Jonathan Chait:

Biden met his audience at a gut level. Over and over he appealed to them to settle the debate by falling back on long-held prejudices about the two parties. Taxes? Biden set out to utter the phrase “middle class” as many times as he possible could, and to tie Romney and Ryan to the class interest of the very rich. On entitlements, he pulled out of the weeds and reminded voters that Democrats were the party of Social Security and Medicare – “Folks, follow your instincts on this one.” On defense, he repeatedly invoked the possibility that Romney would start another war, which is probably the only real way that foreign policy might enter the thinking of a low-information undecided voter. And three times Biden invoked Romney’s disparagement of the 47%, using it to frame the entire Romney-Ryan economic philosophy.

For this entire campaign, I've waited for someone to ask people for a gut check. Seniors know they're getting better Medicare benefits. Their checkbooks prove it. People see our soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. And they know who has been trying to get jobs bills through Congress and who has been wasting our time passing phony abortion bans. Finally, Joe Biden called on people to do a simple gut check.

For Paul Ryan, tonight was about the win. He wanted to win. Those stupid gym pictures are really representative of how he views things. He's buff, he's fit, he's ROCKY. He's ready to win, because he's been fluffed and feathered and trained to win, except that no one taught him that winning means giving a damn about something other than his own career and his own advancement.

If you think about it, Paul Ryan's debate performance is a great example of Randian principles in play. It was all about Paul, all about a performance.

Being President isn't a performance. It's a responsibility. A grave one. Van Jones is right. He should be vetted.