9:04 PM: I’m not sure they’re ready for Joe Biden.
9:06 PM: Ryan looks out of his depth.
9:12 PM: Curious what values Ryan is talking about apologizing for.
9:19 PM: Pretty clearly Biden got a lecture about smiling when he’s off camera.
9:23 PM: Apparently the reporters at the debate are all chattering about Biden’s smiles and smirks when Ryan’s talking.
9:26 PM: Okay, I think this is what Dems were waiting for from Obama. Never going to get something like this from Obama. This is vintage Biden.
9:29 PM: “I always say what I mean. And so does Mitt Romney.”
9:30 PM: My sense so far is that these two guys are both doing a pretty solid job. In very different ways. But both hitting key marks. The tide keeps running back and forth.
9:32 PM: That was the best run for Biden so far.
9:33 PM: Ding! Stimulus.
9:35 PM: Ryan held his own, maybe even better than that on foreign policy. Biden owned him on domestic policy.
9:36 PM: Ryan’s dishonesty on the whole issue of social insurance is mind-blogging.
9:39 PM: Biden, back on fire.
9:40 PM: “Under duress …”
9:40 PM: Voucher, voucher, voucher, voucher …
9:44 PM: I suspect a bunch of reporters are going to try to make a thing about Biden’s smiles and guffaws. But I think Democrats are going to feel Biden made their case.
9:46 PM: Guaranteed benefit to premium support. My God, substance. WTF?!?!?!
9:49 PM: I think this when Biden needs to mention the Clinton years.
9:51 PM: Ryan can’t answer the question.
9:51 PM: I’ll say it again. Whatever happens, Biden’s making the Democrats’ arguments. They’re all right there. Nothing is getting left unsaid. Nothing.
9:56 PM: This is getting brutal.
9:59 PM: The economics, social insurance and taxes conversations were not good for Ryan.
10:00 PM: Perhaps if Obama gets a cold Biden can sub in against Romney?
10:02 PM: Ryan’s lost on explaining the Afghanistan drawdown.
10:05 PM: Biden took 30 geritols this morning. Even getting in Raddatz’s face now.
10:06 PM: I think we’re at the point of the fight when both boxers are hanging on each other.
10:08 PM: I think there’s a smallish chance Biden might actually tell someone to get off his lawn.
10:10 PM: On foreign policy Ryan’s giving off a real Doogie Houser vibe, as per TPM Reader SS.
10:12 PM: There’s a limit on how much sense you can make when you’re just regurgitating stuff from your briefing books that you don’t know much about.
10:15 PM: National security interest standard doesn’t make the death toll of Syrians relevant.
10:18 PM: For what it’s worth, I think Raddatz has done a really good job with his. Has really pressed candidates at key points. Has kept control of the debate. Basically the moderator’s role is to let the candidates debate. It’s not about them. I think she’s done a decent job.
10:31 PM: I heard Alex Castellanos say this afternoon that the older guy often has an advantage in a debate. And how. I wouldn’t by any means say that Biden’s age is his only advantage. Far from it. Ryan looks like a kid, out of his depth.
I’ll keep it brief.
I’d call the first exchange on foreign policy basically a draw. Biden was on uncomfortable terrain on the Libya story. On each successive encounter, Biden was on the offensive and owned the conversation. I don’t think it was close. Ryan looked like a kid and certainly on foreign policy totally out of his depth. People forget that Biden’s lived foreign policy and national security for decades. He knows the stuff inside and out. The most difficult moment for Ryan was when Raddatz and Biden both pressed him for any specifics on how they can play for their tax plan. He simply refused. That’s all he could do because they have no way to pay for it. That’ll leave a bruise and cue up questions for next week. Read More
The question from Biden that Ryan refused to answer: “Can you guarantee that no one making less than $100,000 would have a mortgage deduction impacted?”
Also, little noticed in the post-debate spin and chatter: Ryan suggested that he and a President Romney will support privatization Social Security.
It might be the big follow-on tomorrow: Biden got Ryan to admit that he and Romney supports at least the principle of eliminating Social Security and replacing it with private accounts. In other words, the 2005 Bush plan.
Photos from the vice presidential debate (definitely this one and this one).
Also this one.
The Sherman/Berman race out in Los Angeles is already pretty intense and it seems like things got quite heated at a debate tonight in Woodland Hills.
You think Ryan/Biden got heated, check this out. (Video after the jump …) Read More