Vice President Joe Biden used the term “my friend” at least 15 times, referring to GOP candidate Paul Ryan during their 90-minute debate Thursday night at Centre College in Danville, Ky.
Biden's debate style included smiling, smirking, interrupting – even outbursts – that left pundits saying that the vice president, 69, was condescending and patronizing toward his 42-year-old opponent.
He interrupted Ryan 82 times.
David Gergen — a CNN commentator and Harvard University professor who has advised a bipartisan roster of four presidents — told CNN he thought Ryan won on style, but that the candidates debated to a draw on substance.
“I thought it was very condescending. It was rude,” said Britt Hume of Fox News.
Chris Wallace, also on Fox, said that the contempt Biden showed Ryan was “unprecedented.”
“If you read the transcript, Biden won,” said Fox News contributor and syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer. “If you heard it on radio, Biden won. But if you saw it on TV, he lost.”
“If you read the transcript, you saw good, strong arguments,” he added. “If you heard it on radio, you heard Biden being aggressive, forceful, on the attack all the time. But if you saw the debate on TV, the vice president was disrespectful … and very condescending.”
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