Joe Biden’s antics against Paul Ryan have taken a few days to
sink in, and should take longer still.
For starters, try to imagine being Paul Ryan last Thursday: a
young politician in the hot seat, the eyes of the world pressing
upon him, as he tries to make careful and succinct statements in a
most-intense environment, while all along, literally nearly every
minute — Biden interrupted Ryan 80-plus times — his opponent
smirks, scoffs, laughs uncontrollably, flaps his arms, and,
generally, acts like a
petulant child. I ask readers: Could you have endured what Paul
Ryan handled? Given what he was up against, Paul Ryan’s debate
performance was truly remarkable. It was extraordinary. For poise
alone, Ryan won hands down.
As for Joe Biden, his disrespectfulness was of historic
proportions. Anyone but the blindest partisan Democrat concedes
that the man was obnoxious. Only really, really angry liberals —
granted, there are many — liked what Biden did.
“I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a debate where one candidate was
as openly disrespectful… and openly contemptuous,” observed a
stunned Chris Wallace, a veteran reporter who has watched every
presidential and vice-presidential debate since Kennedy v. Nixon in
1960.
Wallace’s observation brings me to this thought: I can’t help
but think of the historic dimensions of what happened last Thursday
evening. Consider the following, from the perspectives of both Paul
Ryan and Joe Biden:
As for Ryan, imagine if he someday rises to the rank of not just
vice president but president. Imagine if this young man in his
early 40s becomes a dominant face on the American scene for the
next 40 years. And then imagine Paul Ryan at, say, age
80-something, withdrawing from the public stage after a long,
accomplished, heralded career. If that indeed transpires, then the
world will look back at that moment with Joe Biden as historic. The
Biden-Ryan footage will be played again and again, rebroadcast and
rebroadcast, on TVs, computer screens, museums, perhaps even
presidential libraries: the young-looking, politically green Ryan
vs. the scoffing, mocking, nasty senior pol, with Ryan calmly
holding his own. Those watching the video in, say, the year 2052,
born after the 2012 political season, will look at the young Ryan
and smile in nostalgic appreciation, and will look at Joe Biden and
say, “Who’s that blowhard? Wow, that guy is obnoxious! Whatever
happened to him?”
As I grapple for historical parallel, here are two
analogies:
In July 1959, a young Richard Nixon, vice president of the
United States, was unfortunate victim of an impromptu debate with
an old, bald, bombastic, horse’s rear-end named Nikita Khrushchev.
The two went at it vigorously, with Khrushchev acting like an
idiot, pleasing (at best) only the hardest communist apparatchiks,
and with Nixon, many years younger, trying to make thoughtful
statements while getting continually shouted at — but ably holding
his own.
“Never before had a head of government met me with a tirade of
four-letter words,” said Nixon after first meeting Khrushchev. “His
vehemence… had been a shock. When God created Khrushchev (something
Khrushchev would deny), He broke the mold.”
If Paul Ryan rises to the level Richard Nixon did, we’ll think
of his debate with Biden as we do Nixon’s showdown with Khrushchev
— a defining marker in his career. At the same time, Ryan will not
crash and burn like Nixon, because Ryan is much more of a people
person and has greater character and integrity. Despite the Left’s
never-ending attempts to demonize Paul Ryan, most Americans will
like him — which brings me to my other analogy, Ronald Reagan.
In October 1947, a young and green Ronald Reagan appeared before
the House Committee on Un-American Activities. The actor was
president of the Screen Actors Guild. His youth was not lost on
Newsweek, which said that the pink-cheeked and
sandy-haired Reagan looked so boyish that when he stood to speak
the room was filled with “oh’s and ah’s,” especially from the
contingent of star-struck girls who came to ogle him.
By all accounts, from left to right, Reagan’s testimony was
mature. He was first questioned by Robert Stripling, the House
Committee’s tough chief investigator, and then by Chairman J.
Parnell Thomas. Other committee members declined to pose questions,
including, ironically, young Congressman Richard Nixon. (Only a
crazy-person watching that hearing would have predicted that the
two people sitting in the room who would one day become president
were Nixon and Reagan.)
Reagan did remarkably well under the lights, cameras, and
intense pressure. In fact, Chairman Thomas immediately followed
Reagan’s closing line by conceding: “We agree with that. Thank you
very much.” At the other end of the spectrum, among liberals, James
Loeb, executive secretary of Americans for Democratic Action (ADA),
dubbed Reagan’s testimony “by all odds, the most honest and
forthright,” saying he was “really magnificent.” Loeb called Reagan
“the hero” of the Washington hearings.
This, too, was a decisive marker in Reagan’s ultimate political
rise. We watch the footage in every documentary on Reagan — as we
will Paul Ryan’s trial with Joe Biden.
And what about Joe Biden? How does all of this fit into the big
picture historically for him?
If Barack Obama loses the presidency, this will have been
Biden’s swan song, and none so fitting. Here at American
Spectator last Wednesday, I wrote a piece titled, “Old
Smirkin’ Joe.” I described the kind of thing Biden pulled off
last Thursday. I noted how Biden in February 1981 had ridiculed an
exceptionally good man named Judge Bill Clark, who became Reagan’s
closest adviser. This was nothing new for Biden. He orchestrated
the same stunts against the likes of Ed Meese and Clarence Thomas
(among others). What was so perfect about Biden’s typically rude
attack against Paul Ryan is that finally, at long last, massive
numbers of Americans witnessed it. Joe Biden made history.
And as he did, tens of millions of Americans finally got a taste
of what this man has been doing to opponents for decades, going
back over 30 years. I hear media pundits rave about Biden being a
“nice guy,” no doubt bamboozled by his phony sentiments, theatrics,
and ability to emote. In truth, a genuinely nice guy wouldn’t do
what Biden did to Bill Clark, Ed Meese, Clarence Thomas, and now
Paul Ryan.
Last week’s performance was one for the history books,
compliments of vintage Old Smirkin’ Joe. It will be remembered not
just in Biden lore but in the life and path of Paul Ryan. And like
the verdict on last Thursday’s debate, Paul Ryan, in the end, will
be remembered more favorably.
