Israel Matzav

In VP debate, Ryan rips Obama-Biden on Iran (with video)

In a debate in which, according to one count, Vice President Joe Biden interrupted Congressman Paul Ryan 82 times in 90 minutes (Hat Tip: Bad Blue), Ryan ripped the Obama administration for its handling of Iran.

"The Administration has been been blocking sanctions for years," charged Ryan. " When Barack Obama was elected, they had enough fissile material -- nuclear material to make one bomb. Now they have enough for five. They’re racing toward a nuclear weapon. They’re four years closer toward a nuclear weapons capability."

Ryan added his view that the Iranians were heartened by Obama's mistreatment of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. The ayatollahs " They see this administration trying to water down sanctions in Congress for over two years.see the US wanting more space with our ally Israel. They see President Obama in New York City the same day Bibi Netanyahu is and he, instead of meeting with him, goes on a daily talk show... When they see us putting daylight between ourselves and our allies in Israel, that gives them encouragement."

Biden responded that sanctions imposed by the US and other Western countries have been "the most crippling sanctions in the history of sanctions," and that Obama's strategy has led to the international community presenting a united front on Iran. "Imagine had we let the Republican Congress work out the sanctions. You think there’s any possibility the entire world would have joined us, Russia and China, all of our allies?"

Well, except the Republican Congress - and the Democratic Senate - did work out the sanctions, and then forced the Obama administration to impose them.

The bottom line is that Biden didn't do what he had to do. He didn't win.

CNN polling following the event showed 48 percent of respondents believed Republican candidate Paul Ryan won the debate, while 46% believed Democrat Joe Biden won. Opinions of undecided voters may have been affected by Biden's body language, as the vice president smiled and laughed sarcastically at points during the 90-minute debate in an apparent effort to dismiss Ryan comments.

More on Biden's rudeness and sarcasm here (Hat Tip: Memeorandum). 

Here's video of the entire debate (I'll have a few highlights in later posts for those who don't have the patience). Let's go to the videotape.

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Campaign 2012, Joe Biden, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:08 AM