After watching the Vice Presidential Debate tonight between VP Joe Biden and Congressman Paul Ryan, I had a flash back to my childhood of being one of the younger kids in an Irish Catholic family of eight.
The older child, regardless of ability, always dominated the younger. It was family code. It was true in my family. Using an Irish metaphor as it relates to family, the oldest male in the family almost always gets the family farm in spite of total glaring incompetence in some cases. That's why the Irish coined the phrase from "shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations." First generation builds the business. The next generation destroys the business. And the third generation re-builds whatever is left.
As is appropriate for this blog, both the debators tonight are from Irish Catholic descent. Both understand that "big brother/little brother" Irish dynamic. Tonight Joe played the omniscient overbearing big brother role. As the younger "know nothing" insignificant little brother Paul spoke, Joe dismissed him with arrogant indifference, condescension and disrespect. He smiled. He showed lots of white teeth. Laughed. And interrupted Paul's comments repeatedly...over 80 times!! All the while the complicit moderator, Martha Raddatz, gave Joe a pass to dominate the younger brother. Is she an only child? If so, she doesn't understand the dominator/subservient family mystique.
On the other hand, the wiser and younger Paul, said his peace and listened respectfully and civilly to Joe hectoring on about "these guys" to just get out of the way and stop the "mullarkey, my friend". Paul, not the ablest debator, however, showed remarkable strength, restraint and respect for the uber-amped up Joe and the courtesy was not reciprocated to Paul from Joe.
On a another matter...whenever two divergent Catholics debate the issues, the one issue that gets my immediate attention is the subject of abortion. The sensitive abortion question surfaced tonight. As a practicing Catholic, we believe that life begins at conception. Conservatives believe this. Paul believes this. Liberals believe that a woman has a right to choose who lives and who dies within her own body. Joe believes this. If you are a practicing Catholic, which Joe said he is, "religion defines who I am", how does he reconcile his position on pro-abortion while his religion says it's murder? Can't have it both ways, Joe. "Say it ain't so, Joe."
As the debate wound down, the closing statements of both men were very telling. Joe was brief, self-assured and willful. Like an older brother. Paul was clear, decent and slightly submissive. Like a younger brother.
Problem for Joe is the viewers saw Joe's churlishness and Paul's decency.
Older and nasty is never appealing.
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