ice President Joe Biden and U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, faced off in the first and only vice presidential debate of the 2012 election, engaging in several feisty exchanges over their plans for the country.
An energetic Biden went on the offensive in the wake of what was widely seen as a poor debate performance from President Barack Obama last week. He often grinned, threw his hands in the air and even interrupted at times when Ryan responded to the moderator’s questions.
Ryan seemed more reserved, but was not hesitant to go back and forth with Biden throughout the lively 90-minute debate.
The vice president attacked Ryan for comments Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney made earlier this year. While he has since said he regrets his comment, Romney was secretly filmed saying 47 percent of Americans who do not pay income tax “do not take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”
“These people are my mom and dad, the people I grew up with, my neighbors,” Biden said. “They pay more effective tax than Gov. Romney pays in his federal income tax.”
Ryan responded by saying Romney “cares about the 100 percent in this country” and that the entire economy has faltered under the failed leadership of the Obama administration.
“The economy is barely limping along,” Ryan said. “This is not what a real recovery looks like.”
The two also tussled over tax rates, foreign policy, the future of entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security and abortion.
Biden is scheduled to make a campaign stop in La Crosse Friday and Ryan will travel to Waukesha Monday for a town hall.
