By 
Like the undefeated Miami Dolphins football team of 1972 (17 straight wins), Vice President Joe Biden took to the offense from the start and rolled over vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan in a fiery, 90-minute presidential campaign debate Oct. 11 at Center College in Danville, KY.Biden, 69, made Ryan, 42, look like the neophyte he was on the subject of debating on a national scale. To his credit, the Janesville, WI congressman seldom lost his cool and avoided lurking into traps that Biden was laying for him throughout the event.
Biden's performance strengthened President Barack Obama's status as he races for a second four-year term on Nov. 6. Ryan's performance added little to presidential candidate Mitt Romney's recent poll gains.
But Ryan and Romney most definitely lost ground in the debate when the abortion subject was brought up by moderator Martha Raddatz of ABC News. Few women voters will back Romney after hearing Ryan's personal views and those he echoed for Romney.
Biden and Ryan are Irish Roman Catholics. The Catholic church opposes abortion. Ryan said he and Romney, too, are flatly both against abortion. Biden said he shares the Catholic church's position that human life begins at conception, but he personally had another view.
"I refuse to impose (the Church's doctrine) on equally devout Christians and Muslims and Jews," Biden said. "I don't believe we have the right to tell women they can't control their lives." He said the decision for an abortion was "between them and their doctor."
The debate was not centered on any single subject but was a hodge-podge of several national issues. Raddatz did much better than PBS's Jim Leher in trying to hold the debaters to their two-minute speaking time limits.
Leher moderated the Oct. 3 debate at the University of Denver between Obama and Romney. They face each other for a second time Oct. 16 at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY. TV Talking Heads estimated 67 viewers watched the first Denver debate. They predict close to 100 million will watch the second debate.
As the Talking Heads had predicted, Biden drove hard from the opening bell. The debaters talked about Libya, taxes, Medicare, auto industry bailouts, Wall Street, Iran - but little on the economy. Biden labeled almost all of Ryan's views, and those of Romney, as "just a bunch of malarkey." It was obvious Biden would have preferred using a barnyard epithet instead.
He criticized Ryan for seldom giving a Yes or a No to any of the moderator's direct questions. Ryan, instead, starts repeating old campaign slogans, Biden charged.
In turn, Ryan slammed Biden for often putting his figurative foot in his mouth" by misstating situations. "That may be," Biden replied, "but I always say what I mean."
Biden unnerved Ryan from the beginning. He used a favorite TV Cable interviewer technique by interrupting, smiling, laughing and rolling his eyes at many of Ryan's explanations. Specifically pointing out the views of Ryan, Romney and the Grand Radical Party, Biden shouted, "All of their charges (against Obama) are laughable."
Biden controlled the agenda for the entire 90 minutes. He threw everything, including the proverbial kitchen sink at Ryan. Ryan was back-pedaling all the way. He was no talking Romney that night.
Biden obviously used a favorite debating technique favored by former President Bill Clinton. "Remember," Clinton is supposed to have told a group of young, aspiring debaters at one time, "your opponent can't hurt you if you've got your fist in his face all the time."
Some TV Talking Heads criticized Biden for his "rough" and "arrogant" debating approach towards Ryan. They said such an "aggressive" stance would turn off many voters. Other Talking Heads maintained the debates would not affect the final decision of voters.
What a wagonful of horse manure that is. These debates definitely will affect much of the American voting public. This is the first time the public has had an opportunity to see, hear and assess the personal views of the candidates.
Whatever you think of the Oct. 11 debate, it was good entertainment. And you seldom get enough of that for such an extended time slot on television today.
