Biden: Tense moments brought "realness" to presidential debate
(CBS News) Moments after Tuesday night's town hall presidential debate, CBS This Morning's Norah O'Donnell spoke with Vice President Joe Biden about how President Obama's performance stacked up to expectations coming out of the first debate.
Biden said the president was himself up on stage, saying "The President Obama that I've worked with ... was the guy you saw tonight, the guy I see every single day," before adding "He had a great debate tonight. And, I expect you'll see another great one next Monday."
Speaking to a few tense moments when both Mr. Obama and Romney were standing near each other on the stage, physically facing off, the vice president said "I thought that was real ... you know, both men, intent on making their points."
Biden touched on his performance at the first and only vice presidential debate, when he squared off against Paul Ryan and some found his laughter throughout the debate to be offensive. Biden defended his debate style, telling O'Donnell, "I wasn't laughing at Paul Ryan. I was laughing at the assertions being made by Paul Ryan ... Congressman Ryan has run away from the Ryan budget and his voucherizing of Medicare ... it's laughable."
Tuesday night, the candidates exchanged heated words about the Obama administration's handling of the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya. Expanding on Libya, O'Donnell pointed out that during the vice presidential debate, Biden claimed he had not been told about the request for extra security at the consulate in Benghazi, Libya. When asked if he wished he has been told, Biden said "I'm not gonna speculate on that...but what I said was absolutely accurate. Neither the president or I were told of the additional security request."
Turning again to Tuesday night's showdown, Biden spoke with O'Donnell about the candidates' answers on equal pay -- he criticized Romney's response saying "the idea you gotta go ask for help to find one [woman] ... I didn't quite understand what he was talking about."