As you might expect, the Wisconsin Democrat who debated Paul Ryan in 1998 tells The Hill that the Veep candidate is all kinds of slippery in debates.
Spottswood told The Hill on Tuesday that during her showdown with Ryan — possibly his only formal debate — he proved repeatedly elusive.
“He talks in platitudes, and not specifics. So if you’re trying to nail him down on details, he’ll rotate back to general principles,” Spottswood said. “He is always trying to wiggle out from his own manifesto, or to say people misunderstand what he’s saying.”
Spottswood added that the marginalization of moderator Jim Lehrer by Romney during last week’s debate “was straight out of debating Paul Ryan,” and added that Ryan would often filibuster challenges to his previously stated positions by playing policy wonk — something she called his “Wizard of Oz routine.” But the Wisconsin Democrat said most of all, Biden should be wary of what she called Ryan’s “Orwellian” slipperiness.
“He makes stuff up when he doesn’t even have to — that’s what I experienced when he was debating,” Spottswood said. “When you would try to call him out on it, say the Department of Labor said, ‘X,’ he would say he didn’t believe those figures and just keep saying what he wants to say.”
