Friday Follies: The VP Debate Edition

You knew it was coming....

The word of the night, for sure.

Last night featured the first, and only vice-presidential debate of the 2012 election.  It was between Vice President Joe Biden and Congressman Paul Ryan.  Biden was widely perceived to be the winner, more on substance rather than style.  That's because Biden's style was...well, let's just say he took a very interesting tack in debating Ryan.  At times he was impatient, at other times openly incredulous, and occasionally pugilistic, not only to Ryan, but sometimes to the moderator as well.  But however theatrical Biden's style was, he stayed grounded at all times in the facts, and whenever Ryan strayed from them, Biden was there to jump all over him about it. 

Ryan, for his part, looked very young and a little lost many times during the debate, especially on issues of foreign policy.  On domestic policy he seemed more sure of himself, except when pressed to offer up specifics regarding his tax plan, a question which he dodged clumsily. From an optics standpoint, he looked nervous, and was constantly drinking water.

The moderator, Martha Raddatz, was much better than last week's moderator, Jim Lehrer.  She seemed to be more firmly in control of the flow, and she wasn't afraid to ask follow up questions when a candidate did not appear to be answering the question.

Well, with no further ado, here are some of the memes spawned from last night's VP debate.

Sad Ryan

Bill Maher tweeted this during the debate

I don't why this is always so popular.  Biden looks like a poor man's Reagan, while Ryan just looks creepy.

This seems to be the takeaway photo that everyone is using.

Included for the "Lean on Me" reference.