After watching Joe Biden and Paul Ryan debate, I personally became even more assured that Ryan would be the better President of the two. Ryan was measured, logical, polite, armed with factual information and more in control of his responses. Biden on the other hand appeared manic (although I am not qualified to make that diagnosis). His responses were erratic, as indicated by his need to say "fact" more than 80 times, even though most of his facts weren't facts at all. Some were downright falsehoods. Biden is 69 and has a lot of experience in Washington, although to me that just means that Delaware provides a safe haven for him just as Jesse Helms had a safe seat as a conservative senator from North Carolina. He is reputedly a nice guy with a strong grasp of foreign relations, which he did not show off considering his lack of knowledge about the Libyan situation. Ryan is only 42 -- a year younger than JFK when the latter was elected President -- but still has 12 years in Congress, so politically he is certainly not inexperienced. He has a firm grasp of the economy, which we need in leadership positions, although Biden kept interrupting him to prevent him from showing how little Biden knows about the economy. Now, granted I am "pro" Ryan. What are your views about with which of these two would you be more confortable as a potential POTUS successor?
Four years ago you would have posted the same question and concluded Sarah Palin would have been better suited to be POTUS. Thread = fail.
Surely. Thumbs, you can't be serious. Ryan has not learned how to work with others, but only to suck up to the Koch brother types who generally support his Ayn Rand/libertarian/conservative ideology. Ryan does have good hair, good abs, and a certain small town charm thing going which allows him to get reelected despite being ideologically driven to support policeis which have decimated the main industry in his district, the auto industry.
I am serious. In this era of terrorists who use the internet to track people and places and who have the ability to gain access to a variety of weapons, the importance of the VP is on the ascendant. He has to be more than a tie-breaker in the Senate. In the "old days," it would have been okay for "Joe just being Joe" -- the pass that the press gives him for his frequent gaffs and befuddlements. If your big complaint is that Ryan has learned to "suck up" to campaign contributors, what must your opinion be of both Obama and Biden? Both became millionaires off their wealthy supporters and are indebted to them (see Solyndra et al). I shall count you in the Biden column.
This is a joke right? Do I think the Ayn Rand disciple who wants to destroy Medicare, wants to stick it to the middle class with his budget, wants to destroy unions, and wants to redefine rape is a good candidate to be President? Um, no.
experience ... scoreboard Ryan is a toadie. Just a vacuous pretty face fronting for 1%. He can't explain the bulls*** they put in front of him to read, because it's indefensible.
The key distinction between federal and state leadership is foreign policy; Biden did that for decades on the highest non-diplomatic stage possible, for that reason alone he's more qualified. I'll concede Ryan would have been a better VP pick than Palin, particularly in pursuit of McCain's secondary goal of giving a young Republican an opportunity to advance.
Paul ryan would pull the plug on your dialysis machine and then call you a parasite as you went into septic shock. Not a good fit for this character. Try harder. Looking forward to Obamacare death sequence in' 14
Paul Ryan as the President? WTF??? I wouldn't nominate this guy for the leader of a girl scout troupe.
Nevertheless, either Biden or Ryan will be first in line to become POTUS if anything happened to the presidential winner. Ryan has youth and intellect compared to Biden's creeping senility and toothy grin. With regard to SamFisher's concern about my continued dialysis, I have more confidence in the Romney/Ryan treatment of Medicare vs. Obama/Biden. As Obamacare is implemented, fewer and fewer doctors will participate in a crippled Medicare leaving more and more seniors stranded in a medical wasteland.
Classic whistling in the dark, methinks. All the polls have the election too close to call, and many of them show Romney with a slight lead. However, that said, I have very little faith in polls.
Follow the money (you are a Republican, all you care about is money); Vegas as Obama at 63% to win.... But that is far from a lock. I expect a very close race, especially if Obama has another mediocre debate.