Vice President Joe Biden and Congressman and Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan duked it out over foreign and domestic policy at Thursday night’s vice-presidential debate in Danville, Ky.
LSU political science professor and Director of Graduate Studies James Garand said in an email he thought Thursday night’s debate was the opposite of the first presidential debate, which he thought was one of the best he’d ever seen.
“This debate was as unhelpful as the presidential debate was helpful,” Garand said. “It was more like a scrum than a debate. I can easily imagine many Americans turning off the debate midway through out of frustration and disgust.”
The men spent much of the night throwing jabs at each other.
Biden laughed in response to many of Ryan’s answers, and at one point remarked that Ryan’s responses were “a bunch of malarkey.”
Ryan told Biden after a discussion about the economy that he would certainly understand “things sometimes don’t come out of your mouth the right way.”
Biden responded with, “At least I always say what I mean.”
The candidates’ comments made it difficult to figure out what each one’s position was, Garand said.
Students watching in the Holliday Forum of the Journalism Building disagreed with the professor.
“This debate was much better than the presidential debate,” said political communication senior Lauren Thibault.
Political communication sophomore Camille Stelly said she thought Martha Raddatz, the vice presidential debate moderator, was much more assertive than last week’s presidential debate moderator Jim Lehrer.
Stelly said moderator Raddatz was much more eloquent and poignant than Lehrer, which gave the debate a clear direction.
Interdisciplinary studies senior Adria Porch said she thought Raddatz made it more difficult for candidates to get off the hook, and she felt neither Ryan nor Biden insulted her intelligence by dancing around issues.
Biology junior Ty DeLee agreed with Porch, saying the debaters put more across this time than those in the presidential debate.
When talking about Iran’s possible nuclear capabilities, Ryan insisted Iran was four years closer to building a weapon than it was before people voted in the Obama administration.
Biden countered by saying Iran does not have a weapon where its people can put the uranium they have acquired.
Both Biden and Ryan are Roman Catholic, and each discussed his faith when asked about abortion.
Ryan said he wasn’t sure how anyone could separate his faith and private life from his public life. He then cited watching the heartbeat of his firstborn, and said he believes life begins with conception.
Biden said his religion defines who he is, but he refuses to force it on others.
“I do not believe we have the right to tell other people that women can’t control their body,” Biden said.
Political science junior David Ambrogio said he believed the debate showed Ryan’s solid rhetoric on fiscal plans, but Biden presented a strong foreign policy.
When asked who he would vote for, Ambrogio said he is strongly in the column of Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson.
