VP Debate, Interrupted.

A.P. Dillon

8 years ago

VP DEBATE 2012

Biden’s new Secret Service codename: Interruptus. – VodkaPundit

VodkaPundit’s assessment is spot-on. Iowahawk, however, wins Twitter again:

Biden: the debate equivalent of an Occupier shitting on a cop car.

— David Burge (@iowahawkblog)

I’ve never seen a debate quite like last night’s. I doubt I am alone in being rather disgusted that at least a dozen times I found myself yelling at my TV,”Shut up and let him answer, Joe!” Perhaps that is because Biden interrupted Ryan about 82 times in 90 minutes:

FACT: Final Count: Biden interrupted 82 times during the entire debate.

— Joe Pounder (@PounderFile)

Biden wasn’t the only one interrupting. At times, so was moderator Martha Raddatz. There were points it felt like Raddatz and Biden were tag teaming Ryan, who stayed cool as a cucumber almost the entire time. Sarah Hoyt at Instapundit picks up on this: Instapundit » ED — AT ACE THEY SAY BOTH THE MODERATOR AND BIDEN ARE YELLING AT RYAN: Is this working for ANYONE?

Wow.

To be honest, I think the one moment that everyone will remember about this debate is when Ryan zings Biden a bit about the interrupting and the pressure he is under to perform. Via Weekly Standard:

“Mr. Vice President, I know you’re under a lot of duress,” said Paul Ryan.

Biden laughs.

“To make up for the lost round,” Ryan continues, “but I think people will be better served if we don’t keep interrupting each other.”

I’d like to say Biden decided to be a grown-up and put himself in check after that reminder, but nope — not even close. It got worse. The smirking, laughing and rude sighs while Ryan was trying to speak continued. Ryan did get in another zinger, which grabbed more laughs from the audience. Biden turned a nice shade of pink and looked even more grumpy, if that were possible:

Biden’s job last night was to go in and re-energize and shore up the base after Obama’s historic shellacking last week in the Presidential debate. Well, he did that. In that respect, Biden won. The only problem with that kind of win is he was preaching to a very specific choir. The Democrats and Biden faithful loved it and were calling it feisty and aggressive whereas Independents and Focus Groups were calling it rude, condescending and backing away slowly from Biden lest they become a target of the yelling. Even the media faithful showed signs of being horrified. ( More: Why so serious? Biden’s debate grimace creeps out, angers viewers | Twitchy also: CNN Focus Group Member: Biden Acted Like ‘Buffoon’)

Last night, Biden won the demographic that they already had and lost the one that was already starting to walk away from them. Biden’s performance also while cemented the idea Ryan offered, that Obama wasn’t interested in bipartisanship and reaching across the aisle; Biden proved it with each interruption. It was exasperating. This administration would prefer to mock you than to listen to you. Clint East wood was right on Obama being an empty chair, he also nailed Biden:

LL1885’s take: Ryan won. Biden made a jerk of himself and the office. The policy discussion was a wash and Biden perpetuated the Benghazi lie in a National debate. All in all, I give credit to Ryan for remaining calm and poised despite Biden’s interrupting, sighing and general disrespect for Ryan and the American people watching. All that was missing from Biden’s ‘performance’ was a Dean Scream.

A word of warning to future VP debaters:

Now, let’s go around the horn and get to some opinion, links and video.