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Home Page > Blogs > News blogs > People and Politics > Maureen Dowd says Joe Biden delivered an 'Irish Catholic wake up call' to President Obama --Barack the big loser in V.P. debate says top New York Times columnist

People and Politics by Patrick Roberts

Maureen Dowd says Joe Biden delivered an 'Irish Catholic wake up call' to President Obama --Barack the big loser in V.P. debate says top New York Times columnist

Posted on Sunday, October 14, 2012 at 08:17 AM

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President Obama

New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd has stated that Joe Biden delivered an “Irish Catholic wake up” call to President Obama to get in thw game in Tuesday’s debate.

In her Sunday column, Dowd, the most read columnist in The Times and daughter of an Irish immigrant, stated that the debate was like Thanksgiving at her place.

“A donnybrook with Irish Catholic uncles and nephews interrupting one another, mocking one another, arguing over one another, bombastically denouncing every political opinion except their own as malarkey.”

Surprisingly, Dowd says the big loser on Thursday night was Barack Obama whose passionless performance contrasts so hugely to how Biden performed and how Ryan spoke.

“The loser of the vice-presidential debate was, of course, Barack Obama. In contrast to the pair on the undercard slugging it out, the president’s limp performance the other night was even more inexplicable and inexcusable,” Dowd wrote.

Dowd stated that “ It’s hard to imagine a politician getting penalized for smiling too much, but Joe Biden managed it, breaking out in smiles and laughter 92 times by the count of ABC News.”

However, Dowd believes that Biden gave Obama a second chance because “he offered a tour de force on facts that brought the playing field to life again.”

Dowd stated Ryan looked nervous at times.

“Ryan, who was a toddler when Biden first came to the Senate, seemed a little green and shaky at moments ... talking budget blarney, the Tea Party’s boy wonder once more proved that he can come up with a number for any purpose.”

She stated Biden’s biggest and strangest moment was when he “went on a one-minute scream-of-consciousness about the 47 percent cited by Romney as moochers, the 30 percent cited by Ryan as takers, Scranton, his parents, the Buffett rule, Social Security, veterans, the 47 percent again, Grover Norquist, the middle class, a fair shot, Wall Street vs. Main street, and $500 billion in additional tax cuts for 120,000 wealthy families. Practically in one breath. Whew.”

Like the rest of us Dowd will be watching Obama’s performance on Tuesday night very closely.

It is “Perils of Pauline” time. Has Biden thrown him a lifeline? Can the president clutch it? Tune in on Tuesday!

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pilib04 | Oct 18, 2012, 12:45 PM EDT

Ha, poor Maureen. She spoke, err, wrote too soon. The President took Mittens to the mat. This race is over. For the poll watchers, remember to factor in the missing Libertarian (Gary Johnson) vote. Only the Rocky Mountain News includes Johnson in the polls and it makes a major difference. No wonder the Republicans tried to keep him off the ballot (on 48 out of 50).

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eiriamach | Oct 18, 2012, 12:37 PM EDT

Cas Lee has posted, word for word, the same drivel on the Forbes web site, Baltimore Sun, prospect, politico, cbsnews, polocalprov, guardian uk, politicaltickerblogs, more and more and endlessly more blogs, palmbeachpost, siouxcityjournal, belmontshorepatch, and more and more and endlessly more news sites. . . . OK I haven't begun to list the 2 million hits that Cas Lee's exact words get on Google Search, so I'll stop there. But Irish Central, can't you do something to screen out the machine-generated political spam and limit postings to real human beings?

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McNamara31 | Oct 18, 2012, 12:27 PM EDT

For all who actually watched the presidential debates(and GOP primaries)I ask one question: Do you want a president or do you want an arrogant Gordon Gekko who rolls over your every word like you don't exist? If you turn off FOX for a day, you will find: the stock market which feeds our 401K's and pension plans has doubled since Obama took office. People with pre-existing conditions (nearly everyone over 50) have medical insurance, unemployment has steadily decreased, we're out of Iraq and leaving Afghanistan,the American car industry and feeder companies were saved. The other guy told the car industry "to fail", will end medicare and replace it with a voucher program so your 80 year old grandmother will have to "shop" for medical insurance yearly (how's that for a secure feeling)and as for wars, he's right in their with Bibi perched to start WW3 with Iran. I wonder if he'll put the trillions cost on credit cards like GWB did? And BTW Patrick, how far did you have to go to find this awful picture of the president?

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seanomelb | Oct 15, 2012, 06:29 PM EDT

Cas Ryan/Romney have about as much "substance" as a marshmallow.Maybe we should dub them "etch" and "sketch".

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Smyrnian | Oct 15, 2012, 04:23 PM EDT

Well said, Cas!!

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Cas Lee | Oct 15, 2012, 03:21 PM EDT

October 15, 2012 Hello, my fellow American voters! I watched the Oct. 3rd presidential and Oct. 11th vice-presidential debates. Romney-Obama debate covered 7 topics: jobs; budget deficit/debt; social security/entitlements; federal regulation of economy; healthcare; federal government role in economy; partisan gridlock. Ryan-Biden debate covered 10 topics: Libya; Iran; economy; medicare/social security/entitlements; taxes/tax reform/spending/budget cuts; military policy; Afghanistan; Syria; abortion; negative campaign tactics. As an INDEPENDENT, I support the Romney/Ryan ticket. Romney and Ryan won both debates. Ryan won despite Biden’s consistently rude/disrespectful behavior during the debate. Biden’s tactics to evade issues/truth were disrespectful to Americans interested in facts, figures, forecasts, and solutions for real people with real problems. Biden interrupted Ryan often, laughed often while Ryan was talking, and pointed his finger often. Romney and Ryan won with substance, integrity, respect, clarity, facts, commitment, inspiration, and leadership. But these debates are NOT about who wins but rather about who is the best person in terms of qualifications/character to lead our country to solve problems and make life better for all Americans. I am inspired by Romney/Ryan, and I hope that you are too! Best regards, Cas Lee

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nicgearailt | Oct 15, 2012, 11:55 AM EDT

Joe Biden's performance in the debate was unbecoming of his office.I cannot abide when there is no respect shown to the opponent.It just makes a mockery of the event.Who can say that that was worthy!

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jflanagan | Oct 15, 2012, 10:58 AM EDT

"Blue Collar Joe" who never had a blue collar job in his adult life, is a phony. He champions those less fortunate, a good thing, but averages only 0.3% of his and his wife salary when giving to charity. My wife and I give in one year on average more than they give in 20 years, yet we only make 1/8th of what they average in one year. I stopped taking him serious a few years back and his demeanor showed he isn't serious about anything but taking other peoples money and keeping his own.

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BrianO | Oct 15, 2012, 10:38 AM EDT

Again Ephraim you have no concept of the rights endowed on we citizens of the United States. The founders stated that one of the fundamental rights was freedom to practice your own religion. The only restriction is that the state,ie. the federal government could not by law force people to worship a state sponsored religion as was the case in england. Individuals, including presidents, are free to hold whatever religious convictions and are free to express those convictions without fear of government sanctions. Since your fear people who believe in God, or more aptly you wish others to fear them, you attempt again to scare monger. An old play from a worn out play book by you a paid democratic hack.

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jamieLM | Oct 15, 2012, 09:43 AM EDT

There's absolutely nothing funny about a country deep in debt or Iran with a nuclear weapon, etc. My husband and I don't find any of the issues facing the U.S. a laughing matter. Biden's "performance" was embarrassing, disgraceful, rude, and unfitting behavior for a sitting VP. This is one Irish-American couple who were thoroughly disgusted!

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hooligan6a | Oct 15, 2012, 09:02 AM EDT

Democrats have stopped being Catholic a long time ago.

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mreinhar2001 | Oct 14, 2012, 11:58 PM EDT

maggiepoo: Thanks for Proverbs 29:9, I will remember it.

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mreinhar2001 | Oct 14, 2012, 11:54 PM EDT

EamonnDublin; Your IQ comment was cute. Are you familiar with how the US Constitution developed? As you may already know, initially only white men were allowed to vote and that restricted a great deal of the population. But did you know that in the discussions that brought about the Constitution they seriously considered only allowing those men who owned real estate to vote? They thought that only those who owned property had the intelligence required to make a proper choice. If the Constitution had gone that way, I am sure the decision would have been overturned like everything else, but it certainly would have changed what America looked like for at least the first 50 years. As such, what we have now would look tremendously different.

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mreinhar2001 | Oct 14, 2012, 11:42 PM EDT

brendan gillen: But you have to be a citizen in the US to vote and actually live inthe US to know how it really "is." Was that a shameless plug for your book?

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shuvonn | Oct 14, 2012, 10:13 PM EDT

So NO lies were told by Ryan in that debate???? Get a grip you are clearly blinded by your own bias! No intelligent person is so blinded by one side when the hypocrisy is nauseating :-) what about Obamacare Romney Passed in mass? What about Ryan looking for stimulus money while looking for it for his state??? And Ore than once!! Or maybe the republican cutting of the defense budget for embassies world wide and now using the Ben ghazi murders to score cheap political points ?? I keep asking for some answers for the hypocrisy and not one of you have addressed one of these lies??? Cause you got NOTHING!

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