If you plan to watch the veep debate (beginning 9 pm eastern time), you’re welcome to hang out here for moral support. As before, I make no predictions. However, I do not make the assumptions that Captain Ed assumes we liberals are making.
Democrats are too quick to deride Ryan as a colorless wonk. They know he will bring an encyclopedic knowledge of policy, especially on budgets and entitlement programs, but assume that he will come across as bland and unemotional.
If that meathead has an encyclopedic knowledge of anything more complicated than mayonnaise, I’m Prince Harry.
Lately Zombie Eyes hasn’t even been faking it well, although I assume he is being drilled with misinformation he can use in place of actual facts. And when he’s on his game, he’s good at presenting a right-wing caricature of a policy wonk, so anything can happen tonight. But no, I am not concerned that I will be bored by Paulie’s emotional blandness.
The moderator will be Martha Raddatz, ABC News’s chief foreign correspondent. She has not moderated a debate before, so there is no way to know how she will do. However, after all the criticism leveled at Jim “the Marshmallow” Lehrer, I hope she will provide a bit more of an edge to the evening.
Speaking of debates, there was another Warren-Brown debate in Massachusetts last night, and from the descriptions I read Warren did very well and Brown is a jerk, although it seems he has backed off harping on Warren’s family heritage. Current polls have Warren ahead by 4 points.
Finally, the eternally pathetic Darrell Issa and his witchhunt hearings on Benghazi, eagerly trying to find political ammunition to use against the Obama Administration, accidentally blew the cover of a secret CIA base. Thanks loads, guys.
The Daily Caller, which I refuse to link to, has already accused Raddatz of Liberal bias!
Here’s a link from the LA Times, instead:
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-obama-wedding-guest-raddatz-20121010,0,5908691.story
Let the gaming of the ref’s begin!!!
It seems that at a wedding of hers in the 90’s, that pot-smoking future Kenyan usurper was invited, as a professor and friend of the groom, and may have danced The Macarena with her – and you know what they say about once having “black?” Well, you never go back!
Now, she’s remarried, but might still carry a torch for Professor Barry O (it’s twue, IT’S TWUE, what they say about you people!).
So now, in order to prove that she’s not some leftie-leaning Obamabot, she’ll probably be expected to tell Biden, “STOP! Stop opening up your lying Liberal mouth! You spawn of Satan!!! St. Paul is speaking truths unto the masses, here. We are going to let him speak for the remainder of this debate, with no interference from a lying old Liberal follower of Satan like you! It’s what they, the right-center ‘We the people,’ deserve. St. Paul… You were saying?”
OY!!!
Paulie’s gonna work his stuff tonight. Be ready to be impressed.
If Ryan lies with the smoothness and conviciton of Romney, it will be a masterwork. If he is as perfunctory in his lies as Romney was in his MVI foreign policy speech, it will be a boring rehash for those who have a clue. For the rest of America, watch out for the labels “wonk” “policy wonk” “budget wonk” “number guy” “rational” and “deeply serious” to be used by the “analysts” to hide the emptiness of Ryan’s suit.
Swami,
Paulie’s handlers are spending the day coating him in a specially designed lubricant made out of a careful blend of dead harpooned whale and clubbed baby seal fat, because they know that a greased weasle is tough enough to corner, let alone catch.
Plus, it gives his beautiful head of hair a nice sheen.
Raddatz… sounds awful socialist.
And speaking of surnames, is it pronounced “Iss-a,” “Ice-a,” or “D*ckhead”? Political wonks want to know!
It’s always amusing to visit conservative “reality” when it comes to their assumptions about liberals. It’s clear that Captain Ed doesn’t get out very much. It’s also clear that he’s just another gullible conservative, fooled by surface appearances, fooled into believing that Ryan is an actual policy wonk, when he really only appears to be one. Conservatives believe stuff because they want to believe it, not because it’s actually true. They are not data driven at all, or more accurately they make up the data, or carefully cherry pick it, to fit their a priori conclusions.
The sad thing about Ryan is that, if you turn off the sound (the Karl Rove test), he comes across as this pious, serious-looking God-fearing guy, who would never do anything bad to the country. Hell, even his mom says so. He has a way of hooking people into trusting him, and the third-rate policy wonk act – spewing out serious sounding, half-digested proposals – is part of it. Anyone with a bit of knowledge or critical thinking skills can see through him, but unfortunately the masses can’t or won’t. Joe’s got quite a job ahead of him to expose this act for all to see, on live teevee.
I think you nailed it Gulag. Joe’s going to need every bit of what he’s got to catch that slippery weasel, and come off well before the camera. The good news is that he isn’t afraid to get into a fight, unlike his boss.
I said I wouldn’t make predictions, and this isn’t a prediction. But given some of Paulie’s recent behavior, there’s a chance Paulie will have a meltdown. Again, I’m not predicting it, but it’s a possibility that if he is pushed hard enough for details by Biden or the moderator he could come unglued.We’ll see.
Oh lord… check this out. “Eddie Munster: Pinup Boy.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/11/paul-ryan-workout_n_1957452.html
Gah. He’s Sarah Palin with pie graphs. Gaffey Joe had better take this dork down!
Those photos are creepy!
Hell, what’s the point of developing an encyclopedic knowledge of things you just want to eliminate?
Stephen,
It gives you something to look back on in your later years.
You can remember, with fondness, more specifically what it was that you and your cronies did to crush other peoples itty-bitty little hopes and prayers.
And that’s even better than V*agra!
Unglued would be entertaining!
How do we know that blowing the CIA cover was accidental?
Wouldn’t that be something for Joe to bring up!
It’s the ‘People” magazining of out news.
It’s the ‘People†magazining of out news.
Felicitous typo? If applied to Eddie Munster’s workout pix, he does indeed look “out”!
Ooops!
LOL!!!
I think the Log Cabin boys just ran to the bathrooms with their copies.
Paulie should put more emphasis on trying to build his character rather than building his body.
“I voted for a mechanism!”
In high school we used to call the backward baseball caps “Intelligence Reduction Units”, since it seemed like people who wore them that way were stupider than average. Which, combined with the goofy look on his face in that shot, really makes that one seem like it’s an Obama campaign ad, not a real Ryan photo.
“Last time around, they wanted Sarah Palin a heartbeat away from the Oval Office. This time, they want this nutbar. What are they thinking!!?”
biggerbox,
I was a catcher most of the time in Baseball, from Little League through a year of semi-pro, and what I used to tell people was, the only time you should be wearing your hat that way, is if you’re behind the plate wearing the rest of “the tools of ignorance.”
Other that that, you don’t look hip, you look like and @$$hole.
A little pre-debate warm-up:
http://crooksandliars.com/blue-texan/new-obama-campaign-video-hits-paul-ryan
Paulie, 1992 called and wants its frickin hat back.
“It’s the dead, vacant look in your eyes, stupid.”
Memo to Joe: re Debate:
Paul Ryan reminds me more of Eddie Haskell than Eddie Munster. I probably won’t watch the debate. It comes on at 6 p.m. on the west coast; and, that is way too early in the evening for indigestion.
“I think the log cabin boys…..”
Damned, ‘Gulag! You should be writin’ fer Fallon or Letterman!
Paulie is gonna come out swinging..He’s gonna hit Biden with a double quibble and then finish him off with a koan.
Paulie is gonna come out swinging..He’s gonna hit Biden with a double quibble and then finish him off with a koan.
Sounds like he’s playing Quidditch against the Dalai Lama!
To get serious for just a sec, I worried about all this pressure on poor old Joe, and then I remembered his biography. Lost his wife and baby daughter in a tragic car accident; eventually came back from that. Served a bazillion years in the U.S. Senate, sometimes as head of the Judiciary(?) committee; survived that with Irish sense o’ humor intact. His brain exploded and tried to kill him; he lived through that and can still talk more clearly than our last GOP president. First time on a presidential ticket, he had to debate La Sarah in front of a huge teevee audience; managed to keep from laughing in her face (“Can I call ya Joe?” wink wink!) and came across as the one grown-up on the stage.
Eddie Munster Haskell Malfoy is in trouble, I can feel it. I believe I will stay up past my bedtime and watch this one to the bloody finish.
Jayzoos H. Keerist, going to a Buddhist Temple to escape the nutty Conservative Catholics, running into Bill Donohue!
I go to Mike Francesa’s sports talk show on WFAN (and YES Network on cable) to get away from politics for a few minutes, and to hear some stuff about the glorious Yankee victory last night – and who shows up?
FECKIN’ UPCHUCK TODD!
Francesa’s a pretty staunch Conservative, and I can guarantee you, if Romney hadn’t gotten a bounce, I wouldn’t have to watch UpChuck, instead of hearing some inside stuff about tonight’s game.
OY!!!
I look forward to everyones comment when I get up tomorrow morning.
I’ll be watchin’ the debate with my Obama/Biden Lovin’ Mama!
GO JOE!!!
MAUL PAUL!!!
SEND RYAN CRYIN’!!!
Eddie Munster Haskell Malfoy is in trouble, I can feel it. I believe I will stay up past my bedtime and watch this one to the bloody finish.
God I hope you’re right. Appreciate the Biden bio. There’s a part of me that’s just starting to smile right now. Your instincts may or may not be right, but this is the best news – apart from how testy our dear little boy can be – that I’ve heard on this subject. Thanks for giving me a dose of hope.
And Gulag – I agree with erinyes – you need to get a regular slot, a sidebar somewhere.
Recall Biden-Palin debate. Biden neither zoned out like Obama nor did he take her baiting. There’s skill in restraint. The talking points are known in advance and Bidenb can easily be prepared to address them.
Obama thought he could win it without picking apart the talking points. I think Biden knows he must. Without challenging one another’s assertions we might as well see them give separate speeches on different nights. There are lies and there are talking points based on lies. Failing to connect the two SHOULD be disastrous for either Biden or Obama. I doubt Biden will make that mistake like Obambi did.
Excuse me?
Paulie is a fraud.. He’s hollow. He’s crafted an image of himself as a man of substance,but all his accolades are self pronouncements, or the reverberations of them.
He’s a marketing ploy incarnate.Oh, he’s the chairman of the House Budget Committee, he’s gotta be sharp to get that job, right?..Yeah, just like Michele Bachmann sitting on the House Intelligence Committee..Getting a plum political position doesn’t impart wisdom, knowledge or understanding, it only leads people think that there is some intellectual achievement that accompanies the position.
He’s a blowout who is about to get his mask ripped off, and he claims that he’s not intimidated by Biden. Why would someone who is secure in their truth even consider being intimidated if only words and ideas are the substance of the contest?
Paulie is shaking in his penny loafers because he knows he’s a fraud, and he’s afraid of public exposure
A power point guy
A numbers man
A policy wonk
A thinker
A fraud… and a big one at that!