Biden, Ryan prep for debate showdown

>>> if joe biden has a big gaffe, turns in a bad performance for some reason, which he shouldn't, this narrative just grows.

>> it could be the other scenario, right?

>> yes, it could be what happened in '04. the incumbent vice president outperformed.

>> so, of course, that's joe scarborough and richard wolf talking about the one and only vice presidential debate just two days away if you're counting. right now vice president biden is home in delaware preparing -- holding mock debates with sparring partner chris van holland and reviewing video of paul ryan 's speeches and interviews. he's reading " young guns ." paul ryan is in florida for more debate prep reviewing the tape of biden 's 2008 debate with sarah palin . as for the debate thursday, 9:00 p.m . eastern time is at the center college in danville, kentucky. "news nation" is live from there. the topics are domestic and foreign policy . the 90-minute debate is divided into nine 10-minute segments. chuck todd said it could help vice president joe biden . joining me now is ed rendell , who is now an nbc political analyst and "newsweek" and "the daily beast " special correspondent michael tamaski. you know joe biden very, very well. you have articles out there saying that the democrats want to make sure he's gaffe-proof. aside from that sidebar, we know that joe biden is formidable.

>> joe is a great speaker, and in a debate format he is very disciplined. he'll be prepped. i don't think you'll see any gaffes, but you'll see a solid performance. he's strong and aggressive and most of the all he has what president obama lacked. when i ran for re-election, and i did it three times, i was proud of what wheadon and i was enthusiastic about what we accomplished. joe will have that enthusiasm. he'll convey to the american person what this administration has done pulling us out of the brink of financial collapse, advancing the ball on health care and doing so many good things. a foreign policy record to be proud of. i think joe will sing that song loud and clear.

>> i couldn't help but think about what you describe as your expectations of vice president biden . the title of your book, basically no wuss, he can't give the slightly bit he's taking it easy on the young gun. i told my team it's like the young maverick versus the og, which i'll explain later what that means. you've got joe biden here. he's seen it and done it all. he has survived both personality tragedies and seen the ups and downs of the beltway when people used to perhaps have lunch with each other and talk over things to where we are now, it where it's a decisive tone that can be scary, governor rendell , to people voting.

>> i think joe biden will do one other thing the president didn't do. if paul ryan strays from the facts and shows a disregard from the facts which he has in the past, we know that. you see joe biden move in quickly and affirmative and correct those statements.

>> let me play this exchange between congressman ryan and a local reporter. let's play it, and i want to get your thoughts of how his temperament could factor into the debate.

>> the best thing to help prevent violent crime is to bring opportunities into inner cities. that's what charities and churching do.

>> you can do all that by a big tax cut .

>> those are your words not mine.

>> thank you very much, sir.

>> yeah.

>> that was kind of strange. you trying to stuff words in people's mouths?

>> i don't know if that's strange.

>> it sounds like you're trying to answer the question.

>> basically the campaign says that the reporter took too much time and asked a weird question. i also want on to play this exchange with chris wallace when he pressed the congressman on his budget plan on his sunday morning program on fox. let me play that.

>> lowering tax rates by broadening the tax base works.

>> you haven't given me the math.

>> i don't have the -- it would take me too long to go through all of the math.

>> i don't want to read into personality, but you can see a common theme when pressed or made uncomfortable. might we see that in two days?

>> look, you know, ryan has actually been a liability to the ticket so far. he hasn't comported himself very well in this campaign at all yet. the polls immediately after he was named showed he wasn't a popular choice. his convention speech was pretty rah, rah to the people the in the hall the night it was given. the next day the fact checkers started in on it sliced it to ribbons. he's been a drag on this ticket, but i wouldn't underestimate him as a deet baiter. most people consider him the favorite into the debate. there's no question as governor rendell said that he is going to play with the truth. let's put it that way. he's going to stretch the truth, and biden will challenge him very directly on the ryan budget. i think biden should also with reference to women and this collapse of obama's lead among women, biden should challenge him on his very extreme position on abortion and ryan will try to waltz through that stuff. biden has to hold him to it and do it very, very factually.

>> the congressman says to this notion of refuting his budget numbers or quote-unquote lies, he says basically they just call us liars to descend into the mud pit. he says this is a strategy to demoralize and they will win by default, michael . this is the counter it to all of the folks on the right or liberals who say shoot down the lies.

>> it's a clever, preemptive thing for him to do, because whether you're going to lie, it's pretty smart to say they're going to call me a liar. when they call you a liar, you can say, see, i was right? it's a smart, preemptive move on his part. biden has to show very calmly and with authority that what ryan is saying about his budget isn't so. and we know that ryan is going to do this, because ryan can't possibly go on television and tell the american people the truth about the cuts his budget would make to domestic programs and the way his tax plans would favor the rich because doing so would be incredibly popular.

>> governor rendell , the part of this debate is foreign policy , and we know the chops that the vice president brings in that conversation. it's interesting the romney campaign chose to start this week with that big foreign policy speech. congressman ryan uttered the same words that the obama administration has been weak and libya and syria have been mishandled. here's congressman ryan fakes off on one of the deans of foreign policy for this administration.

>> i think a tremendous disadvantage for congressman ryan , as it will be for governor romney when he faces off against the president on foreign affairs . i think joe biden will make sure they don't stray from the truth. in yesterday's speech somewhat unbelievably to me after all the contention about misstatements, governor romney made two significant misstatements again shows a disregard for the facts. one he said, tamron, there was no discussion of terrorism in the 2008 debates. we saw last night on msnbc they played the tape.

>> there's tape to prove he wasn't accurate.

>> 40 mentions of terrorism in that debate, and he said president obama hasn't signed a single free- trade agreement , when, in fact, he signed three. joe biden won't let him get away with it. going back to domestic policy for a section, congressman ryan said we don't have enough time to make the math add up. i think what the vice president will do is what the president should have done to governor romney and say, okay, let's cut through all of this. name one deduction you would do away with. the american people ought to know all of the deductions you'd do away with, but name one or two. it's not too hard and won't take too long. what do you think congressman ryan does in response to that?

>> i can't wait to see. i sure hope it will come up. thank you very much governor rendell and michael tamaski.