How did Vice President Joe Biden and Rep. Paul Ryan do during the debate Thursday night? Here are some of the mistakes and points of interest.
Biden said Ryan's proposed budget cuts would affect spending for security for U.S. embassies. This is not completely accurate. The Obama administration is arguing that Ryan's proposed 19 percent in cuts for non-defense discretionary spending would cut embassy security by $300 million. However, Ryan's plan does not mention these cuts. Therefore, Biden's statement could be true, but there is no way of knowing at this point.
Both candidates agreed putting American troops on the ground in Syria was not an option unless it "is in the national interest of the American people." Biden agreed the country's options are limited if they are not able to put troops in Syria. Ryan argued the current administration acted too slowly and gave Russia too much power in the U.N. According to the New York Times, both candidates seemed to agree that measures of that type were only necessary if American troops were needed to secure stockpiles of chemical weapons.
Both candidates agreed that anything otherwise was not worth the risk.
Biden said the Obama administration never received a request for more security in Benghazi, Libya, at the U.S. consulate. This is false. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Diplomatic Security Charlene Lamb told lawmakers that she had denied requests for more security at the consulate, saying that the department wished to train Libyans to do the job. Eric Nordstrom, the top security official in Libya earlier in the year, backs up this claim, saying that he was criticized when he asked for more security.
The debate began with a pointed question from moderator Martha Raddatz who asked if the terrorist attacks that occurred last month in Benghazi were a "massive intelligence failure," a question that Biden didn't answer, but assured American citizens that "we will find and bring justice to the men who did this."
Ryan countered Biden's statement with the argument that it took the president two weeks to acknowledge the incident as a terrorist attack.
This is true.
The attack occurred on Sept. 11 and while President Barack Obama acknowledged the assault as an "act of terror" on Sept. 12, his administration did not acknowledge it as a terrorist attack until Sept. 27. He said, "It was a terrorist attack. ... As we determined the details of what took place there, and how that attack took place, that it became clear that there were terrorists who had planned that attack."
Biden said all troops would be out of Afghanistan by 2014. However, Biden fails to mention the 10,000-15,000 troops the administration plans to keep there, mostly in bases, to act as a deterrent to Taliban and al-Qaeda.
Regarding Syrian leader Bashar Assad, Ryan said the Obama Administration should not have called the man a reformer or endorsed the fact that he was a reformer when he was murdering his own people.
According to The Associated Press, no one in the Obama Administration has considered Assad to be a reformer. In an interview that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave in March 2011 she said "many of the members of Congress of both parties who have gone to Syria in recent months have said they believe he is a reformer."
This was not a view endorsed by Clinton or the administration.
Biden quoted former Gov. Romney as saying "Let Detroit go bankrupt." This line has been popular among the Democratic party since it said by Jennifer Granholm at the Democratic National Convention. However, the line was actually taken from the headline of an op-ed piece by Romney, who had no say in the title. Romney, in the article, argued for a managed bankruptcy and said that he disagreed with the way the auto bailouts were handled.
On the topic of Medicare and the Affordable Care Act, Ryan said a new board has been created that is in charge of cutting Medicare each year and will eventually lead to the denial of care for current seniors.
This is mostly false.
The board Ryan is referring to is called the Independent Payment Advisory Board and has the power to force cuts in Medicare payments under certain circumstances.
But, the board will not be cutting Medicare expenses "each and every year."
Government experts claim the intervention of the board will not be needed until 2018 or 2019 at the latest.
Biden said Romney and Ryan would "eliminate the guarantee of Medicare" if elected. This is only partially true. It's important to note that Romney's health care plan has not been fully explained, nor has the Congressional Budget Office reviewed it. It is true that Romney's medical plan would include a voucher system for those who are now under the age of 55, according to Politifact.com. But, Biden is not honest is saying that Medicare is guaranteed in the first place. Medicare does not automatically cover everything. The government does not promise to cover all situations, so there is not a guarantee that Medicare will cover a patient.
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Check back at the Daily News for the presidential debates.
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