I rarely comment on real time issues, since it is done well enough by many other people. I will make an exception here. Do you remember Steve Kroft asking Obama if he was “punch drunk” in an interview (I’m sure the video is out there, but I’m not taking the time to find it) in 2009? I said then that he was trying to channel FDR, who used laughter to great effect in very trying times. He calmed people. In my view, he bamboozled them, but the net is that it got the job done.
Biden’s handlers know he is an idiot. He is a glad hander, who knows how to read people well enough, and is smart enough to be loyal to the people who invite him to the party. But with regard to substantive issues, they likely felt that he was absolutely in beyond his depth, and that to attempt to be serious next to the very serious, very policy detail oriented Ryan was way past his capability. They likely told him to do the opposite, to more or less mock Ryan, in the hope that people would jump on the bandwagon: “Oh there you go AGAIN, Paul, you silly boy”.
It does not sound like it worked. I can’t watch debates, or really even live coverage of anything. All I consume, by and large, are facts. My opinions are my own.