The Multicultural Center at De Anza College broadcast the vice presidential debate between Vice President Joe Biden and Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan on Thursday, Oct.11, followed by a discussion.
Moderated by Martha Raddatz, the debate attracted over 50 million viewers.
“Almost all the things Ryan said left out key points,” said student Ahmed Ashufta afer the debate. “Biden made sure to make his points clear so they hit home. He had this fire in his belly.”
Biden was aggressive from the very beginning. At one point he called Ryan’s accusations “a bunch of stuff.”
When Ryan praised President John F. Kennedy’s tax policies, Biden said, “So now you’re Jack Kennedy?”
At one point, Ryan was asked about the changes he would make and went off topic, leading Biden to comment, “What would my friend do differently? You see, he never answers the question.”
During Ryan’s criticism of Obama’s foreign policies, Biden said, “With all due respect, that’s a bunch of malarkey,” using an Irish-American word for “nonsense.”
One topic that both Biden and Ryan agreed on was abortion, as Biden and Ryan are both Roman Catholics
 When asked his views, Ryan  said he believes that “life begins at conception” and said that he was pro-life.
Biden agreed that life begins at conception, but said he refused to impose his beliefs on others.
During the discussion period, De Anza nursing student Ebony Gldhigh said, “Romney scares me. He sounds like he wants to take the choice away from women.”
At the end of the debate, she decided that she was voting for Obama only because Romney was not a better option.
Biden’s performance drew criticism from the Romney campaign. “I don’t know if the vice president knew that there was a camera on him the whole time,” senior Romney campaign adviser Russ Schriefer told CNN after the debate.
“I don’t think he made any kind of coherent argument as to why the Obama-Biden ticket should be re-elected.”