Pirate's Cove

I’m not going to spend much time on the specifics of the debate, since this will be cross-posted at Right Wing News and John Hawkins has done a great job at breaking the debate down. Here’s what I noticed the most

Every time Biden smiles I think he’s going to say “you know how I got these scars?” #VPDebate

— WilliamTeach (@WilliamTeach) October 12, 2012

The Washington Times notices this as well

The debate was really two very different debates, depending on whether you watched it or listened to it. On the radio, Biden was much more assertive than President Obama was last week, seeming to have taken a page from Mitt Romney’s book. He was at all times on the offensive, never letting a point get past unchallenged, and occasionally trying to keep the point from getting past at all. He sounded confident and in command, if not always entirely grounded in facts and logic, while Ryan sounded more deferential.

On TV the story changed. Biden maintained a feral grin throughout, often laughing and smirking when Ryan spoke. His intent may have been to intimidate Ryan or to make him look like a mere boy, but his demeanor was more Joker than vice-presidential. He went back and forth between contemptuous and deranged in a performance that, combined with his frequent interruptions of Ryan (over 80 according to one TV pundit), was both fascinating and slightly disturbing. (graphic from Ashlandic Ramblings)

It was completely inappropriate to watch the Vice President of the USA smirk and smile wildly while discussing serious issues like our ambassador being killed in Libya and Iran being close to developing nuclear weapons.

Via CFP

“I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a debate in which one participant was as openly disrespectful of the other as Biden was to Paul Ryan….  It was openly contemptuous and disrespectful.”—Chris Wallace “Fox News”

“Ryan was soft-spoken, sincere, and serious.  Biden seemed to take the entire proceeding as a farce.  In treating it so, he made it so.  More importantly, he made the Obama administration look like what it is: a bullying, bloviating, obnoxious administration more interested in talking over its opponents than working with them to improve the lives of Americans.”—Ben Shapiro “Biden Loses It”

Maggies Farm

Biden may have encouraged his base by his boorishness, and Ryan may have not met his base’s expectations of being tougher on Biden’s assertions — even when wrong as to facts. But, for many Independents the comparison comes down to Ryan’s civility Vs Biden’s rudeness. That’s an important atmospheric. — See the Twitter negative reactions to Biden’s rudeness from reporters across the political spectrum. — Allahpundit has a wrap-up headline quip: “Angry old man yells at Paul Ryan for 90 minutes”. — CNN instapoll gives the nod to Ryan.

And let’s not forget that Biden completely contradicted the State Department on Libya, not to mention so much of the other information that we know now about the Obama administration being informed that it was a terrorist attack within hours. And he threw the intelligence community under the bus.

Last week the talk was about Obama’s disconnected debate stance, this week the talk is about Biden’s foolish optics. And the RNC already has a web-ad out

More: Political Realities also notices the Joker theme.

Nice Deb has a good wrapup and a great link-o-rama on the debate.

The Lonely Conservative: “Then again, Biden has been in Washington for so long, he knows the joke is on all of us. No wonder he was smiling.” And The Inner Joe from Andy H.

Gator Doug has an interesting Proverb.

The Camp of the Saints has the debate hangover.

AJ Strata says the VP’s meltdown was embarrassing.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.