In contrast to the first presidential debate, the first and only vice presidential debate featured a much more wide-ranging and informal discussion between the two candidates.

Republican vice presidential nominee, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan and incumbent Vice President Joe Biden faced off Thursday night at Centre College in Danville, KY. ABC News reporter Martha Raddatz moderated the debate.

While the first presidential debate focused solely on domestic issues, the vice presidential debate focused on both foreign and domestic issues.

The first debate topic was the conflict in Libya.  Biden chose to focus on what President Barack Obama has done while in office regarding foreign policy, noting that Obama has lead with a “steady hand and clear vision…Governor Romney; the opposite.”

Ryan said the Obama administration is putting the blame for some of its recent foreign policy “failures” on the Romney-Ryan ticket.  Biden laughed and smiled at some of Ryan’s comments repeatedly saying, “that’s not true, that’s not true.”

“This is a President who has gone out and done everything he said he would,” Biden said.

The second topic of the debate centered on Iran. Ryan said Iran is brazen and a clear threat to the United States. He blamed Iran’s increased nuclear capabilities on the Obama administration’s “inaction” and “watered down sanctions.”

“We cannot allow Iran to gain nuclear weapons capability,” Ryan said.

He also claimed that four years ago when Obama took office, Iran had the ability to only create one nuclear weapon, but now they have the potential to build five nuclear weapons.

But Biden stressed that Iran is “a good way away” from actually creating a nuclear weapon.

“Iran is more isolated now than it was when we took office,” he said in response.

The two candidates also discussed the unemployment rate, which is at 7.8 percent, according to the September jobs report. This is the first time in Obama’s presidency that the unemployment rate has dipped below 8 percent.

In a long-winded, emotional answer, Biden said he and the president know what it is like to be an average American and struggle in the middle class.  He stressed that Romney does not know what it is like to be a part of the middle or lower class. He also reiterated Mitt Romney’s now infamous 47 percent statement and claimed that Romney only cares about the wealthiest Americans.

Romney is a good man who cares about all Americans, Ryan said in response. Romney may have misspoken when he made the 47 percent comment, Ryan admitted, but noted that misspeaking was something Biden is “very familiar with.”

“If you think he just made a mistake… I got a bridge to sell you,” Biden quipped.

One of the last debate topics was entitlement programs. In the past, Ryan has said he wants to privatize Medicare and Social Security, but Biden said the democratic ticket will not be part of any voucher plan.

“We saved $716 billion and applied it to Medicare. We cut the cost of Medicare. We stopped overpaying insurance companies,” Biden said of the incumbents’ accomplishments.

But Ryan disputed these numbers.

“There aren’t enough small businesses and rich people to tax to pay for their budget,” he said.

The end of the debate got more personal as both candidates discussed their Catholic faiths.

“I don’t see how a person can separate their public life from their private life or from their faith, ” Ryan said when discussing abortion rights.

But Biden disagreed. He said despite the views of his Catholic religion, he believes women’s health should be a matter determined between the woman and her doctor, not by politicians.

Although this was the only vice presidential debate, two presidential debates remain. In their next debate, Romney and Obama are expected to further discuss the foreign policy issues their running mates debated Thursday night.

Published on October 12, 2012 at 3:55 pm

Contact Michael: mahacker@syr.edu