I wasn't going to comment on the Biden-Ryan debate, but then I happened across the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's The VP Debate: On Style, Ryan; On Substance, A Draw. As usual with the Journal Sentinel, WTF?!
We'll start with this myth of style. Paul Ryan is a B-movie actor, a JC Penney catalog model. Most people I've talked to about Mr. Ryan's delivery find it to be completely patronizing - exaggerated facial expressions, predictable intonations, and hammy overacting, in general.
When Romney (even though he lied his ass off) was aggressive with the President, he was declared the winner of the first debate. When Biden aggressively challenged Ryan's lies, he was a meanie. For the Journal, Ryan's stumbling to explain his debunked ideas and/or being completely vague, yet doing so with a smile, makes one a winner in style.
How can it be a draw on substance when the majority of Paul Ryan points were false? When Ryan's responses or statements are peppered with half-truths, outright falsehoods, and complete bullshit, how is that substantive? Even the Journal states, "Biden may have done a bit better in becoming a fact-checker on some of Ryan's statements." An underlying theme behind "substance" is that it not be complete bullshit. If, as even the Journal admits, Biden told more truths, by definition, he won on substance.
The Journal also pushes the myth that Ryan is a man of ideas. If all the things one suggests are false or mathematically impossible, they're not ideas, they're bullshit. This Journal opinion piece wasn't an unbiased appraisal of the debate, it was merely another opportunity for the Journal to further their right-wing talking-points and to defend another one of Wisconsin's conservative gasbags.
Paul Ryan is as big a phony as we've ever seen on the national political stage. And, as I've said before, the journal in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is definitely not for journalism.
For Further Reading:
Paul Ryan's 5 Biggest Lies
Paul Ryan's Mularkey On Full Display
Ryan's Biggest Debate Lie
Ryan Misleads About Social Security
Ryan Told 24 Myths In 40 Minutes
3 Lies From Paul Ryan
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