October 13, 2012

No More 'Reaching across the Aisle,' Please

By Daren Jonescu
About two thirds of the way through the vice presidential debate, I turned it off in disgust and walked away.  My blood pressure just wasn't worth it anymore. My anger was two-sided.  One side, naturally, was revulsion at the Biden-Raddatz Filibuster Hour.  (Or should that be "Filibluster"?)  The second side, sad to say, was my frustration at watching Paul Ryan apologize for his conservatism. It is easy -- and correct -- to outline how offensive Joe Biden's behavior was, and how biased Martha Raddatz's moderating was.  Both were predictable.  Everyone knows that Ryan's strength is his ability to lay out the numbers case against the entitlement society.  And everyone knows that this strength requires an audience willing to give him a hearing.  Thus, the careful strategy for this debate, from both the VP and moderator, was to refuse to give Ryan that fair hearing.  For Biden's part, this strategy boiled down to the simple technique, very...(Read Full Article)