Live blog: Debate between Vice President Joe Biden and US Rep. Paul Ryan
Vice President Joe Biden and Congressman Paul Ryan squabbled over the economy, taxes, and Medicare in a contentious, interruption-filled debate. (Associated Press)
All major networks plus CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC are airing the debate.
Follow the stream below for updates and analysis by Boston.com and Boston Globe staff. Add your thoughts in the comments box.
Staff contributors include:
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Vice President Joe Biden and Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan have their one and only debate tonight, with the potential to affect the presidential race by boosting President Obama or letting Mitt Romney add to the momentum he gained in his own debate last week. -
Both sides are in full spin mode.
Brendan Buck, a spokesman for the Romney campaign, just e-mailed political reporters noting a new “microsite” for rapid response to debate charges and counter-charges.
“Tonight in the vice presidential debate, Paul Ryan will lay out the clear choice in this election between Governor Romney’s plan for a real recovery or four more years like the last four under President Obama - which even Vice President Biden himself said ‘buried’ the middle class.”
The top of the ticket, meanwhile, is engaged over whether the administration was negligent in protecting the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that was attacked last month, killing four, including US Ambassador Christopher Stevens and Winchester native Glen Doherty, a former Navy SEAL working as a security contractor for the State Department.
In Asheville, N.C., Romney said: “It’s an issue because this is the first time in 33 years that a United States ambassador has been assassinated. Mr. President, this is an issue because we were attacked successfully by terrorists on the anniversary of 9/11. President Obama, this is an issue because Americans wonder why it was it took so long for you and your administration to admit that this was a terrorist attack.
Obama campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith replied, “Mitt Romney will stoop to any level to score cheap political points. From the time of the attack in Libya, Mitt Romney has stopped at nothing to politicize these events – and he wasted no time in proving that point in North Carolina today. While President Obama has been focused on getting the facts, finding the terrorists responsible, and bringing them to justice, Mitt Romney has attempted to use the tragedy to his political advantage.” -
CAMPAIGN 2012: VP Biden's motorcade en route to debate hall, per pool report...by Glen Johnson via twitter 10/12/2012 12:14:28 AM
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RT @zbyronwolf: Jill Biden flew to Kent. after @VP because she was teaching a class, per @arlettesaenz and the print poolby Glen Johnson via twitter 10/12/2012 12:19:57 AM
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ANALYSIS: THIS IS MICHAEL KRANISH, the Globe's Washington Bureau deputy chief, and I will be providing live-blog analysis for tonight's vice presidential debate. The mission of the candidates tonight is to promote the top of the ticket, and score some hits against their opponent without making any blunders. VP debates usually are far less important than presidential ones, but they have provided their share of memorable moments and zingers. Like many such debates, this one is generational, with the senior Biden, famously blunt, facing off against the younger and less experienced Ryan. It should be a fascinating debate. -
The candidates will not be standing at podiums, as were Obama and Romney last week, but seated at a triangular table across from moderator Martha Raddatz.
CNN is also showing that Biden’s motorcade has arrived at the debate hall. A media pool report issued at 8:05 p.m. had said that Biden left the home where he was awaiting the debate to start his trip to the convention hall. -
A White House media pool report says that the president has wrapped up an appearance in Miami and is aboard Air Force One for the flight back to Washington.
Obama - and the reporters aboard - will be able to watch via satellite TV.
JetBlue has nothing on the US Air Force. -
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ANALYSIS: IT WILL BE INTERESTING to see how many times Vice President Biden makes debating points that Democrats wished President Obama had focused on in his Denver debate. Looking for Biden to mention as early as possible the death of Osama bin Laden and federal assistance that Democrats say saved General Motors. Ryan expected to have well-prepared responses.
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"Please," moderator tells crowd. "Don't tweet!"by Matt Viser via twitter 10/12/2012 12:45:11 AM -
So far Centre College is beating University of Denver in the debate media room face-off: Audio actually matched up with video on the TVs.by Matt Viser via twitter 10/12/2012 12:47:55 AM
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Jill Biden, Janna Ryan recognized in the debate hall. Unlike Michelle Obama and Ann Romney, the spouses don't recognize one another.by Matt Viser via twitter 10/12/2012 12:49:31 AM
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RT @daveweigel: Raddatz tells audience to turn off cellphones b/c once hers went off in WH briefing & played "Ridin' Dirty" #theyseemerollinby Matt Viser via twitter 10/12/2012 12:52:35 AM
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This table setting reminds me of a 2000 debate in South Carolina between George W. Bush and John McCain, with Larry King as moderator. It was intense as the two candidates accused each other at close quarters of dirty campaigning.
Martha Raddatz, the moderator, is now coming on the stage. -
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RT @jameshohmann: CNN: How nervous are these two guys? Paul Begala: "Well, about as nervous as a hooker in church...."by Matt Viser via twitter 10/12/2012 12:58:49 AM
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Camera pans to a guy letting out a long, long yawn just minutes before VP debate starts...by Matt Viser via twitter 10/12/2012 12:59:23 AM
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"Can I call you Joe?"by Matt Viser via twitter 10/12/2012 1:02:51 AM
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Paul Ryan writing furiously with a blue pen as Joe Biden speaks.by Matt Viser via twitter 10/12/2012 1:05:02 AM
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“Look, if we’re hit by terrorists, we’re going to call it what it is," Paul Ryan says.by Matt Viser via twitter 10/12/2012 1:06:35 AM
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"When it comes to our veterans, we owe them a great debt of gratitude," Ryan says, looking at Biden. "Including your son Beau."by Matt Viser via twitter 10/12/2012 1:07:28 AM
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“Wasn’t [the Libya consulate attack] a massive intelligence failure?” Raddatz asks. Biden says it was a tragedy, the killers are being hunted, and whatever mistakes were made “won’t be made again.” He then recounts the administration’s foreign policy and anti-terrorism successes. “The president of the United States has led with a clear head and a steady vision. Mitt Romney has done the opposite,” says Biden.
Ryan retorts that “it took the president two weeks to acknowledge this was a terrorist attack.” He notes the US ambassador to France has a Marine detachment; shouldn’t there have been one in Libya. Ryan calls the unfolding story “an embarrassment,” and says it is wrong for the Obama campaign to blame the Romney campaign. “This Benghazi issue would be a tragedy in an of itself, but it’s indicative of a broader problem,” says Ryan. He calls it part of the “unraveling” of the Obama administration foreign policy. -
Biden, delivering line Obama wished he had: "With all due respect, that’s a bunch of malarkey. Not a single thing he said was accurate."by Matt Viser via twitter 10/12/2012 1:09:24 AM
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"These guys bet against American all the time!" Biden says.by Matt Viser via twitter 10/12/2012 1:10:07 AM
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“We did not know they wanted more security there," Biden says of Libyaby Matt Viser via twitter 10/12/2012 1:10:55 AM
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FACT CHECK: The Obama administration's early statement on Sept. 11 violence in Libya and Egypt: The first statement, which was criticized by Mitt Romney, was issued by the US embassy in Cairo before violence erupted.
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Ryan is being steady, and is obviously well-briefed. He is used to debating in that he has to defend his budget proposal in Congress.
“With all due respect, that is a bunch of malarky,” says Biden. The vice president says that Ryan proposed cutting embassy security funding in his budget proposal. “These guys bet against America all the time,” says Biden.
Raddatz asks what the administration was first told about what happened in Libya. The vice president says that intelligence community changed its story about what happened a month ago. “At the time, we said exactly what the intelligence community told us they knew,” says Biden. As the story changed, the administration changed its explanation.
Raddatz asks Ryan about whether the country should apologize for burning Korans, or soldiers urintating on Taliban corpses. Ryan says yes, but that does not explain away not securing the Libyan ambassador on the anniversay of 9/11. Raddatz then moves to Iran. -
Asked if US should apologize for burning Korans, Paul Ryan says, "Oh gosh, yes."by Matt Viser via twitter 10/12/2012 1:12:15 AM
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Paul Ryan had a thick briefing book on foreign policy. From early part of the debate, seems like he studied it closely.by Matt Viser via twitter 10/12/2012 1:14:05 AM
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ANALYSIS: A FORCEFUL and well prepared back and forth on Libya and foreign policy. Moderator Martha Raddatz is pushing Biden and Ryan like the strong interviewer that she is. Biden suggests Romney/Ryan would push the US into another conflict, saying, “the last thing we need now is another war.” Ryan responds that the country is witnessing the “unraveling of the Obama foreign policy.” This is no debate over Big Bird. The focus on foreign policy is a strong reminder to viewers of the gravity of the office at stake and importance of the issues discussed being tonight.
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Biden, on Iran: "These are the most crippling sanctions in the history of sanctions. Period. Period.”by Matt Viser via twitter 10/12/2012 1:16:00 AM
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"We’re going to go to war? you want to go to war now?" Biden asks. "We’re going to prevent war," Ryan responds.by Matt Viser via twitter 10/12/2012 1:16:21 AM
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Second use of "my friend" by Biden, using the language of the Senate floor. Then goes: "All this bluster, all this loose talk!"by Matt Viser via twitter 10/12/2012 1:17:13 AM
