Tomorrow, Thursday, at 9:00 PM Eastern, it is time again to Unleash the Biden! According to the Presidential Commission on Debates, the moderator for the single debate for the Vice Presidential nominees will be Martha Raddatz, Chief Foreign Correspondent for ABC News, and the basic ground rules will include the following:
The debate will cover both foreign and domestic topics and be divided into nine time segments of approximately 10 minutes each. The moderator will ask an opening question, after which each candidate will have two minutes to respond. The moderator will use the balance of the time in the segment for a discussion of the question.
The debate will last 90 minutes, and there will be no ONN-authorized or ONN-sponsored
Lyin' Ryan Drinking Game™, as we cannot be responsible for blood-poisoning or flip-flop-induced hallucinations. Besides the Lying Game, another strong meme in the debate will be the struggle for the minds of Catholic voters. Although a die-hard fan of Ayn Rand, Congressman Paul Ryan calls himself a Catholic. Of course, Vice President Joe Biden is the very picture, in my mind, of a good old-timey social Catholic. Regarding the latter issue, the
Los Angeles Times reported:
Up on a hill on the north side of town, Sister Dorothy Schwendinger lives in the large brick "motherhouse," or headquarters, of the Sisters of St. Francis, the place that Biden visited in June. Sitting in a conference room, she took a similar position to Heinz.
"He certainly is a Catholic," she said of Biden. "He just has that very solid Catholic affection for the church." She believes that both Biden and Obama oppose abortion personally, even if they support leaving the decision up to individuals. And she said that Biden is a strong supporter of using government to improve "the common good."
"I really think that Sen. Biden is much more infused with that philosophy and theology than Rep. Ryan is," she said, referring to Biden by his former title. In a sort of coup de grace, she noted that Ryan has long been a fan of the libertarian writer Ayn Rand, who was a staunch atheist.
"I do think that may be deeper in him than Catholic teaching," she said.
The third-leading meme going into the VP debate -- after Paul Ryan's fire hose of lies and the battle for the minds of Catholicism -- has to be the cruel, granny-starving and woman-hating policies of Paul Ryan. For example, there are these obvious issues that come to mind:
Voucherizing Medicare. "Welcome to the next phase of the U.S. presidential campaign: a debate over Medicare.... President Obama blasted it. Newt Gingrich called it 'right-wing social engineering.' House Speaker John Boehner didn’t exactly embrace it."
Privatizing Social Security. "Ryan included a detailed plan to privatize Social Security in his budget proposal in 2010. Under that plan, he would allow workers to funnel an average of roughly 40% of their payroll taxes into personal retirement accounts. Mitt Romney, who chose the Wisconsin lawmaker as his running mate on Saturday, has also voiced support for private accounts."
Banning Abortions. "Todd Akin’s remarks about some rapes being 'legitimate,' and the ability of a woman to miraculously self-abort in those instances, have many of his fellow Republicans desperate to distinguish him from others in their party. This isn’t easy. Akin, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives who is seeking to unseat Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, is not an outlier. No less than Paul Ryan, the Republican candidate for vice president, shares his views. Ryan, Akin’s colleague in the House, has sponsored legislation with him that also sought to distinguish between types of rape: Instead of 'legitimate,' it used the word 'forcible.'"
The Cruel Ryan Budget. "Therein lies the rub. Ryan’s budget isn’t courageous — it’s just cruel. Three-fifths of the cuts he wants would hit those with low incomes, while those who have the most would continue getting more. It’s no wonder the former altar boy has had his knuckles rapped by a group of nuns for peddling a budget that 'rejects church teaching about solidarity, inequality, the choice for the poor, and the common good.'”
As you know, we've recently Released the Big Dog! And he chewed some Romney butt in Las Vegas last night. My personal favorite from the video below was this from the Big Dog, speaking of Republicans: "It really broke their hearts to see unemployment drop. I WANT A PRESIDENT AND A CONGRESS THAT LOVES IT WHEN UNEMPLOYMENT DROPS!":
Now, after Releasing the Big Dog, it is time to Unleash the Biden! The Vice President is facing a Republican who even Fox News calls a liar. In 2008, he had to face a candidate who was a word salad shooter. Here's the complete transcript from the debate against Sarah Palin. And in the block quote below is a bit of Joe being Joe that night:
BIDEN: Now, with regard to the -- to the health care plan, you know, it's with one hand you giveth, the other you take it. You know how Barack Obama -- excuse me, do you know how John McCain pays for his $5,000 tax credit you're going to get, a family will get?
He taxes as income every one of you out there, every one of you listening who has a health care plan through your employer. That's how he raises $3.6 trillion, on your -- taxing your health care benefit to give you a $5,000 plan, which his Web site points out will go straight to the insurance company.
And then you're going to have to replace a $12,000 -- that's the average cost of the plan you get through your employer -- it costs $12,000. You're going to have to pay -- replace a $12,000 plan, because 20 million of you are going to be dropped. Twenty million of you will be dropped.
So you're going to have to place -- replace a $12,000 plan with a $5,000 check you just give to the insurance company. I call that the "Ultimate Bridge to Nowhere."
IFILL: Thank you, Senator.
Now...
(LAUGHTER)
Finally, before we get to what the President's been up to today after the jump, and since we're releasing and unleashing all sorts of things, I thought we needed to continue to re-unleash a great, great weapon. That, of course, is Tony Sesame from the Street, who you can find in front of the Birda-Bing Club getting ready:
THE PRESIDENT CAMPAIGNING, TODAY
In an interview with radio host Tom Joyner that was broadcast this morning, President Barack Obama had this to say about the first and the remaining debates:
"What happened in the debate? Everybody wants to know," radio host Tom Joyner asked Obama. "Was that some kind of genius strategy to rope-a-dope him in?"
The president ducked the Muhammad Ali comparison but said, "I think it's fair to say I was just too polite." He promised to be more combative at the second and third debates, to be held on Oct. 16 and 22. "We're going to take it to him."
...
Obama tried to explain away his subdued performance in the debate.
"It's hard to sometimes just keep on saying, 'What you're saying isn't true,'" he said. "It gets repetitive."
"But, you know, the good news is, is that's just the first one," the president said. "And, you know, I think it's fair to say that we will see a little more activity at the next one."
THE PRESIDENT BEING PRESIDENT, TODAY
The President had his daily briefing this morning, but then he added a meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The President also released a Memorandum that provided authority to the Secretary of State to work on the President's behalf regarding aid to Burma. In a statement released today, President Obama also nominated two new commanders to implement military strategy in Afghanistan and Europe.
While the Republicans were again avoiding anything to do with "Jobs, Jobs, Jobs" in Congress today, the White House was announcing that Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism John Brennan met with senior Libyan officials, including President Magariaf,
The two sides discussed the continuing investigation into the Benghazi attacks, including specific additional steps Libya can take to better assist the U.S. in ensuring that the perpetrators are brought to justice. Both sides reaffirmed their strong commitment to countering terrorism and violent extremism. Mr. Brennan encouraged Libyan officials to move quickly on refining their policies and advancing government capabilities in the security and justice sectors, and urged Libya to take full and timely advantage of specific offers of assistance from the United States and other international partners.
As you can see, while Republicans are using the deaths of Americans on foreign soil to make political points in Washington, the Democrats are in Libya meeting with the President and meeting with her people to make sure that Democracy takes a strong root.
Link to Transcripts and Documents.