Biden, Ryan clash over foreign policy
They argue on slow economy, taxes, health care program for elderly
DANVILLE, Kentucky — Vice President Joe Biden and the man who wants to succeed him, Republican Paul Ryan, clashed in a feisty debate over foreign and economic policy as Biden sought to make up for President Barack Obama’s lackluster performance last week against his opponent, Mitt Romney.
The two went head-to-head over the Obama administration’s policy in Libya and Iran in the opening minutes of a contentious vice presidential debate late Thursday, with Ryan citing it as evidence that it is weakening America’s standing in the world.
Afghan, Syria issues
It only grew more heated as the candidates sniped at each other over Afghanistan and Syria, as well as the slow economy, taxes and the government health care program for the elderly.
It was a combative performance on both sides, with both men repeatedly interrupting each other — and the moderator too.
“That’s a bunch of malarkey,” Biden retorted — twice. The vice president also referred to Ryan’s statements as “a bunch of stuff.”
The stakes aren’t generally this high in vice presidential debates, but Biden was under pressure to restore energy to the Democratic campaign less than a month before the Nov. 6 election.
Ryan, a congressman from Wisconsin, who at 42 is a generation younger than his opponent, fought to hold on to the Repub- licans’ sudden rise in the polls that followed the Obama-Romney debate.
Substantive, contentious
Thursday night’s debate at a small college in Kentucky was everything that the presidential one was not: substantive and contentious.
Biden, seeking to be aggressive but running the risk of appearing childish, rolled his eyes and laughed in disbelief at some of Ryan’s statements.
“I know you’re under a lot of duress to make up for lost ground,” Ryan said at one point, “but I think people would be better served if we don’t keep interrupting each other.”
The two went at each other seconds into the debate, with Ryan saying the Sept. 11 death of the US ambassador in an attack at the US Consulate in Benghazi was evidence that the administration’s foreign policy was unraveling. (AP)