Vice Presidential debate one of strong contrasts

Vice President Joe Biden and Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan met this evening for their one and only debate at Centre College in Kentucky. It was evident from the start that the debate was a display of contrasts, not just between policy approaches but of personalities and debating styles. Possibly in an attempt to make up ground after President Obama’s seemingly tentative demeanor at the first presidential debate, Biden was unabashedly aggressive in his approach. He frequently interrupted Ryan in order to passionately defend President Obama’s record and openly expressed contempt for his opponent’s arguments. Ryan was notably calm in the face of Biden’s veracity despite the fact this was his first national debate. The opening arguments were about Libya, during which Biden brazenly called Ryan’s criticism of the Obama administration’s policy in the region “a bunch of malarky,” and asserted the inaccurate statements made about the motivation for the attack on the US embassy in Libya were based on what information was available at the time. Ryan countered by claiming the administration had denied requests from the embassy for increased security. When the subject of the economy came up, unlike President Obama, Biden openly addressed Romney’ notorious “47%” comment. In his rebuttle Ryan attempted to draw Romney’s character as one of generosity and frame the comment as a gaffe. Whether or not the debate will influence the nearly dead even position of the two presidential candidates in the polls remains to be seen