The Job They Needed to Do

The Foundation

"Speak seldom, but to important subjects, except such as particularly relate to your constituents, and, in the former case, make yourself perfectly master of the subject." --George Washington

Political Futures

"I think both candidates basically did what they needed to do in the vice presidential debate, which leaves the Republican ticket in a slightly better position -- since Biden's goal was damage control with the base and Ryan's was reinforcing a positive impression with persuadable voters. ... For Paul Ryan, this was an important night. He didn't shine the way Romney did last week, but that's never really an option for the running mate. His job was to reinforce Romney's case and to pass the bar of presidential credibility himself, and he certainly did that. In his biggest moment on the national stage to date, he was calm, clear, thoughtful, and serious. That's the image the Romney campaign needs to project in these final weeks, and it's the image Ryan wants to project. He did it in part by not pressing every potential opportunity he had (whether intentionally or by truly missing those opportunities).... He had to decide on the fly how to handle Biden's strange behavior, and he probably made the right choice. Ryan was easily the more presidential figure on the stage (I might have said 'more vice presidential,' but that would seem like an insult), and his command of the foreign policy issues that came up should go a long way toward putting to rest any concern about his expertise on that front. ... This was basically a debate about the Romney agenda, with some thoughts on the Obama record thrown in. For a campaign whose motto is 'forward' there was remarkably little forward-looking substance." --Ethics and Public Policy Center fellow Yuval Levin

Opinion in Brief

"I was struck by the difference between the generational and gender appeal of the two [vice presidential] candidates. The dial groups showed that Ryan did better with women than with men -- in vivid contrast with the usual partisan patterns. Biden talked strongly about the need to keep Social Security and Medicare as 'guaranteed' programs.... But I think that Ryan's argument [was] that we need to reform these programs in order to make them available to people currently under 55. ... Ryan was impressive on foreign policy, going toe to toe with a man who served 36 years on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Ryan effectively made the argument that the Obama administration's policy was in disarray, that the world is spinning out of control. A hush came over the debate ... when both candidates started talking about Afghanistan, citing their own experiences there. Biden pretty much stopped smirking at that point, as if he no longer thought it appropriate. But I suspect many television viewers had concluded that it was inappropriate far earlier in the debate. Biden was doing the bidding of Team Obama: ridicule Romney's and Ryan's ideas as inappropriate.... My sense is that that's not convincing to anyone who is not already convinced. ... My sense: Biden pumped up partisan Democrats, but failed to win over the voters who are taking a serious look at Romney at a point when he is up in national polls." --political analyst Michael Barone

Editor's Note

Following today's Brief, you will receive a Special Edition from Mark Alexander with the subject line, "Memo to Mitt Romney -- Talking Points for the Second Debate."

Reader Comments

"As for Mark Alexander's question of obfuscation and diversion in the unemployment numbers, I think it is interesting that the chowderhead chooses to claim 7.8 percent. That was the number when he took office. Does he think it's sufficient to spend a $1 trillion in 'stimulus' and wait four years to reach status quo? Secondly, 7.8 percent was the worst unemployment figure George W. Bush ever produced. Yet somehow it's Bush's fault that Obama can only reach his nadir and not his best." --Jim in Normal, Illinois

"Speaking of Obfuscation and Diversion, what I find interesting is the complete lack of honest media coverage about the economy or government obfuscation of facts to support Obama. I read the Guardian (London) and the Economist (London) to get USA news because I don't trust the choir of Obama media supporters. Reading the NYT is like reading Pravda." --Aaron in Barcelona, Spain

"Paul Ryan impressed me Thursday night. I knew that he was a bright guy and I think he was a great choice for Romney -- the two will work well together to get America back on track. Having said that, the lack of respect Biden showed toward Ryan and the American public was incredible. The smirking, the laughing, the whole demeanor made Biden appear a bit 'crazed.' It is quite obvious that Obama and Biden have no plan other than the same failed agenda to move people into reliance on government." --Omar in Cleveland, Ohio

"Biden was the class clown, indeed the jackass of the evening. If he thinks he helped the ticket's cause, he's sadly mistaken. He showed himself to be rude, unserious about the most serious of subjects, and an embarrassment to his office. Ryan was infinitely superior -- as a candidate, a thinker and a gentleman -- it was an odious comparison indeed." --Andrea in Delhi, New York

"For many Americans who have not followed politics closely, the debate Thursday night was basically the first impression they got of the vice-presidential candidates. Given that you don't get a second chance to make a first impression, Obama and Biden are in trouble. Biden came across as immature and obnoxious, the last person you would want a heartbeat from the presidency. The debate last night confirmed the first impression the voters got last week that Romney and Ryan are the mature, realistic adults on the ballot; the incumbents are way too small for the offices they hold." --Morefandave in Bloomington, Illinois

"Wow, your Oct.12 Patriot Post was the most informative summary of our current political situation I have read to date (and I try to read them all). Thanks for the excellent summary of the VP debate. I am so impressed, I'm sending a check for $25. Not much, but hope it will help. Keep up the great work!" --Bob Lindinger in Schenectady, New York

Essential Liberty

"Sometimes, collective projects do outweigh the needs of the individual -- see, for example, World War II, in which we mobilized collectively to preserve individual freedom. But the monument society always errs on the side of building the monument, of activating the collective; the freedom society always errs on the side of individual liberty. We are now at the tipping point in America between these two visions. We must make a choice. Do we want to give our children monuments -- tremendous buildings, vast bureaucracies, bulwarks of human collectivism? Or do we want to give them freedom? Do we want to build pyramids? Or do we want to build families? ... The founders recognized that Americans, given freedom to pursue their own goals, made self-reliant, are happy. The power of the collective is magnificent, but only when the people agree on utilizing it. That is the balance the founders drew, and that is why they were so wise." --columnist Ben Shapiro

Insight

"One of the methods used by statists to destroy capitalism consists in establishing controls that tie a given industry hand and foot, making it unable to solve its problems, then declaring that freedom has failed and stronger controls are necessary." --author and philosopher Ayn Rand (1905-1982)

Government

"[T]he economy suffers as indefensible preferences multiply. In an essay, 'Choosing the Road to Prosperity: Why We Must End Too Big To Fail -- Now,' Harvey Rosenblum of the Dallas Fed's Research Department notes that 'people disillusioned with capitalism aren't as eager to engage in productive activities.' The desire to strive is inversely proportional to the suspicion that the game is rigged. Rosenblum adds: 'For all its bluster, Dodd-Frank leaves [Too Big To Fail] TBTF entrenched. ... In fact, the financial crisis increased concentration because some TBTF institutions acquired the assets of other troubled TBTF institutions. The TBTF survivors of the financial crisis look a lot like they did in 2008. They maintain corporate cultures based on the short-term incentives of fees and bonuses derived from increased oligopoly power.' At bottom, the TBTF phenomenon raises questions not merely about the financial system but about the nature of the American regime. These are Jacksonian questions, implicating issues Old Hickory raised in 1832 when vetoing the Second Bank of the United States: Should the government be complicit in protecting -- and by doing so, enlarging -- huge economic interests? Capitalism -- which is, as Milton Friedman tirelessly insisted, a profit and loss system -- is subverted by TBTF, which socializes losses while leaving profits private. And which enhances the profits of those whose losses it socializes. TBTF is a double moral disaster: It creates moral hazard by encouraging risky behavior, and it delegitimizes capitalism by validating public cynicism about its risk-reward ratios." --columnist George Will

The Gipper

"You and I are told we must choose between a left or right, but I suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down. Up to man's age-old dream -- the maximum of individual freedom consistent with order -- or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. Regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would sacrifice freedom for security have embarked on this downward path." --Ronald Reagan

For the Record

"The problem of sanctions is an old one. President Jefferson tried to impose a trade embargo on Britain in 1807 to stop the Royal Navy from seizing our sailors on the high seas. ... The War of 1812 was the direct result of the failure of Jefferson's sanctions to make Britain change her behavior. At the outset of the Civil War, Confederate President Jefferson Davis imposed a cotton embargo. Millions of bales of cotton were left to rot on Southern wharves because Davis and his Cabinet were convinced they could force Britain to break the Union blockade of Southern ports. ... Jeff Davis's cotton embargo failed -- spectacularly. Prior to World War II, the U.S. imposed an oil embargo on Japan. The theory was that the Japanese military rulers, lacking any domestic sources of petroleum, would cease their aggression against China and be forced by economic sanctions to come to the negotiating table. You've heard of Pearl Harbor. That was the Japanese Imperialists' answer to the U.S. economic sanctions. ... And yet, we are assured that sanctions will work with the Iranian mullahs. ... Seizing our embassy is an act of war. Holding 52 Americans hostage for 444 days is an act of war. Sending a suicide bomber into the barracks in Beirut to murder 241 Marines and Navy Corpsmen is an act of war. Plotting to bomb a restaurant in Georgetown, in the heart of our nation's capital is an act of war. The mullahs will never succumb to sanctions. They don't care about 'stuff.' They only understand force!" --columnists Ken Blackwell and Bob Morrison

Culture

"Both governments and families have limited resources and virtually limitless possibilities to spend money. The Obama Administration chose to reward political cronies with billions of dollars for fruitless 'green' energy projects (such as the now-bankrupt green energy firm, Solyndra). Those same dollars might have fed hungry Americans, bought military defense software to detect hidden IEDs, or provided extra protection for our diplomats in the Middle East. Instead, the Solyndra building sits shuttered, a monument to corruption and reprehensible financial choices, while American families mourn the deaths of soldiers and at least one diplomat. Financial choices have consequences. ... The solution to America's money troubles lies with you. Live a financially sound life, and insist that the government exercise the same control over its spending as you must do in your own life. ... Vote for fiscal sanity, for reduced spending, a realistic budget, and a sound debt repayment plan. Vote for new leadership to take these tough steps -- elect a businessman with the real-world experience to make sound financial choices. Mitt Romney knows how to rescue a financial ship that's begun to capsize. ... Begin today. Take steps to find personal financial peace. And choose wisely for our country as well." --columnist Rebecca Hagelin

The Last Word

"One of the most telling moments took place a day or so before the [first presidential] debate, when Obama showed up at a public event, telling his groupies that essentially he was playing hooky because his handlers were 'trying to make me do my homework.' That was the quintessential Obama, the laziest kid in the 11th grade, whining that grown-ups were demanding he do boring stuff like hitting the books and studying when all he really wanted to do was play video games. ... If I were Obama, I would be very worried. After all, the first debate was devoted to domestic issues, which Obama assumed would be more or less in his wheelhouse. He had, after all, managed to bribe millions of Americans with food stamps and free cell phones. What's he going to do when he has to explain how his foreign policies, which he had assured us time and again were working like clockwork in the Middle East, with the killing of bin Laden and the decimation of al-Qaeda, suddenly blew up in his face with the assassination of Ambassador Stevens and the burning of our flag throughout most of the Arab and Muslim world. ... If Obama had been smart, he would have stayed home celebrating his wedding anniversary with Michelle and the kids, and sent Clint Eastwood's empty chair in his place. Unlike that lazy 11th grader I alluded to earlier, Obama can't even whine that the family dog ate his homework. It was in fact Mitt Romney who ate his lunch." --columnist Burt Prelutsky

Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis!
Nate Jackson for The Patriot Post Editorial Team