Paul Ryan lost what was essentially an empty match slanted by a vacant moderator whose wedding was attended by Barack Obama, a fact which was not disclosed (and should have been) by the debates commission or her employer, Disney-owned ABC News.
What should have been a dignified debate of ideas and policy in Danville, Kentucky, between two Catholics – the first top ticket U.S. candidate to endorse Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand and an admitted plagiarist who serves the nation’s most dishonest and anti-American president – was an aimless conversation in emotional outbursts, pandering, histrionics and platitudes. That it came at the lowest point, the darkest hour in our nation’s history makes this asinine display especially disgraceful.
Biden did what Biden does; he performed more than he persuaded. In smug facial expressions, smirks and overtones, with frequent interruptions and outrageous statements, the vice-president mocked the pain and suffering of people in his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and made an ass of himself as usual, most egregiously when the advocate of total government control of health care said he does not believe in interfering with a woman’s “right to her own body.” As a defender of ObamaCare, he interferes with every individual’s right to his own body.
Ryan did what Ryan does; he pleaded dispassionately for Mitt Romney on the grounds of charity, Big Government and altruism, asserting that America should apologize for soldiers who disrespect the religion that motivates our enemies, Islam, and repeatedly praising government social programs, pledging to strengthen them and “save” them, interjecting that by stopping Iran from having nuclear weapons “we would prevent a war,” ignoring or evading that we’re already in a war. He talked about “taking care of the vulnerable” and, referring to his faith that life begins at conception, insisted that a woman has no right to an abortion. Not once did he make a case for capitalism on principle, let alone on the proper principle, the pursuit of happiness, which redounds to Ayn Rand’s ethics, egoism.
So, utterly lacking an argument for individual rights or a strong defense of America, from someone who as a professed admirer of Atlas Shrugged should know better, the showdown in Kentucky amounted to an anti-intellectual spitting contest between two politicians who share the same altruist-collectivist premise, even the same religion. Biden made an emotional argument that ignored or distorted the facts and Ryan made a pragmatic argument that ignored or distorted our founding principles (and each did likewise). Biden’s style was rude and bombastic while Ryan’s was bland and robotic – an alarming combination when one considers he vowed to do what he says he will do and he says he seeks to ban abortion – and, as an Objectivist, the television event (it can’t be called a debate) was a depressing reminder that people who read Atlas Shrugged usually don’t understand it and that certainly includes those who think they agree with Ayn Rand’s philosophy.
“You deserve better”, Congressman Ryan told us, declaring that Obama’s presidency is “not working.” He’s right on both counts, but not for the reasons he thinks and he is especially right that we deserve better, including better than him and Mitt Romney.