Win McNamee/Getty ImagesSomeone had his Wheaties this morning!
Knowing he had ground to make up after his boss' sleepy, much-maligned performance in the first presidential debate, Vice President Joe Biden came out swinging—and, in many cases, giggling—in his only debate against Mitt Romney's running mate, Sen. Paul Ryan.
Once again, we'll leave the question of who scored more political points to the Beltway experts, but we've taken the liberty of weighing in on tonight's most memorable moments:
Best Pre-Debate Tweets: We were going to split the difference between the candidates themselves, Biden writing, "It's go time" and Ryan writing, "Let's get this done." But, no, longtime Barack Obama advisor David Axelrod wins: "How it all begins: Ryan to Biden, 'Don't call me Congressman!' Biden to Ryan: 'Hey, pal. Nice guns!'"
Good Point: "It's never too early to speak up for our values," Ryan said in defense of Romney's insta-attack on Obama's foreign policy when the U.S. ambassador to Libya was killed in a terrorist attack last month.
Word of the Night: Malarkey. "With all due respect, that's a bunch of malarkey—because not a single thing he said was accurate," Biden said in response to Ryan's criticism of Obama's defense spending. Later, when he again fired back at Ryan with, "This is a lot of stuff," Biden said that stuff, in this case, meant malarkey.
Rudest Trending Topic: "#EddieMunster" started trending on Twitter after a slew of tweets comparing Ryan to the '60s-era sitcom character played by Butch Patrick.
Biggest Liar: Well, according to Biden, it's Ryan. Of course, according to Ryan, it's Biden. But Biden was the one who called malarkey on Ryan at a more constant clip. "Can I translate?" Biden interjected as Ryan explained the Romney campaigns 20-percent tax cut proposal.
Shining Star: After she had done little more than introduce herself, the peanut gallery was already saying how much better moderator Martha Raddatz of ABC News was than PBS' Jim Lehrer, whose handling of the presidential debate was widely criticized. (She kept it up, too, demanding specifics from Ryan on financial policy and quizzing Biden about the perceived frailties of Obama's military policy.)
Best Kindergarten Lesson: "The calendar works the same every year. Spring, summer, fall, it's warm or it's not," Ryan pointed out, noting the cyclical nature of fighting in eastern Afghanistan dependant on whether there's snow in the mountains.
Second-Best Kindergarten Lesson: "What would my friend do differently?" Biden inquired of Romney-Ryan's policy on Syria, one of many times he referred to his opponent as friend.
Most LOLs: Biden started with giggles and then moved on to audible laughter when Ryan would say something that the vice president, er, disagreed with.
The Great Interruptor: All that laughter wasn't really very sporting of Biden.
Biggest Fist-Pump: The one Obama probably just did from wherever he watched the debate.