Vice President Biden is Laughing… But Are You?

    Ol’ Joe may find the facts about such things as a nuclear armed Iran, the irresponsible leadership that left 4 Americans dead in Benghazi, and 24 million Americans out of work to be funny, but most Americans can’t seem to find the lighter side of those issues that allowed our Vice President to laugh, chuckle, and cackle his way through the first and only vice presidential debate that took place this past Thursday.

That point is driven home in a recent ad from the Republican National Committee.  (See ad at the bottom of this post)

The commercial powerfully states “Vice President Biden is laughing…”, before stating “Are you?”

The ad is an ingenious use of the extraordinarily smarmy and disrespectful demeanor exhibited by the Vice President during the debate.  And it goes a long way in driving home the point that his unstable attitude is not exactly what most American want to see in a Vice President.

Full Video of the 2012 Vice Presidential Debate in Danville, KY

  For those who may not have seen the debate for themselves, White House 2012 proudly posts a complete video of the event.  For an assessment of the one and only 2012 vice presidential debate, click here.  For a complete transcript of the debate click here.

Ryan Wins Debate as Biden’s Bizarre Laughing Grabbed the Spotlight

      The first and only vice presidential debate consisted of substantive questions that were occasionally met with equally substantive answers, at least in the case of a well prepared Paul Ryan.  Unfortunately the content in the answers were overshadowed by the awkward, bizarre, and often discomforting laughing fits that Vice President Biden consistently launched in to for the first three quarters of the forum. (See video of the full debate here)

Each time Paul Ryan offered an answer to a question, ol’ Joe reacted with a disturbing, uncontrolled, obnoxious, laugh that often made him look like the crazy guy on the bus that mother’s shield their children from.  At one point, Biden’s grimaces and forced cackles made him a perfect candidate for Jack Nicholson’s role in a remake of Stanley Kubric’s “The Shining”‘.   All that was missing was a wild eyed Biden writing “Redrum” across the desk that he sat behind on the stage of debate.

In between Biden’s exaggerated and disrespectful, chortling and snickering, the two men did ignite fireworks as they hammered each other on such issues as Libya, Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, taxes, and Medicare.

The sparks flew immediately after moderator Martha Raddatz asked the first question on the hot button issue of the terrorist attacks that killed four Americans in Benghazi, Libya on the anniversary of 9/11.  Raddatz essentially asked if there was a failure of intelligence leading up to the attack.  For his part Biden, never directly answered that question but he tried to claim that the Administration knew everything it needed to know and acted responsibly and appropriately to the circumstances leading up to the attack, and in the response to the attacks in the days following them.

Congressman Ryan took the opportunity to hammer the Obam-Biden ticket on the issue as he launched in to a familiar but well stated criticism of the way Benghazi was handled.

“It took the president two weeks to acknowledge that this was a terrorist attack,”

 Ryan said;

“This Benghazi attack would be a tragedy in and of itself, but unfortunately it’s indicative of a larger problem,” adding that Obama’s policy toward the Middle East is “making the world more chaotic and us less safe.”

Ryan also charged;

“What we are watching on our tv screens is the unraveling of the Obama foreign policy,”

Laughing Joe responded “Not true,” and added;

“With all due respect, that’s a bunch of malarkey,”

The Vice President continued his attack on Ryan’s remarks by also falsely suggesting that proposed Republican cuts in embassy security of $300 million were the reason for the lack of security that made the attacks possible.  Biden further lied by claiming that the Administration knew of no requests for additional security in Benghazi.

Paul Ryan came back by making it clear that we now know there were requests for additional security but the  requests were denied by the Administration.

One of the best lines of the night came from Ryan who reminded voters of just how often Biden puts his foot in his mouth.  After the Vice President tried to distort Mitt Romney’s past controversial remark at a fundraising about 47% of voters, Ryan fired back;

“With respect to that quote,  I think the Vice President very well knows that sometimes the words don’t come out of your mouth the right way”

To which a still laughing Joe responded”

“But I always say what I mean”.

For his part, throughout the debate, Paul Ryan was articulate, knowledgable, convincing, respectful, confident, and firm.  As for the Vice President, he was quick but disingenuous, as he performed in a way that was childish, disrespectful, arrogant, smarmy and at times goofy .  While Biden often made remarks that contained a perfect working class pitch to his base, between his demeanor and attempts to interrupt Ryan a total of 82 times, any possibly strong statements made by the Vice President were overshadowed by his disrespectful, cocky and often flippant attitude.  All of which was compounded by his disconcerting, wacky fits of laughter.

It was clear to me that after President Obama’s disasterous debate performance last week, several strategic decisions forced the Obama-Biden campaign to approach this debate in a way that was intended to make Ryan seem like he did not know what he was talking about and that his ticket was detached from reality.  So they decided to have Biden go on the attack.  Then they also decided to try to take advantage of Biden’s lengthy political career and advanced age as compared to the younger Ryan who was only four years old when Biden was first elected to the Senate.  They had hoped that by laughing at Ryan, Biden would look like the experienced elder statesman who was facing off against the clueless, young punk.  The strategy could have work were it not for two things.  The first being that Ryan knew what he was talking about and lacked the type of arrogance that could have allowed him to fall into that trap.  The second problem with the Biden strategy was that Biden’s laughing was taken to a level so exaggerated and flamboyant, that it came off as unnatural , dismissive, and inappropriate.   In the end, the strategy backfired on Joe and his ticket.

In the final analysis this debate did not reveal anything new to us about the candidates or their positions.  But it did go a long way in  leaving voters with  another negative impression of the Obama-Biden ticket and another positive impression of the Romney-Ryan ticket.  And while  Joe’s shots at Paul Ryan did whip up liberals who were already voting for Obama, he failed to make the case for why another four years of Obama-Biden will be any better the last four.  As for Paul Ryan, his steady demeanor and performance combined with his command of the issues, went a long way in convincing the all important independent and undecided voters that the Obama-Biden ticket is failing us.

Trunkline 2012: Thursday’s News and Views From the Campaign Trail

Thursday’s Trunkline 2012 election news wrap-up offers you the latest word on what Paul Ryan needs to do tonight, Joe Biden’s debate burden, the Obama campaign’s attempt to blame Romney for Libya being an issue, how the President is treating women like animals, jobless numbers being worse than thought, Jon Stewart’s ridiculing of the President over Big Bird, the Administration’s weak record on illegal immigration, and much more……

• Four things Paul Ryan must do to win tonight’s debate
• Biden’s burden
• Obama Campaign Blames Romney/Ryan For Libya ‘Circus’
• The Desperate Democrat Attempt to Blame GOP Budget Cuts for the Attack in Benghazi
• Why Jobless Claims May Not Be as Good as Market Thinks
• Obama Treating Women Like Breeding Animals
• Romney’s bounce continues in new swing-state polling
• Liberal Language and the Vicious Cult of Diversity
• Jon Stewart Ridicules Obama Campaign: ‘Let It Go’ With The Big Bird Stuff Already!
• Obama Administration Arrests Fewest Illegal Immigrants in 40 Years
• Photo of the Day:

Deputy Obama 2012 Campaign Manager Stephanie Cutter