By Laura Ingraham
Joe Biden showed up last night in Kentucky with twin goals; one, to blunt Mitt Romney's post debate momentum; and two, to give a boost to a Democratic base that had become quite anxious after the President's terrible Denver debate performance.
Now, I'll give Biden this much. Last night he went from being a gaffe-omatic to being a laugh-omatic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL RYAN: The Obama administration had the exact same position. Let's recall that they disavowed their own -- now we have them in place because of Congress. they say the military option is on the table but it's not being viewed as credible so they stopped pursuing nuclear weapons --
MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC NEWS: How do you do it so quickly? Look, you -- you both saw Benjamin Netanyahu --
RYAN: We can debate the time line. We can debate the time line whether there is -- it's that short of time or longer. I agree that it's probably longer.
Number two, thank heavens we had these sanctions in place. It's in spite of their opposition.
JOE BIDEN: Oh, God.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Now this was odd. Even left of center guys such as Tom Brokaw or in the middle of the roaders like David Gergen found the Vice President's smirking, smiling, and constant smirking, smiling and constant interrupting off-putting. Instant polls showed that Biden's in-your-face debate strategy didn't wear so well and perhaps detracted from some of its stronger substantive points.
Speaking of substance, Joe Biden told a number of big whoppers last night but I'm going to stick to three of them. First, on why there wasn't adequate security in place on 9/11 in Benghazi.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: We weren't told they wanted more security there we did not know they wanted more security there. And by the way, at the time we were told exactly -- we said exactly what the intelligence community told us that they knew.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Now, was the Vice President so engrossed in his debate prep that he was unaware of the fact that the former top security official in Libya, Eric Nordstrom testified this week on Capitol Hill that he had repeatedly asked for more security? And yet, was turned down?
Number two; when asked who would pay more taxes in a second Obama term, Biden answered people making more than a million dollars or more, totally misleading. The Associated Press today reports that Obama's proposed tax increase reaches individuals making more than $200,000 a year and couples making more than $250,000 a year.
And number three, there was Biden's defense of the HHS contraception mandate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: No religious institution, Catholic or otherwise, including Catholic social services, Georgetown Hospital, Mercy Hospital, any hospital -- none has to either refer contraception, none has to pay for contraception, none has to be a vehicle to get contraception in any insurance policy they provide. That is a fact.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: False. Today the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops rebuked the Vice President, noting that the so-called accommodation, the Obama administration promised for Catholic hospitals, universities, and other religious charities isn't an accommodation at all. They will all still serve as a vehicle for contraception, abortifacient drugs and sterilizations because their health insurance premiums still will cover those services.
Now, Ryan himself had some difficulty on the foreign policy questions and allowed, I think, the moderator to cut him off too easily. But without a doubt, Joe Biden's demeanor and his mendacity made him both less likeable and less credible.
And that's "The Memo."
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