The One and Only Vice Presidential Debate Gets Heated

On Thurs., Oct. 11th, Vice President Joe Biden and republican V.P. candidate Paul Ryan went head to head in the only Vice Presidential Debate before Election Day. Both were expected to make a strong showing, and both delivered on those expectations.

Within the first five minutes of the debate, Biden and Ryan were in contention over how their presidential candidate would handle foreign policy issues, such as the attacks in Benghazi Libya in September, or giving more sanctions to Iran. When the topic of Afghanistan came up, Vice President Biden said that American troops would be out by 2014. "We're going to be out by 2014. Period."

Another topic that arose was how each candidate would redo certain social programs, such as Medicare and Social Security. Ryan explained how under a Romney administration, some things like Medicare would stay the same. "We're saying don't change any benefits for people 55 and above. They've already organized their retirement based off these promises." When asked by the moderator Martha Raddatz how seniors would be able to make up the financial difference with a proposed voucher problem, he did not answer the question clearly.

A stark difference between the Vice Presidential debate and the first presidential debate was the amount of attacks by both candidates, exhibited when Paul Ryan pointed out to Biden one his known weaknesses. "Let's face it, you have a tendency of putting your foot where your mouth is."

Another part of the debate that was quite memorable had to deal with what was not said. Vice President Biden had an incredibly expressive face that some found amusing, but was considered quite rude by many. He also continued to interrupt Ryan multiple times, to the point where Ryan said, "I know you're under a lot of duress to make up for lost ground, but I think people would be better served if we don't interrupt each other."

However, there were lighter parts of the debate, when Raddatz asked what Biden meant when he said that Ryan was saying "a bunch of stuff." Ryan translated the statement for Raddatz, saying "It's Irish."