and vice president biden's way of being aggressive on that was to laugh in paul ryan's face. thus signaling to the moderator, to the audience and importantly to mr. ryan, himself, essentially, okay, man, seriously, this has got to be a joke, i'm not going to let you get away with that. and that strategy put mr. ryan on the defensive. it rattled him. that drove the right nuts. and listen, both sides do this. both sides complain like this, but when you complain like this, it really is one of the ways that you can tell you're losing. on both sides. look, last week, even during the presidential debate between president obama and mitt romney, the obama campaign tried to push on twitter the idea that mitt romney was being inappropriately testy. they tried so hard to push the testy mitt idea. they tried so hard to make that into a thing that people should feel about that debate. >> he got testy about it. he got testy about being on defense. i think that came across to the american people. >> a testy governor romney who spent the entire time on defense. >> i think for some folks at ho

paul ryan, no answer. d what exactly a romney/ryan administration would do differently on iran and on syria, that is more strong than what the obama administration is doing since they've criticized the administration as weak, what would they do that would be stronger? no answer from paul ryan which led joe biden to say, hey, the only other thing we're not doing that we could be doing is war. are you saying you want a war? no answer. here's my favorite one. >> let me ask you quickly what's your criteria for intervention? >> yeah. >> in syria? >> worldwide. >> what is in the national interest of the american people. what is in the national security of the american people. it's got to be in a strategic national interest of our country. >> no humanitarian? >> each situation will come up with its own set of circumstances but putting american troops on the ground, that's got to be within the national security interests of the american people. >> so, congressman, how will you make national security decisions about

but picking paul ryan? that was not a cautious pick. re he was chosen for vp congressman ryan sat for a series of interviews with our own ezra klein starting in early 2010. ezra wrote today what he learned about paul ryan in those mini personal debates is among other things that he is well versed on the issues and that he is refreshingly willing to step off message. at least sometimes and to a point. ezra, thanks for joining us this. good it have you in on this. >> thank you for having. >> we you write vice president biden would be wrong to underestimate paul ryan's intelligence. when paul ryan calls himself a numbers guy, you're essentially saying that's for real, that's not just a branding thing. >> oh, yeah, that is real. paul ryan knows the numbers and actually he has something beyond that. what is rare in washington is not a politician who knows their own numbers, a lot of politicians who know their talking points. what paul ryan actually knows which makes him a very good policy debater is he knows your numbers. he knows the argumen

joe biden also dipped paul ryan in tar and rolled him in feathers on the issue of the stimulus. and mr. ryan's supposed principles on that issue. we talked about that moments ago with chris hayes. but there are two things that i think are hugely important to the presidential campaign that happened last night. two things that i, frankly, never thought we would get to. and that we got to and, boy, howdy, is this new territory. first was this. >> you asked, do i feel free? let me put it to you this way. i earned capital in the campaign, political capital and now i intend to spend it. it is my style. that's what happened in, after the 2000 election. i earned some capital. i've earned capital in this election, and i'm going to spend it for what i told the people i'd spend it on. which is you've heard the agenda. social security and -- >> social security, first on the list. when george w. bush won re-election in 2004, the first thing he said he wanted to spend his political capital on, first on the list was social security. specifically what he meant was privatizing social security. no

paul ryan on the right. across tr biden and ryan, martha raddatz. campaign sources acknowledge there are two unknowns in debate prep. raddatdoesn't have a history of moderating and -- they're looking to biden's sparring partner who serves alongside ryan on the house budget committee. >> he's a very skilled debater. i hope i can be of some help. showing how paul ryan likes to present the republican case. >> cnn has also learned aides have pored over ryan's past interviews. watch this. >> you and mitt romney are proposing $5 trillion in tax cuts. you're proposing to increase defense spending by $2 trillion. >> neither of these numbers are accurate. >> biden himself acknowledges he will be ready to respond if ryan disputes his record. >> i just want to make sure that when i say these things, no, no, no, i don't have the position or that's not the governor's position. >> to fully prepare, biden had a strict daily ritual. afternoons where biden rehearsed answering moderator questions. dinner time at home with his wife and after dinner, biden returned to

a huge stage for paul ryan.e're going to be looking for how joe biden addresses the issue of seniors and medicare, we're going to be look at how paul ryan carries those attacks and how he's able defend the romney/ryan ticket as opposed to his own positions and his own statements. romney's been modulating a little bit or saying some things that were somewhat garbled on abortion this week. i think you're going to hear a lot about that tonight. >> medicare, abortion, i think benghazi. >> i i agree. >> joe biden, former chairman of the foreign relation committee and this very strong attack from the republican on leading the committee that had a four-hour hearing pillaring the state department yesterday. >> an area where anticipation had been joe biden would be able to press a grav as it. benghazi complicated that and you'll see paul ryan hit that. >> "time" magazine, your magazine out, and preprized k k pictures they took for the runner-up when paul ryan was runner-up for man of the year. do we need more proof than

and paul ryan. so it is very much up to vice president biden to take a shot here and try to stop some of that momentum because if you see a win by paul ryan, it's covered as a one-two punch. the momentum will continue. we know talking to some of the vice president's aides that he's going to come out swinging. this's the expectation, to be on offense. we've been told he's eager, feeling good and trying to draw a contrast. when you look at the tiny table in the picture, brooke, it is a pretty intimate setting. if he's going to get in to it and draw a contrast, that's sort of code for confrontation. we'll see if he makes good on the promise of the team. >> bring yaannbrianna, do they say something memorable, as in not in a good way memorable? >> reporter: you'll remember he's sort of known as a bit of a gaffe machine. puts in his foot in his mouth from time to time. he said that the middle class buried for four years and that was something that the romney campaign just jumped on. the thing is, while he

yes, he will look for openings to talk about paul ryan's budget. the idea in general is to tie governor mitt romney -- sorry, tie governor romney to the ryan budget. and as one top democrat put it to me, the idea is to make the case that romney/ryan in electing that ticket means americans would be electing the intellectual leader of the house republicans, as one person put it, that paul ryan is the intellectual leader of the house republicans and he should not be able tonight to duck from any specifics. so, again, we will hear that word, specifics. and look for the vice president to try to get paul ryan to talk about budget details in this debate tonight, wolf. >> jessica, has the vice president done his tour of the actual debate hall yet? >> reporter: he has. he did that tour a little earlier today before 2:00 p.m. he sat in the chair. he looked at the monitor where you get your time cues. and i'm told all that went smoothly. he also before he boarded the plane today leaving from delaware he talked to reporters and he was asked what is his strategy

paul ryan had to be happy he proved himself to be a potential president. ne thing interesting going forward. one thing, democrats trying to make him scary. the ryan budget would decimate the social safety net. and they haven't been able to do that. in convention speech and debate tonight, he's a likeable guy. if you know him, he's likeable. you might disagree with him on policy. he's a likeable guy. they just disagree with him. that helps governor romney. this has a short shelf life. two presidential candidates in the arena tuesday night. this was essentially a draw tonight. both sides can come away happy they did what they wanted to do. >> has joe biden suddenly become barack obama's debate partner? >> it's interesting. reading the social media. because each side are so convinced that their side won. this was no draw. my guy won. and it's interesting how it came out that way. i do think that joe biden did something that barack obama desperately needed, and that's to inject life into the campaign. i have a hard time remembering, maybe some of you can correc

i mean, who will turn up tonight, the paul ryan as described by chris matthews or will it be the paul ryan infected by moderate massachusetts mitt romney? >> well, i think what you heard this morning when i asked him this question, and he as mitted there were differences between them but he also tried to say the differences between romney and ryan pale in comparison to the differences between the obama ticket and the romney ticket, but he seemed to indicate that ryan's job is to defend the romney plan and the romney budget. i do think what chris points out, that what biden's strategy is going to be is to try to create a split, is try to put him in an awkward position, make him defend one or the other. i think one thing to watch for tonight is it's my understanding -- from when i was talking to the campaigns, if they get one thing out of biden tonight, the obama campaign, that is to make the base of the democratic party feel better tonight, that he gets a little aggressive, that he goes after some core issues like abortion, like contraception to make the base feel better. on the ryan s

cnn paul ryan . cnbc.ner 20 points. >> brian: cbsdid joe biden. >> steve: they did a focus group for 50 people. >> gretchen: we have frank coming up. and we'll show you that. now the rest of the head lineups for friday. one month after ambassador stevens was ciled. lawrence pope is the new charge of affairs. he will represent. pope retired 12 years ago and an ambassador to chad and political advisor for the special command and special operations in the middle east. governor mitt romney getting a spiritual boost from billy graham. >> reverend graham added he would do everything to help him. franklin graham has provided council to every president since harry frume an. we should know whether the body found in colorado. the body is not intact. jessica disappeared while walking to school. a body was found in the park sevenmiles fr where she was last seen. the winner of this year's nobel peace prize and the winner is not a person. who is it? >> the nobel peace prize is to be awarded to the european union. >> gre

>> i think joe just needs to be joe. >> paul ryan set to clear any confusion about the romney/ryan ticket. >> i'm a pro-life candidate, i'll be a pro-life president. >> our position is consistent and hasn't changed. >> he can't clear up confusion on his own budget. >> i don't have the time -- it would take me too long to go through all the math. >> oh, brother. just spin already. >> i just got to ask what's your personal best? >> 1under three. >> holy smoke. >> i stand by what i said, whatever it was. >>> we are pumped up, fired up, and jacked up with just hours until tonight's first and only face-off between vice president joseph biden and vice presidential nominee paul ryan. and what was once regarded as a popcorn side show has taken on far greater significance in the wake of the president's less than scintillating performance last week. democrats are anxious, republicans are hungry for a surge, and as ryan and biden take the stage tonight, they have a chance to influence this election at a volatile moment. and the president himself knows he's got to push harder against his ever-shiftin

that's what paul ryan said? so in other words if somebody comes into his office and says, hey, i need $20 million for this project, it's just a quick stamp of approval? ryan's part of the problem in washington, and he's trying to blame the democrats for it. at certain points the vice president was openly fact checking paul ryan's comments in realtime. >> this is a plan that's bipartisan. it's a plan i put together with a prominent democrat senator from oregon. >> there's not one democrat who endorses it. not one democrat who signed the plan. >> our partner is a democrat from oregon. >> he says he does no longer support -- >> we put it together with the former clinton budget director. >> who disavows it. >> this idea came from the clinton commission to save medicare chaired by senator john breaux. here's the point, martha. >> which was rejected. >> if we don't -- >> that was a crucial point in the debate right there. here's a guy trying to talk about a plan that has bipartisan support and joe biden stood up for th

that's what paul ryan did. n ryan, but the person with the command of the facts, and the facts are important, that's what my father went through in great detail tonight. i was so proud of him. >> he only didn't do one thing enough. he thought he should have done more about the automobile industry. there was romney saying let it go bankrupt. it's so important to the culture and economy of our country to have a great auto industry. we have it because of this administration. it seems he ought to get a few more minutes out of 90 minutes on the economy to mention our major industry. it gets pushed over. the intellectual journalists never bring it up. for blue collar people, it's a big issue. >> my dad -- my grandfather was in the automotive industry. he sold cars. this is a big issue for people of ohio. one out of eight jobs in the state of ohio are based on the auto industry. but for the president of the united states and the courageous effort he took to save that industry, we wouldn't have those jobs. you knowknow,

easy to get into that kind of debate with paul ryan. his debate for him. >> now, erin, mr. ryan has never been in a national debate but he's debated. let me show you a 2010 debate he had with congressman debbie wasserman schultz live on cnn. take a look at a debate style then. >> i put on a budget plan to get one person in congress, me. i didn't put out a budget plan for a majority of congress. i was trying to get this discussion about entitlements and debt crisis and in an adult level. i'd like to get to an adult level conversation and clearly that's not happening. >> to invest social security in wall street? if that had happened in the last couple of years, paul, that would have ended to protect what people have -- >> giving young people the option the same option that we have. if it's good for us in congress, why isn't it good for anybody else? look, our -- >> our social security is the same as anybody else's in the entire country and you know it. >> a little over the top, erin. >> yeah. i don't think that's exactly what we're going t

paul ryan's political life. but predictions as to which version of the paul ryan will show up remain nearly impossible. just as mitt romney's staff wiped their hard drives after leaving the massachusetts's governor's office romney has done the saipe thing to his running mate's motherboard, reset to factory settings. this was the original model -- >> specifically, on spending, our budget spends $4.8 trillion less than the majority's budget. today we would have to set aside $56 trillion invested at treasury rates to make sure the programs are solvent. we're going to start bit cutting $6.2 trillion in spending. >> but at a product demo august 11 th rhine version 2.0 was foud to be significantly altered. >> he's the next vice president of the united states. >> look right here. >> just three days later, paul ryan suddenly had fewer numbers and fewer answers. >> the budget plan that you're now supporting would get to balance when? >> well, there are different -- the budget plan that mitt romney is supporting gets us d

let's play first of all what was said by joe biden and by paul ryan in the debate last night. >> this is becoming more troubling by the day. they first blamed the youtube video. now they're trying to blame the romney/ryan ticket for making this an issue. >> we weren't told they wanted more security. we did not know they wanted more security. >> i was surprised when he said that, because as a viewer, watching, i was like well, hang on a second, i thought the state department had said that they received these warnings. mitt romney today has doubled down on the attacks on joe biden, what he said. watch this. >> the vice president directly contradicted the sworn testimony of state department officials. he's doubling down on denial. >> the white house has said, hang on, he's just talking about himself and the president. how plausible is that? >> well, you know, the buck has to stop somewhere. they are in charge. diplomacy overseas is important to the executive branch as any mission i can think of, and this whole thing is just troubling to me, piers, because there's just -- we have seen a b

joe was hanging on every word that paul ryan was saying. e's something to that. but having said that it felt a little forced and inappropriate at moments, but the overall impression was biden was really getting under paul ryan's skin. saying listen, thank you, sonny, but i got this one here. >> bill: cbs, their install poll of undecided voters put biden over ryan 50-31%. if that's true then biden really did score last night. >> i think two things. one the base loved it clearly. judging by twitter. >> bill: they needed a boost and they got it. >> i watched it with two or three people last night, and they were on fire. and what we may see -- we have this phrase on finance, about the dead cat bouncing. this may be an example of the romney/ryan campaign is a dying campaign, but i think we're almost to the end of it. >> bill: all right. let's open the door and let you in the con conversation here. i'm here with jamal simmons as a friend of bill. 866-55-press is the toll free number. last night's debate. get into it when we come right back. >> ann

paul ryan's people thought paul ryan definitively won. when end of the day they're appealing to the middle. >> there's so few undecideds at this point that that is a big reason, we're told, why joe biden did what he did. because the democratic base was really deflated, demoralized, after the president didn't deliver from their perspective. that's why he was frankly in many ways over the top. in some ways that's who he is. it's why he did what he did. if you talk about what happened in the spin room afterwards, that was the big debate. was he disrespectful for joe being joe? >> you won't be surprised to hear that both sides went into full spin mode in that spin room, that conversation happened. you can listen to both people immediately afterwards talk about how their candidate won the debate. everything was under the microscope, including ryan's level of experience, and joe biden's interruptions, and his facial expressions, as dana just said. here's a little listen. >> i think congressman ryan was out of his depth, and showed clearly that

the laughs, 82 times that joe biden interrupted paul ryan. >> paul ryan was interrupting too. >> i don't know who his debate partner was, maybe it was ed schultz from msnbc, not sure. >> at one point, the moderator asked congressman ryan to offer specifics, where are loopholes going to be cut back to pay for the romney/ryan tax cut plan. >> the congressman has provided boat loads of specifics, look at tax policies, the ryan plan, the five-point plan, 59-point plan, the fact of the matter, we have specifics coming out of our ears, and joe biden and barack obama and the democrats have not passed the budget. they haven't passed a budget in over three years. no ground to stand on in this country in this debate. no ground for president of the united states of america to be lecturing anybody about budgeting. they failed in their duty to this country. >> one thing you said before this debate. joe biden has been debating since the 1800s, so he has boat loads of experience. dewin tonight? >> no, he didn't use the experience he has to be respectful, clear, and state your point, wait for your oppon

paul ryan's family, paul ryan's business, paul ryan's whole life in janisville, wisconsin, when he wastting there reading ayn rand and dreaming of a libertarian independent future, that whole life was made possible by the help of government. by social security supplemental income when his father died at a young age. by roads, by railroads, by government programs. this is a cooperative effort. and this is what mitt romney and paul ryan are rejecting and what joe biden and barack obama need too defend. it couldn't be more fundamental or more urgent, because without the counterargument, mitt romney is rocketing to the lead in the popular vote and he's catching up in the electoral college very quickly. it couldn't be more important tomorrow night. everybody says vice presidential debates don't matter. this one really does. >> i think it does. i think it really does. it's -- and i also think it sets the table for ryan to prove that hays the true conservative, that the conservatives want him to be. and the question is, is he going to leave that stage being the same guy or is he going to go w

where does paul ryan stand on his own budget that was passed twice? think about paul ryan. he has to go to the plate tonight and take a swing at trying to knock it out of the park when the plan that he put forward for america does not poll in the majority. he has to make the case to the american people tonight that his plan is best for america where it doesn't poll anywhere pol positively. so i think the vice president has to make sure that they don't miss opportunities. >> does he bring the heat on every issue, does he bring the heat on the 47%. >> don't be ofafraid to say 31 months of private jobs growth is great for america considering where we were and these folks want it take us back to deregulation, giving more tax breaks to the wealthiest americans. this is right in the wheel house of joe bbiden. the fact that they're down playing the fact of how much debate experience paul ryan has is just window dressing. i've seen joe biden so many times on the stump in person, he stands up, he gets riled up. this will be a little bit more controlled and i think a lot more centere

>> biden was the aggressor, especially in the first hour of the debate did a good job in making paul ryanave to do more explaining and in the first hour he did a better job hitting at romney than ryan did hitting at obama. i think ryan, though, was, came across as ernest, knowledgeable and polite, whereas especially in that first hour, joe biden was clearly playing b cable debate rules, which is interrupt and talk over your opponent at will. i think al is right that is going to enthuse democrats. i am not sure how it is going to play with undecided voters. me personally and i am not an undecided veert it came across as off putting, obnoxious and rude and i can guarantee that on the shows tomorrow morning and in the cable discussion going forward, tomorrow and into the weekend the biden smiles and the biden smirks and the biden interruptions will be a juicy topic for discussion. >> rose: mark hall snrin. >> halperin? >> well, i am mostly going to paraphrase what rich lowry just said, there are two things that clearly come out of this, one is the detrimentally base is going to be pleased th

paul ryan, born in 1970, is younger than the baby boomers. and ryan looks it. today, "time" magazine published photos taken last year and on newsstands friday of ryan flexing his impressive guns, a backwards baseball cap and ear buds providing fodder for internet admiration and mockery from right and left. the closest biden came to that was this photoshopped parody of the vice president, courtesy of the onion, watching his supposed car, a firebird. on the campaign trail, ryan's brought an eagerness, a snap and crackle that's energized conservatives. ryan's displayed some fire in dealing with the intense media pressure of a national campaign. >> that was kind of strange? >> reporter: and biden? well, biden's been around for a long time. elected in 1972 at 29, survived the tragedy of losing his wife and baby daughter in a car accident before he took office. >> we can always get another senator, but they can't get another father. >> reporter: and he became a national figure when he scared off against judge robert bork, nominated iffer the supreme court in 1987. >>

paul ryan was definitely differential. but ifou saw on tv with that mad smile that jack nicholson smile going right through the debate, the condescension and the eye roll, if you remember what it did did to al gore, it took away from the substantive debate. >> ihink, compared to president obama's performance last week,k, joe biden did an outstanding job. he knew his points and he was aggressive. but he smiled too much. he smiled at times when it was unnecessary. but that is matcheded by the smirk that came across paul ryan. it was an animated discussion and i think that joeiden had his own points that he needed to make. >> basically two-person debates are far beer when both people show up. [laughter] and theyhowedd up, unlike a a week ago when only o one showed up. i thought it was good and it served both parties. and paul ryan was spreader naturally cool for his first -- was preternaturally cool for his first shot. i think joe biden reenergize them. he made the case. he nailed paul ryan a couple of times specificly on the