The Gloves Are Off

The lions can smell raw meat hanging out to dry.  To answer your question, yes, I did just finish watching the Vice Presidential debate.  Biden versus Ryan and the gloves have come off.  The question is whose jaw got broken?

First of all, appreciate the context that this debate came into.  This comes from a first debate that spawned a mockery Obama-sponsored big bird commercial (without Sesame Street approval), a fabricated 5 trillion dollar tax cut accusation against Mitt Romney, and, quite frankly, a debate in which Romney came out ahead, the Obama-Biden administration needed a win.  Enter the snarling and starving lion.  Problem is, Ryan wasn’t about to be Biden’s dinner. 

To start with, the facts are not on Vice President Biden’s side.  Unemployment is up, the deficit continues rising, foreclosures continue, and the stimulus money hasn’t worked.  That being said, it doesn’t necessarily mean that Romney and Paul know what they’re doing either.  I came into this sure I wasn’t voting for Obama-Biden, but unsure what I thought of Romney-Paul. 

There’s a lot of political mumbo-jumbo that went on, but here’s the big points: Paul Ryan brought up the fact that Iran has enough materials to make four atomic bombs (ya know, those things that can blow up huge cities and send up mushroom clouds?  Yeah, those things).  Biden responded by saying they have no weapon.  Biden said that Romney and Paul don’t care about social security, yet Paul Ryan says that they want to give the younger adults which will have social security control over how it happens.  Obama and Biden want to pull troops completely out of the Middle East in 2014.  If I’m looking at this from a political point of view, Paul Ryan looks pretty good.  But that’s not my ultimate conclusion.

The first thing I noticed in the debate, all political conversation aside, was Biden sporting a Joker-esque smile during every minute of Paul Ryan’s speech, attempted to make him look like a moron.  It soon escalated.  Joe Biden began interrupting him.  Constantly. 82 times in 40 minutes, as a matter of fact. At this point, I am really wishing I was there with a cattle-prod to remind Biden that it isn’t his turn.  So you can understand how truly incredible it is that Paul Ryan kept his cool the entire time.  Biden showed Ryan no respect at all.  Zero respect. And yet Ryan keeps his cool and doesn’t interrupt Biden, even with the moderator (hint, hint) allows Biden to constantly cut him off and interrupt him without comment.  The closest Paul Ryan ever came to responding to that was saying he thinks it would be “better if we stopped interrupting each other.”  A.k.a., “Biden, please shut up and let me talk.”  Needless to say, his self-control and composure was impressive.  Still, I did particularly enjoy Paul Ryan's jab, "The vice president well knows, things don’t always come out of your mouth the right way."  He's gotcha there, kitty.

Another note: I have known that Mitt Romney was and still is a successful businessman for a while now.  I have known virtually nothing about Mitt Romney in regards to how he spends his money.  I have still heard absolutely nothing from the man himself.  But Paul Ryan brings up a case when Mitt Romney paid for a neighbor’s children to go to college because they had fallen on hard times.  He also mentioned that Mitt Romney gave 30% of his income to charity (which he mentions is more than himself and Joe Biden combined).  Notably, this is the one statement the entire night that Joe Biden did not challenge.  Instead he said, “I don’t doubt his generosity.” 

Given the testaments to Mitt Romney’s generosity, the polite and respectful composure of Paul Ryan, and the stand not only on the political issues but the pro-life and pro-traditional marriage stands of the Romney-Ryan campaign, I’d say its safe to say that Romney has my vote right now.  We finally have a shot at an administration of integrity.  Let’s not throw this opportunity out the window.