been fun reading and listening to the reaction to the VP debate last night. Right-wingers are trying to tell us Biden was rude for having the audacity to challenge the usual hogwash that comes out of the Romney-Ryan campaign. Democrats are simply happy for the fact that someone has finally called these guys out on the silly and unsupportable platitudes they've been spouting.
But here's the main point about last night. Obama's campaign team is full of smart people and they knew that Biden's goal had to be to put Ryan off his game. They couldn't allow Ryan to appear to hold a graduate seminar on right-wing economic policy. They couldn't allow Ryan to present himself, as the GOP has tried so hard to do, as a serious thinker with all the answers.
The substance of the debate was almost secondary, as long as voters understood that no one should be allowed to say things that aren't true without being challenged.
Not a few pundits, even some so-called independent journalists, thought Biden was clownish and disrespectful and would be seen as such by voters. They are wrong. In real life, when people know they are being sold a bill of goods, they don't wait until the sales pitch is over to squawk. They react as soon as they understand what is going on.
When Ryan began the same old lying pitch we have been hearing from this ticket, Joe Biden threw up his hands, rolled his eyes, shook his head, and even called it malarkey.
Good for him. You don't owe a thief the courtesy of letting him rob you blind before you object. Any voter still willing to be persuaded will get that.
Good for Joe.
(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)
(Ed. note: Here's a great clip that captures some of Biden's responses to Ryan's incessant lying. What else are you supposed to do when you're confronted with a geyser of bullshit? Instead of obsessing about style, maybe the thin-skinned Beltway pundits who seem so very hurt by Biden's refusal to let Ryan get away with it should focus on substance for a change. -- MJWS)
It's been fun reading and listening to the reaction to the VP debate last night. Right-wingers are trying to tell us Biden was rude for having the audacity to challenge the usual hogwash that comes out of the Romney-Ryan campaign. Democrats are simply happy for the fact that someone has finally called these guys out on the silly and unsupportable platitudes they've been spouting.
But here's the main point about last night. Obama's campaign team is full of smart people and they knew that Biden's goal had to be to put Ryan off his game. They couldn't allow Ryan to appear to hold a graduate seminar on right-wing economic policy. They couldn't allow Ryan to present himself, as the GOP has tried so hard to do, as a serious thinker with all the answers.
The substance of the debate was almost secondary, as long as voters understood that no one should be allowed to say things that aren't true without being challenged.
Not a few pundits, even some so-called independent journalists, thought Biden was clownish and disrespectful and would be seen as such by voters. They are wrong. In real life, when people know they are being sold a bill of goods, they don't wait until the sales pitch is over to squawk. They react as soon as they understand what is going on.
When Ryan began the same old lying pitch we have been hearing from this ticket, Joe Biden threw up his hands, rolled his eyes, shook his head, and even called it malarkey.
Good for him. You don't owe a thief the courtesy of letting him rob you blind before you object. Any voter still willing to be persuaded will get that.
Good for Joe.
(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)
Labels: 2012 election, 2012 vice-presidential debate, Joe Biden, Paul Ryan
posted by Michael J.W. Stickings at
9:25 PM
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