VPs on Talking to a Soldier

During the October 11, 2012 Vice Presidential debate moderator, Martha Raddatz said she spoke with a decorated soldier who said the campaign ads are so negative, tearing down each another rather than building up the country- what would you say to this soldier and at the end of the day are you ever embarrassed by the tone? Joe Biden said – he would say the same thing as he would say to his son who served in Iraq, we have only one sacred obligation as a government and that’s to equip those we send in harm’s way and care for those who come home; I would tell him that he should be honored and not thrown into the 47% not paying taxes and being responsible; in all campaigns there are things we regret but especially now when we have unidentified groups raising big money to say scurrilous (insulting) things; I’d ask him to take a look at who has the conviction to protect the middle class and if the President has acted wisely in the use of force and if the slip shot comments made by Romney serve our interests; 

Paul Ryan responded with – I’d thank him for his service to his country, we’re not going to impose cuts that compromise their mission and safety (these cuts are those imposed by the Republicans in Congress and now they make like Obama instituted them); I would tell him you have a president who ran on hope and change and has turned this into attack, blame and defame; he went on to repeat his statement about Obama not having a record to run on, attacked ObamCare, said 12 of the 21 Obama tax increases are going to hit the middle class; repeated lies of health care premiums going up and said Obama didn’t keep his promise to cut the deficit. Ryan said he has put together a credible plan to deal with it; that he’s passed 2 budgets and Romney has put ideas on the table; he said they asked for the President’s plan but he gave a speech (are you forgetting how long people have been asking you for a plan-in this debate you said you had no specifics); he then gave Romney’s false qualifications for leadership. Ryan said -I would tell him we can do better than this-we don’t have to settle for this. Biden responded with specifics in the flaws of the Romney plan and Ryan defended himself.

I didn’t hear Ryan say anything that would make the soldier feel better as he responded mostly with attacks which was the original concern of the soldier. I also did not hear Ryan say he had any regrets about how their campaign is being run.