Posted on 10/12/2012 2:00:29 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
As I observed the words and demeanor of Vice President Joe Biden all throughout last night’s debate a line from Hamlet kept running through my mind.
“That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain,” William Shakespeare wrote. How better to sum up the most unctuous, disingenuous vice president in this writer’s lifetime?
The radical left-wing Delawarean showed the same loathsome traits that he displayed during his debate with Sarah Palin four years ago. But this time, because he wasn’t facing a woman he wasn’t walking on eggshells, terrified of offending female voters. This allowed his worst characteristics to rise to the surface, unburdened by natural inhibitions.
While his opponent, Congressman Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) was relatively relaxed, Biden was everyone’s obnoxious, overbearing, opinionated relative who makes up for the weakness of his arguments by making them loudly. As conservative comedian Brian Sack tweeted, the debate was “Too Chill Boy vs. Obnoxious Grandaddy.”
Throughout the debate Biden made no attempt to conceal his contempt for Ryan. It is hard to say if Biden showed greater disdain for his adversary than President Obama showed for Mitt Romney in the Colorado conversation last week.
Some observers, buoyed by impossibly high expectations, were destined to be disappointed unless Ryan landed a devastating knockout. Ryan did well but such a punch never came. A knockout always seemed unlikely because Biden is so well known for exaggerating, telling tall tales, and saying downright absurd things.
“The vice president knows sometimes the words don’t come out of your mouth the right way,” Ryan said.
Even though Ryan clearly seemed to be feeling the pressure, he wasn’t cowed by Biden. He taunted the vice president, noting that Biden is “under a lot of duress to make up for lost ground” after Romney pulverized Obama during the debate last week.
Ryan lamented that “hope and change” had been replaced by “attack, blame, and defame.”
“President Obama had his chance,” Ryan said. “He made his choices.”
Ryan rejected the fundamental transformation of America sought by Obama. “We will not try to replace our founding principles,” Ryan said. “We will reapply our founding principles.” Although much younger than Biden, Ryan was the only adult sitting at the table.
One thing is for sure: both Obama and Biden are hardcore haters whose self-esteem exceeds their actual abilities.
Last night the senescent Biden resented being taken on by the sometimes brash, young, handsome, genuinely brilliant lawmaker from Wisconsin.
Never before was so much pricey dental porcelain displayed on live television as the unstatesmanlike Biden, chuckled, mocked, and guffawed his way through the 90-minute encounter. His constant, obnoxious interruptions were tolerated by the moderator, left-wing journalist Martha Raddatz, who frequently challenged Ryan, demanding specifics from the challenger. Raddatz asked little of Biden.
Barely a word of truth escaped the vice president’s lips.
Biden threw the intelligence community under the bus in order to support the Obama administration’s ongoing coverup of the September 11, 2012, terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. From the start the administration portrayed the assault as a spontaneous uprising sparked by anger over an anti-Islam video. For two weeks officials tried to pretend that terrorists weren’t involved.
In the debate Biden said intelligence agencies failed to do their jobs and fed the White House bad information.
The administration didn’t initially know the attack was instigated by terrorists and hadn’t received requests from officials for additional security, Biden said, lying on both counts. Evidence now establishes that the administration learned about the attack before it happened. There is also proof that the late Ambassador Chris Stevens, believing he was marked for death by terrorists, pleaded with the administration to provide additional security. Each day brings new revelations of administration malfeasance in the sorry affair.
Biden dramatically swore to find the killers. “We will track you to the gates of Hell,” he vowed.
Ryan countered that what happened in Benghazi was proof of the “unravelling” of Obama’s foreign policy of weakness and appeasement. Obama has refused to admit that the Islamic world hasn’t abandoned its hostility to the U.S. That would conflict with his messianic narrative in which diverse peoples across the planet are united and inspired by the president.
Romney’s controversial criticism of the Obama administration’s condemnation of an anti-Muslim video nobody saw and that apparently played no role in the Benghazi attack was admirable, Ryan explained.
“It’s never too early to speak up for our values,” Ryan said,
The best Biden could do was to note that left-wing journalists agreed that Romney should have kept his mouth shut. Romney’s criticism of Obama’s apology for the video was “panned by the media all around the world.”
Biden said that Syria was five times larger than Libya. As Newt Gingrich tweeted, Biden was “absurdly” and “totally” wrong. Libya, a huge North African country, is 679,362 square miles compared to Syria which is merely 71,500 square miles in size.
Biden condemned super PACs as “abominations” even though the Obama-Biden team uses them enthusiastically. Priorities USA Action super PAC unleashed the Joe Soptic ad, probably the most dishonest –and certainly the most vicious – presidential campaign ad since Lyndon Johnson’s apocalyptic “Daisy” ad in 1964 painted Barry Goldwater as a budding Dr. Strangelove.
The ad features Soptic explaining directly to the camera how his wife died after Bain Capital, the firm Romney once ran, bought the steel company he worked for and dissolved it. Soptic blames Romney for the loss of his health insurance and subsequent death of his wife.
The Soptic ad was funded by the super PAC’s donors. Among those donors are the alleged comedian Bill Maher and the Service Employees International Union.
Biden invoked class warfare too many times to count and blamed Republicans for the nation’s ballooning debt levels. He said Democrats had saved Medicare by cutting $700-odd billion from the program, a lie Ryan nailed him on. Democrats “got caught with their hands in the cookie jar,” taking the $700 billion and using it to fund Obamacare, Ryan said. If the cuts aren’t reversed Medicare patients will have a much harder time getting seen by doctors.
It wasn’t so much a debate as an argument between a mature person and a toddler.
Clint Eastwood seems to understand what a nonentity Biden is.
During his surprise appearance at the Republican convention in Florida, Eastwood seemed to share my frame of mind about the Cheshire Cat temporarily residing in the U.S. Naval Observatory.
In his extemporaneous riff before an empty chair representing the empty suit that is Barack Obama, Eastwood said, “You’re getting as bad as Biden. Of course we all know Biden is the intellect of the Democratic Party. Just kind of a grin with a body behind it.”
The more Joe Biden smiles, the more voters realize he’s not the man the media built him up to be.
VP Joe was fairly animated...acting like your goofy Uncle who comes over and sips a six-pack of beer from your fridge, while discussing NHL stikes, WW II, Mickey Mantle, and taxes. I would say this...if we were playing the drinking game last night and the key for the game was VP Joe interrupting Ryan....I would have been fairly drunk by the 30th minute.
I’d like to suggest this....if Romney wins....he ought to go ahead and hire VP Joe to be on his staff as an adviser. It wouldn’t mean we have to take Joe serious, but it’d be entertaining to have him around to pass the slow afternoons.
There will be NO slow afternoons in the Romney-Ryan administration!
:)
Disagree....there is NOTHING funny about Joe Biden. He is a MEAN ASS UNION THUG.
Empty cackling is not a great debate strategy.
Biden is a fool. The intelligence and diplomatic communities have been leaking information to the news media and Congress daily because they're so appalled at the disinformation coming from the White House. Biden threw gasoline on that fire tonight.
Joe “Honey Boo-Boo” Biden...Cutest VP EVER!
I hope the swing voters felt the same as I did......
Weekly Standard’s Mark Hemingway: “Joe Biden’s laughing through talking about Iran sanctions?”
Washington Examiner’s Philip Klein: “Biden’s strategy seems to be to laugh at Ryan constantly. Will it work to infantalize Ryan, or backfire like Gore sighing?”
NBC’s David Gregory: “Biden’s smile is out of control.”
BuzzFeed’s Ben Smith: “So did Biden practice laughing at Ryan???”
ABC’s Rick Klein: “Biden on verge of breaking down in laughter when Ryan talks.”
Former Eric Cantor staffer Brad Dayspring: “Joe Biden needs to realize this isn’t a Senate Foreign Relations Hearing. His laughter and condescending attitude is a disaster.”
Radio host Neal Boortz: “Looking like Biden’s gameplan is to laugh his way through this.”
Townhall.com’s Guy Benson: “Will Biden laugh his ass off at the terrible economy, too?”
MSNBC’s S.E. Cupp: “Biden needs to laugh a little less through the Libya, Middle East, nuclear Iran segment.”
Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza: “Ok. I have decided. I find the Biden smile slightly unsettling.”
PBS’ Jeff Greenfield: “Biden has always had a smile that at times is really, really inappropriate.”
Washington Examiner’s Paul Bedard: “Can’t tell yet if Biden’s smirking, laughs, eye-rolling, head shaking, works for him or not against the oh-so-young looking eager Ryan.”
Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer: “Biden is at risk of having his laugh come across like Gore’s sighs. He should knock it off.”
The New York Times’ Ashley Parker: “Biden’s grin is Chesire Cat caliber.”
Republican strategist Ron Bonjean: “Biden laughing does not come off with the intended effect. It is actually hurting him. Looks very condescending.”
Movie critic Roger Ebert: “Joe! Stop smiling and laughing!”
Washington Times’ Emily Miller: “Biden laughing when he disagrees with Ryan is so annoying. Like a child in time out.”
Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin: “Biden’s laughing is losing the debate- obnoxious”
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
I watched about 2 mins and couldn’t take it anymore.
Joe’s obnoxious.
I’m waiting for the comparisons of Biden’s smiling & laughing to Gore’s sighing thru his debate.
Thanks ETL. That’s a good list of the way others have seen Biden.
“VP Joe was fairly animated...acting like your goofy Uncle...”
If I had an uncle that insane, I would have him confined to a rubber room with no sharp onjects so he couldn’t hurt himself. The man was positively manic. I half expected him to eat a fly. He acted ike he was on laughing gas. Benghazi was hilarious. Iran getting a nuke was hilarious. Four dead Americans were hilarious. biden was nothing more than an overbearing, over-exaggerated court jester last night.
That’s because he plagiarized what he said.
The more I read the Live twitter feeds archive of the debate the more I am looking into Hitler weighing in on Joe's Debate performance on youtube.
In the alternative universe of the world of the main stream media’s mind Joe Biden may have won the debate, but, in the world of public opinion Joe Biden came off as a total jerk,, therefore he lost in the world of public opinion.
Who even laughs that much during a serious discussion in front of millions? And he is really laughing; it is not a feigned smile by any means....I think people are tired of the two buffoons “running” the country; even Obama thinks he is an f****** comedian with his JesseJacksonesque-like one-liners and quips.
And just what every hard working or job hunting American wants to see after another day of trying to make ends meet, pay their bills and survive....a haughty, pretentious, insolent windbag who’s pearly whites were bought and paid for using his tax payer funded dental plan- and whose sheer arrogance and contempt was stunningly on display to anyone with half a brain—
It is just remarkable and beyond disgusting that this man and the rest of the crew have been allowed to “represent” us-they need to administer an IQ test and psych testing before you’re allowed to run for office...
Rant over- :)
Suzy
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