Friday, October 12, 2012

The Vice Presidential Debate


This Vice-Presidential debate was the most interesting and juicy debate that I ever remember seeing.  For me, Vice President Joe Biden was the clear winner and although he used a lot of rough techniques, he had a lot of very strong points and it was the combination of the two that really made his performance strong.  There was one moment, about midway through the debate, where the Vice President made what I think is a very key point, but one that has not been made enough: “they talk about this Great Recession if it fell out of the sky, like, ‘Oh, my goodness, where did it come from?’ It came from this man voting… and now, all of a sudden, these guys are so seized with the concern about the debt that they created.”  This is a question that I think is at the core of this election: should we continue with the current president, who is making slow, steady progress, or go back to the republicans, who put us in this position in the first place?  Consistently throughout the debate, Biden made strong, clear points such as this that put forward the Obama/Biden ticket’s platform.  Ryan on the other hand, primarily stuck to the basic empty campaign promises.

While grounding the audience with solid examples, facts, and beliefs, the Vice President also blew me away with his debate techniques.  Generally, I don’t think about Biden as being particularly aggressive, but last night he was.  He rarely let Congressman Ryan complete a statement without interrupting, and he always got the last word in.  If he didn’t agree with something he would interject a ‘that’s not true’ or simply laugh.   Biden, while being intelligent and a strong debater, spoke in a very relatable way and seemed human.  In the last few questions that were more personal, his voice changed from the strong forceful one he was using before to a soft grandfatherly tone.  However, Congressman Ryan, in a very similar manner to his running mate, kept his speech and his words exaggeratedly sincere, highlighting the contrast between the candidates. 

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