I have been watching presidential debates since 1960 when I was a teenager who saw the future of our nation in the charm, wit and clear-mindedness of John F. Kennedy.
I've seen Nixon sweat and brood, Carter pontificate, Ford bungle, Gore sigh and attempt to upstage, George H. W. Bush impatiently gaze at his watch, Palin lose her way somewhere amidst a sea of "You betchas" and Dukakis stumble through a question that he could have and should have hit out of the park.
But I have never seen a performance like Joe Biden's boorish, childish silly show Wednesday night. Never.
Yes, other less than stellar debaters have had their moments. And those moments have often been more costly than they probably should have been.
But for sheer, sustained, utterly disrespectful shamelessness, Biden's Wednesday night vaudeville takes the cake.
It was embarrassing to watch -- not just because Biden's old and somewhat pathetic at this point but also because the man has now rendered himself below the level of caricature. He's become a real-life cartoon.
Now, I understand that some are saying that on substance Biden scored -- that he somehow knew his stuff and that he hit the target on key issues.
I have two problems with that assertion.
The first is that he stumbled and he lied. He stumbled badly when he said that "we" didn't know that the Libyan embassy asked for added security before the raid, since he contradicted sworn testimony from the Obama administration. And he lied when he said that he didn't vote for two wars that he did in fact vote for. And these are just two examples.
So, on substance his performance was really not that great -- especially for a sitting Vice President of the United States who should have known what he was talking about.
And then there's this: In public speaking, you really cannot separate style from substance. The two need to work together. Otherwise, what you're saying makes no sense. The style must match the substance.
You cannot smile and laugh and mug when the subject is thermonuclear war. You cannot cackle while debating trillions of dollars of debt. It doesn't work.
If your facial expressions, gestures and the tone of your voice signal gravity, then we expect the discussion to be serious. But if they signal fun and games, then we expect frivolity.
The future of our country and the issues we face today constitute serious business. Indeed, in many cases the situation is truly grave.
The irony here is that in 2008 Biden was reportedly selected to bring gravitas to the ticket. It was felt that he would do for Obama what Cheney did for George W. Bush. But it hasn't worked out that way. Sadly, Biden has become a joke.
The bottom line is this: Biden did neither himself nor the ticket any good Wednesday night. But more importantly, I now wonder whether or not he is even fit for office. He exhibited shockingly poor judgement and behaved in a matter that brings his stability into question.
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