Sean Janda: Live Blogging the VP Debate
9:30: Just to wrap-up, I’ll be interested to see where the reaction polls on this debate are. In my personal (and fully biased) opinion, the Vice President definitely managed to call out Representative Ryan every time he tried to go with misinformation or distortions of truth. He also (at least to me) seemed to be lively and invested in a way that President Obama really wasn’t last week. There were a bunch of times, though, when I thought he was making a great point and the CNN Undecided Voters seemed to disagree, so I’m very much looking forward to seeing what people think. One definite winner, though, was Ms. Raddatz, who was exactly what a moderator should be.
9:25: When Representative Ryan complains about these defense spending cuts over and over again, does he happen to remember that time when he voted for it?
9:19: And the Vice President gives a masterfully clear and coherent answer on how he is able to balance his Catholic faith and his pro-choice policies. It was one of the first times tonight (for either candidate), when both the men and women CNN tracker lines absolutely skyrocketed and stayed high for a long time.
9:09: Did the Vice President just imply that Afghan lives are less valuable than American lives? I think he did, and, if so, that’s uncomfy…
9:03: Representative Ryan on why he won’t say that he’ll pull out by 2014: “We don’t want to give our enemies a date on the calendar that they can circle and say that they”ll wait us out and then come back when we’ve leftr.” I guess he’s hoping to pull out in secrecy and hope the Taliban just doesn’t notice?
8:59: And Osama bin Laden makes his second appearance of the night!
8:54: “Governor Romney reached across the aisle. He didn’t compromise his principles.” Shame that Governor Romney and candidate Romney happen to be entirely different people…
8:53: The Vice President’s reply to the Romney/Ryan tax plan is way too jumbled up. He seems like he has way too much to say, and he’s not able to walk through all of it clearly.
8:49: Lake Superior is overseas just like you can Russia from Wasilla.
8:43: The Vice President is entirely right that the voucher won’t keep pace with health care costs. That’s because the voucher increases are pegged to general inflation increases, and not to healthcare inflation, which is generally much higher. I’m not sure that he did a great job of elucidating that point, but it’s 100% true.
8:38: And we start the answer with a Sarah Palin comparison, move onto some great healthcare benefits/clear facts, stop for some voucher-bashing along the way, and end with some lovely attacks on Social Security privatization. Checks all around.
8:37: Vice President Biden is gearing up for this Medicare answer. I can just feel it.
8:33: Also, quick note on the Vice President’s answer to Representative Ryan’s joke about his tendency to put his foot in his mouth. There was a bunch of noise here, so it was impossible to hear (and I’m not sure how clearly it came across anyway), but he definitely quickly responded with “but I always mean what I say.” That’s definitely a succinct and powerful response, but I wish he had delivered it a bit more forcefully.
8:32: “When they came into office, they had one-party control and could do anything that they wanted.” #filibuster
8:26: Yep. At least on the Dem side, this performance will definitely be much more lively than last week’s.
8:23: “The ayatollahs see this kind of statement and think, ‘I’m getting nuclear weapons!'” Uhh, huh?
8:18: The CNN Undecided Voters have been clearly split between men and women (with women much more favorable to Representative Ryan all night so far). That’s certainly the opposite of what both conventional wisdom and the splits from last week’s debate would suggest. Maybe all the P90X is paying off?
8:11: I thought the last answer from Vice President Biden was quite clear and hard-hitting. CNN’s undecided voters, however, seemed to disagree. It’ll be interesting to watch that as the night goes on.
8:09: Judging from the first two questions, it seems like Ms. Raddatz won’t have a problem asking targeted, incisive questions that demand a specific answer rather than broadly generic questions that invite a stump speech. Hopefully that continues all night.
8:05:And right from the beginning, Vice President Biden begins by defending the President and attacking Governor Romney. Hopefully this will set the tone for a bit more lively showing from the Democrats than last week.
7:55: Hey, everybody (although, by “everybody,” I’m relatively certain that I mean “a few interested friends and family”)! Just waiting for the VP debate to kick off here in a few minutes. I guess this is kind of obvious if you’re reading this, but I’ll be live blogging here throughout the evening.
