WHY JOE BIDEN WAS THE VP DEBATE WINNER LAST NIGHT AND WHY IT IS NOT A BUNCH OF MALARKEY

I watched last night's debate thrilled with Joe Biden's performance. He won on every level one can win a debate. Yet today some are declaring Ryan the winner, meaning people understand how debates work about as well as credit default swaps, quantum mechanics and why the Kardashians are still on TV. The end result of any debate is to swing people your way and, in this case, get them to vote for you. Are the people who declared Ryan the winner last night going to tell me anyone was swayed by his arguments to vote for him instead of Biden? Every study I saw today swung hard toward the democratic side and almost zero toward Romney. That is telling in and of itself.

First, it kills the momentum Romney had. Undecideds who watched last night felt Biden was clear about his points, didn't like what Ryan had to say about Medicare, Social Security and women's rights, and were now moving toward the Obama camp. That is devastating to the GOP who now are going to face an energized Obama in the next debate, which is also one historically the incumbent president usually does very well in. Second, if undecideds start moving en masse toward the president, which again undecideds usually do following the "devil you know" allegory, Romney stands to lose big come November and, as of right now, Obama is still the guy to beat in key swing states like Ohio, Virginia and Florida. If Obama takes any of those three it's game over as the electoral college will have the necessary 270 votes at that point. Ohio is the best hope for Obama where he still leads by a poll average of five points. That lead may widen by next week if Obama decides to show up this time.

Much has been made over Biden smiling, rolling his eyes and interrupting. I loved it. Romney did much the same thing in his debate, steamrolling over everyone and that was fine for the GOP, but now that the shoe is one the other foot, it's a disgrace. This is how debates operate guys. Besides, Ryan's smirk throughout the the debate was equally awful if that's how you want to play it. What do you people want, two candidates staring zombified at the other with dead eyes and no reaction? That sounds boring and inhuman. Let people be people and yes, I want the other candidate to roll his eyes and smile in derision when you keep telling one bold faced lie after another. If it were me I'd behave much the same. Trust me when I reading some of the garbage that comes out of so called media these days, I act just like Biden. From what I can tell, the Republicans found it rude, the democrats loved it and the independents could have gone either way. Biden injected some much needed energy into a dying race, even if it did look like the Vice President downed a case of Red Bull before hand.

Economists who watched the race gave high marks to Biden and a big raspberry to Ryan. Dean Baker, the co-founder of the Center for Economic Policy and Research, had this to say:

"Clearly Biden pressed Ryan on the fact that the tax plan did not add up. Ryan did not have an answer because there is none."

Another economist Andrew Fieldhouse, an analyst for the Economic Policy Institute, called Ryan's economic plan "supply side snake oil." He went on to say that the Romney/Ryan claim that their tax plan wouldn't lead to bigger deficits, tax increases or tax cuts for the wealthy is nonsense. He said:

 "This combination of promises is demonstrably mathematically impossible, and the onus remains on the Romney-Ryan campaign to prove their tax cuts will not blow a bigger hole in the deficit.".

All the independents who watched the race thought Biden crushed Ryan, which is exactly the people Obama and Biden were looking to reach. I have read through a dozen people who live blogged the event and not one thought Ryan won. Sure, Fox news will spin it as a rude Joe Biden versus a hapless child, Lying Ryan. They will go on about how many times he interrupted Ryan and how that smile was condescending and, of course, fail to mention how many times Paul Ryan told bold faced lies that either Biden or the moderator bashed him on.

Quick word about last night's moderator, Martha Radditz: She was AWESOME. That is the how you run a debate, Mr Lehere. You do not let the candidates run over you and you never let them spew some random bullshit without calling them on it. Between her and David Gregory in the Warren/ Brown debate, I am hopeful that the last two debates between Romney and Obama will be better.

The good news for Ryan was no Republican is going to start voting for Obama over this defeat. Ryan was solid with no major gaffes, other than everything he stands for, but as the GOP eats all that up anyway, no votes lost there. However, a lot of people who watched the debate and hadn't decided yet are now heading through the Obama door in record numbers and next week's polls may show a dramatic shift toward the President. No matter how you slice this, it was not a tie, Ryan did not win and A-Rod still sucks.