European Opinion: Joe Biden beat Paul Ryan to disrupt Republican momentum in an episode of the Generation Game

Fabulous! Joe Biden for President! Vote Biden! Oh. Wait a second…

For Democrats, the task last night was to disrupt the substantial momentum of the Republican campaign following Mitt Romney’s trouncing of Barack Obama in the first debate. For Republicans, the task was to continue or even accelerate that momentum.

Overall, Democrats have more reason to be happy than Republicans. Joe Biden was assertive, funny, absolutely on top of his brief, and just condescending enough. He was also – crucially, from a Democrat point of view – able to manoeuvre the debate towards foreign policy, and an area where the Democrats are safe because of the rightly perceived success of Obama’s first-term foreign policy. The more this election is about foreign policy, and the less it is about economics, the better the Democrats’ chances. And yet it should also be granted that Biden’s best moments came when he took apart Ryan’s budget proposals – supposedly the area where the young pretender is strongest.

To a greater extent than previously noticed in this campaign, last night also highlighted a weird generation game. Leading the tickets are Obama (51) and Romney (65). Second on the tickets are Joe Biden (69) and Paul Ryan (42). In other words, the Democrat ticket is “Youth and Experience”, whereas the Republican ticket is “Experience and Youth”.

The President fought the last election as an agent of change and the Cool Kid. Last night, Biden showed him how to play the Comeback Kid. That’s a bit weird coming from a guy who entered the Senate in 1973.

What Biden showed last was an emotional intensity that Obama conspicuously lacked last week. He looked and sounded convincingly like someone absolutely on the side of America’s striving middle-class, and the jobless and elderly and poor who have taken such a battering over the past four years.

Read more: Joe Biden beat Paul Ryan to disrupt Republican momentum in an episode of the Generation Game - Comment - Voices - The Independent

US Presidential Elections: Poll: Joe Biden wins vice presidential debate - by Anthony Mason

Fifty percent of uncommitted voters polled after watching the vice presidential debate picked Joe Biden as the winner while 31 percent thought Rep. Paul Ryan won.

Read more: Poll: Joe Biden wins vice presidential debate - CBS News Video

US Presidential Elections: Paul Ryan: Poster Boy of Today's Extreme GOP - by Waymon Hudson

The Republican Choice For Its Presidential Team

While many in the media are focusing on the budget and fiscal views of Mitt Romney's pick as vice president for the Republican ticket, Paul Ryan is much more than just "wonky budget guy." In fact, Ryan's extreme social conservatism, which he prefers to hide under his fiscal views, is a perfect example of the state of today's GOP, which has been taken over by far-right ideologues who distract with tax and deficit talk as they seek to march civil rights back to the Dark Ages.

Yes, the Paul Ryan budget is extremely newsworthy for its uneven tax breaks for the richest Americans while gutting social safety nets like Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security, but Ryan's record on social issues and civil rights, specifically LGBT issues and women's rights, should not be glossed over by the media or by voters as November approaches. Despite the odd praise coming from conservative gay groups like Log Cabin Republicans and GOProud, Paul Ryan's record on LGBT rights is abysmal and far out of step with mainstream Americans.

Like most of the current Republicans in office, Ryan claims to want small federal government and strict constitutional reading... except when it doesn't fit their narrow social agenda. Paul Ryan has voted twice, both in 2004 and 2006, for an amendment to the federal constitution banning marriage between same-sex couples, a position presidential hopeful Mitt Romney also holds. In fact, Ryan bragged about his vote to amend the constitution in 2004 in a press release, saying, "I had hoped that this amendment wouldn't be necessary, but increasingly it appears that laws such as the Defense of Marriage Act will not be sufficient to protect marriage from certain courts that distort state and federal constitutional law."

Read more: Waymon Hudson: Paul Ryan: Poster Boy of Today's Extreme GOP

US Presidential elections: Romney flubs T-Party running mate Ryan's introduction

Mitt Romney could have said almost anything to a buoyant crowd ready to welcome his new running mate and it would have been OK. But flubbing Paul Ryan's big intro evoked a moment of "Say what?" uncertainty.

About 1,000 people had queued in long lines starting before daylight to be the first to hail the Wisconsin congressman who became a conservative hero for championing deep spending cuts.

People beamed, leaning forward, standing on tiptoes, craning their necks as Romney set up the most anticipated debut of his candidacy.

Then Romney says, "… the next president of the United States, Paul Ryan."  After Ryan had already launched into his speech about unabashed budgetary austerity, traditional values and the failures of President Barack Obama's Democratic White House, Romney stepped back onstage to smilingly correct his gaffe.

Ryan is the architect of a deeply conservative and intensely controversial long-term budget plan to cut trillions in federal spending, and his conservative credentials are highly regarded by fellow Republicans who control the House of Representatives.

Read more: Romney flubs running mate Ryan's introduction - World - CBC News