U.S. Vice Presdient Joe Biden and Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan disagreed early and often on foreign and economic policy during a feisty, interruption-filled debate in (the state of ) Kentucky Thursday.
From the outset of the 90-minute nationally televised debate, both candidates engaged in animated back-and-forth exchanges.
Looking to regain momentum following President Barack Obama's poor debate performance last week, Vice President Biden launched an aggressive defense of White House policies. He called on Representative Ryan and other Republican lawmakers to "get out of the way" and let the Obama administration fix the slow economy.
But Ryan countered that after nearly four years, President Obama and Congressional Democrats bear full responsibility for an economy that he said has left 15 percent of the country living in poverty.
The candidates also opposed each other's foreign policy views, with Biden declaring that U.S. troops will leave Afghanistan in 2014 and Ryan saying that such an announcement amounts to weakness.
On Syria, Biden praised the Obama administration's careful work with America's allies in pressuring Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down.
Ryan accused the Obama administration of inaction on Syria, saying it has allowed tens of thousands to die in the conflict despite mounting international pressure to act.
On Libya, Ryan slammed the White House for not providing enough security in Benghazi, where an attack last month killed the U.S. ambassador. He said the administration was too slow in recognizing that it was a terrorist attack.
Biden called the attack against the U.S. ambassador "a tragedy," promising that whatever "mistakes" were made "will not be made again."
美国副总统拜登和共和党副总统候选人、众议员保罗.瑞安星期四在肯塔基州举行了一场火药味十足、经常打断对方的话的辩论。他们相互批评对方的经济与外交政策。
在全国播放为时90分钟的辩论中,两位副总统候选人从一开始就展开了唇枪舌剑的对决。
为了重获奥巴马总统上周辩论中表现不佳而失去的势头,副总统拜登为白宫政策展开激烈辩护。美国副总统拜登呼吁众议员瑞安和其他共和党议员“靠边站”,让奥巴马政府修复增长缓慢的经济。
但瑞安反驳说,在近4年之后,奥巴马总统和国会民主党人要为经济负完全责任,他说,美国的经济让15%的人民生活在贫困中。
两位副总统候选人还批评对方的外交政策。拜登宣布美国军队将在2014年撤离阿富汗,而瑞安说,这样的宣布等同于软弱。
在叙利亚问题上,拜登赞扬奥巴马政府为迫使叙利亚总统阿萨德下台与盟国进行的精心策划。
瑞安则谴责奥巴马政府在叙利亚问题上不作为。他说,这导致成千上万的人在冲突中死亡,尽管要求采取行动的国际压力日益增大。
在利比亚问题上瑞安批评白宫没有在班加西提供足够的安全保障。美国大使上个月在班加西的一次袭击中被杀。瑞安说,奥巴马政府承认这是一起恐怖袭击的做法来得太慢。
拜登把上个月美国驻利比亚大使受致命攻击事件称作是“悲剧”,他保证说,“再也不会犯”任何可能犯下的“错误”。