The pressure is on for the VP debate

While the vice presidential debate is normally a side show, this one on Thursday has the potential to be a major event, not only because of the president's poor performance in his first debate last week, but because of the contrasts between the two candidates.

Vice President Joe Biden said recently: "All debates are tough."

GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan took a lighter tone, joking with an audience: "What debate? Oh yeah! I'd better get ready for that."

The debate will pit age against youth, a "Great Society" liberal against a Tea Party conservative.

Full coverage of the 2012 campaign debates
Confident Romney continues shift to center in Fla.
Roundtable: Obama's debate was a "wake-up call"

Biden became a U.S. senator when Ryan turned 3, and ran for president twice. He's been on many debate stages before.

"There's nothing like standing up before 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 million people, you know?" Biden told a crowd recently.

But he's also a non-stop talker prone to putting his foot in his mouth, which Ryan could exploit, as he did last week.

"Vice President Biden just today said that the middle class over the last four years has been, quote, 'buried.' We agree!" Ryan said, trying to capitalize on a Biden gaffe.

On "Face the Nation" on Sunday there was no shortage of debate advice for both men.

"I think Paul Ryan has to address some specific questions about his budget plan, but he also has to make it clear that it is his budget plan. Mitt Romney's plan is the one that is going to be implemented in the White House," said John Fund, senior editor for The American Spectator.

"Biden is going to have to be aggressive in this debate. That is not an easy thing to calibrate, you can go overboard here and he is opposing a young, earnest guy that is like a Boy Scout," said Michael Gerson, a former speechwriter for George W. Bush.

Many Democrats think the president's showing last week won't change the trajectory of the race much. That could change, of course, if Vice President Biden is also perceived to lose his debate. Some fear that could be a real problem.

[john5673]

Joe Biden should show his age, experience, loyalty and excellence playing very decisive roll in the coming debate. He has all caliber to show his lion image but a million dollar question, whether he will do it? He should not take any chance to wait for his chance to hammer the base of Romney but immediately starting with he should raised the issue of 47%, tax cuts to 2%, deficit, economy, unemployment, healthcare, medicare, social security, Iraq-Afghanistan war, death of Bin Laden and real pain of the middle class. If he failed to raise these issues forcefully and allow Ryan to lecture him like Romney, the election will surely drifted to the other side.

[kevcl6750]

GDP Growth : 1.3% revised DOWN ! Lower than last year, and last year lower than the year before !
Labor Force Participation rate : 63% , LOWEST since the Carter era !
REAL Unemployment aka U6 : 14.7 %
SIX TRILLION $ deeper in debt under Obama.
TRILLION $ deficits as far as the eye can !
Whats to debate? The good ship USA is going down if there is not a MAJOR COURSE CHANGE !

[lesserof2evil]

The ship went down during the war criminals Bush-Cheney era, fool

[kevcl6750]

GDP Growth : 1.3% revised DOWN ! Lower than last year, and last year lower than the year before !
Labor Force Participation rate : 63% , LOWEST since the Carter era !
REAL Unemployment aka U6 : 14.7 %
SIX TRILLION $ deeper in debt under Obama.
TRILLION $ deficits as far as the eye can !
Whats to debate? The good ship USA is going down if there is not a MAJOR COURSE CHANGE !

[w_roos]

Joe Biden: Great Society liberal? Yes, he became a senator a relatively long time ago -- back in the 70's, but, that was still after LBJ was no longer president, and only weeks before LBJ died!

[Harry1899]

I can't wait to hear Uncle Joe tell another grandfather Finnegan story or tell again how the nuns used to beat his hands with a ruler when he would run his mouth at Catholic school.

[MidRoadAlone]

Obama is going to put a shock collar on Uncle Joe - if he starts to say something stupid, he gets zapped. Expect his hair to look like Albert Einstein by the end of the debate.

[phwtb100]

Want to know why Obama and Biden are NOT talking about the Bush era tax cuts anymore??? Because, if they do, they AND ALL the DEMOCRAT Senators will LOSE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEIR VOTES!!

Do you Obama supporters even KNOW what the "Bush Era Tax Cuts" are? Let me enlighten ALL of you.

1. No more 10% tax bracket (even for low income tax payers). That means for every $100 every family paid in 2011, they will owe nothing less than $280 on 2012 tax return. And it just keeps climbing:
25% bracket will increase to 28%
28% bracket to 31%
33% bracket to 36%
35% bracket 39.6%

I can hear you whispering to yourself, "Those aren't so bad."

But, wait! I'm no where close to being finished.

READ ON!
2. Self employment taxes increase
3. Capital gains rate increase from 15% to 20% (even on primary homes)
4. Dividends tax rate increase from 15% to 39.6% - 43.4%
5. Exemptions and itemized deductions for high income taxpayers will completely disappear
6. Marriage penalty reinstated (yes that means just because you are married you get to pay more taxes) AND it comes with an additional tax penalty for filing Married, Separately
7. Child Tax Credit reduced from $1000 to $500
8. Earned Income Credit will eliminate the additional monies paid for children. No longer will it matter if you have children. It will be based on 1 person households. If they hold true to the 2011 rates, it means the MOST a low income, single parent will see will be less than $500.
9. Education Savings Accounts will decrease and will eventually be eliminated
10. Credit for Employer-provided educational assistance will be decreased
11. Student loan interest deduction will be reduced
12. Scholarships will be treated as TAXABLE INCOME
13. Increase on bonds for school construction
14. Dependent care tax credit will be decreased
15. Adoption credit disappears
16. No longer will there be a tax credit for education expenses for "Special Needs Children"
17. Employer provided day care credit decrease
18. Alaska Native Settlement Trusts decrease
19. ALL passive income taxes increase (up to 150%)
20. Tax penalties for ALL tax payers without private insurance, INCLUDING low income families, self employed and employees.
21. Payroll Tax Cuts Expire
22. Increase of Employer Taxes
23. Decrease in tax credits
24. Increased expense on employer offered Health Care
25. Section 179 deductions will be limited to $25,000 TOTAL
26. Reinstatement of AMT (Alternative minimum tax) starting at the middle class income amounts
27. Payback of the 2009 Stimulus
28. Tax extenders expire
29. Death Tax the 35% with a $5 million exemption, expires and the old rates will resume.
30. Medical deductions will no longer be calculated at 7.5% but will be calculated at the 10% with a 3.8% surtax.
31. Standard exemptions are being decreased.
32. Student Loan interest deduction will decrease and will be completely phased out
34. Mortgage interest deduction is being decreased
35. Debt forgiveness will now encompass loss due to foreclosure. That means ALL foreclosure amounts will be TAXABLE INCOME
36. The threshold for passive income for real estate will be reduced to $45,000.

And just so you all know, #5, which is the one ALL you "Robin Hoods" wanted will bring in ONLY $9 Billion dollars in tax money. #6 (that will affect every single married couple in the United States) will bring in $17 BILLION, Child Tax Credit will bring in $6 Billion. Bush's tax cuts will bring in over $165 BILLION dollars in new taxes! PAYROLL TAX cuts (NOT part of Bush's) another $124,636 BILLION!! How many people will lose their jobs so their employers will have the money to PAY those increases??? And those changes don't even include the $22,750 BILLION dollar increase for ALL OF US to pay for Obama care!! 2013 will see a TOTAL of $493,922,000,000 in TAX INCREASES!!

And just how many of the $385 MILLION people in this country pay taxes??? Maybe... half of them. You do the math. Now, who is the one that is going to get hurt the most with all these tax increases???

YOU and every single college grad still paying for their loans; cancer patients, heart patients, anyone with major medical bills; every married couple; every low income family; every business in the U.S.; every person and family that lost their homes; every unemployed person out there!

Talk about kicking people when they're down!! People are going to be paying close to triple the taxes they paid in 2012 with some paying more than 50% of their overall income in taxes! And that AIN'T gunna be the rich folks!! More people will lose their jobs! And, just so you know, ALL of these have to be reinstated by the end of THIS year to help any of us come January 1, 2013.

Obama and his cronies timed it so that you wouldn't find out about any of these until AFTER the election. The "Pied Piper" is leading all of you straight off the cliff and his cronies are shoving the rest of us off right behind you!!!

Welcome to "Taxmageddon".

[inbethlehem]

I thought the unibomber was in jail.

[phwtb100]

inbethlehem,

He is.
Are you?

[lesserof2evil]

Yes and all republiCONS are angels.

[gbreadmann]

"I worked with Ronald Reagan...Ronald Reagan was a friend of mine...congressman, you're no Ronald Reagan!"

[justamaz]

Joe Biden just needs to stick to his typical montage, which is "GM and Obama are alive and Bin Laden and the economy are dead".

[kaptainamerika]

The VP debate is going to be a riot.
Eddie Munster's "plan" has been orphaned by the big boss.
I hope to see that cute little Munster boy try to tell Joe that there is not enough time to explain his legendary wizardry with mathematics.
I think Joe will be patient with the tyke.
Munster's outsized ego will be his downfall.