Politics: VP debate

First reaction: 
Taking into account that almost nobody votes on the basis of a VP debate ... VP Biden clearly got the memo of being more energetic which President Obama apparently missed and so the two clashed repeatedly so in that regard a real debate. But the optics of VP Biden's condescension was distracting.

"Fact" checkers:
As usual both candidates tossed out their share of "numbers" to support their case. They have their briefings down pat. The whole $5 trillion tax cut came around again that was kicked around repeatedly in the debate last week. The debate went into eye glazing repetition about cutting tax rates and reducing deductions. The bottom line is some think tank gave Obama-Biden that talking point saying it is a bad plan and some think tank gave Romney-Ryan the talking point that it is a good plan.

I do wonder if VP Biden's comments on Libya will hold up. My gut reaction was that Biden was trying to shift the blame on that item. We shall see how that story actual shakes out in terms of who knew what and when.

On Points:
Biden on Libya was defensive and in essence events on the ground really overshadowed anything he could say. But otherwise, his line of defense of what would you do differently was pretty effective. On economic plans, Biden played the fairness card while Ryan critiqued the sluggish economy of the last 4 years and pushed pro-growth tax proposal. Again, events on the ground will determine which argument carries the day with undecided voters.

30,000 feet:
Team Obama clearly gave the green light to Biden to go on the attack and stress they are the defenders of the middle class.

Team Romney knew Biden would be on the attack and Ryan's job would to be keep his guard up and fire off a few jabs. The main jab was to highlight that in the last 4 years the economy remains sluggish. The 10% unemployment rate in Scranton, PA was clearly a talking point and highlights that in many places the economy is still not doing well even if the overall national numbers are slowly recovering.

The meme Team Obama wants to push is that Romney-Ryan are if not outright lying are seriously uninformed about what is going on in the economy. This may fire up the base but is risky if undecided voters conclude the meme is wrong making Team Obama seem arrogant and out-of-touch.

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