Biden, Ryan trade sharp words on foreign policy, economy during vice-presidential debate
Video: Vice President Joe Biden and Rep. Paul Ryan discuss taxes and military cuts during the vice presidential debate Thursday night in Danville, Kentucky.
Vice President Biden and Rep. Paul Ryan clashed over Libya, Afghanistan and the economy in the campaign's only vice-presidential debate Thursday, interrupting and re-interrupting one another during a 90-minute exchange shaped by Biden's aggressive tone.
Ryan picked up themes used by his running mate, Mitt Romney, in last week's presidential debate. He criticized the Obama Administration for its handling of an attack in Libya, and accused it of dodging hard questions about the debt.
Full transcript of the V.P. debate
Read the complete text of the debate between Vice President Joe Biden and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) in Danville, Ky.
But the debate's dominant voice was Biden's. The vice president was assertive in a way that President Obama had not been, chuckling in seeming exasperation several times at Ryan's arguments, and interrupting the Republican in mid-argument. He had the night's most memorable one-liners, calling Ryan's arguments "malarkey," "loose talk," and "a bunch of stuff."
But, at times, Biden's tone edged toward dismissive. In a few instances, he cut off his counterpart multiple times in the same answer. Eventually, Ryan seemed frustrated with the cacophony of the two talking over each other.
"Mr. Vice President, I know you're under a lot of duress to make up for lost ground," Ryan said. "But I think people would be better served if we didn't keep interrupting each other."
The two continued their strong exchange until the end of the 90-minute debate, using strong words in their closing statements.
"You've probably detected my frustration with their attitude about the American people," Biden said, again referring to Romney's 47 percent comment. "He's talking about my mother and father. He's talking about the places I grew up."
Ryan said, "President Obama he had his chance. He made his choices."
One of Ryan's best early moments came in response to the debate's first question, about the attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed the U.S. ambassador and three others. Ryan recounted how the White House's account of the attack had shifted, and cast it as a signal of a broader problem.
"What we are watching on our TV screens is the unraveling of the Obama foreign policy, which is making…us less safe," Ryan said.
For Biden, the sharpest moment may have been when he picked up on the theme that President Obama did not touch in the first presidential debate. He recalled a Romney speech that was secretly recorded, in which the Republican candidate described 47 percent of Americans as people who considered themselves primarily victims.
"I've had it up to here with this notion that, 'Forty-seven percent, it's about time they take some sort of responsibility here,'" Biden said.
Ryan responded with a quip that played on Biden's reputation for verbal gaffes.
"Mitt Romney's a good man. He cares about 100 percent of Americans in this country," Ryan said. "I think the vice president very well knows that sometimes, the words don't come out of your mouth the right way."
At another point, when Biden labeled Ryan's answer about a question on Iran "a bunch of stuff," moderator Martha Raddatz asked what he meant.
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