Just body language: Paul Ryan kicks Biden’s butt

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The debate is over now, but it was over halfway through.

What did it? Vice President Joe Biden‘s toothy porcelain veneer grin at all the wrong times.

Now we will hear everyone dissect the words that did or didn’t come out the right way from the mouths of Biden and Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, running mate for Republican nominee Mitt Romney. And we’ll get into that, too. Later. Because it is going to be difficult to decipher the Democrats and left-leaning media’s denial dances.

So, for now, until I am able to get some reaction and rewind the tape (again and again), Ladra is going to concentrate on the body language and the way they said their words.

“Uh, uh, uh, ga-ga-ga… um, um,” Biden stuttered a lot. He also had to fix his numbers a few times but that was only between the sarcastic laughter and smirking — sneering, is more like it — and constant fake smile that came off as derisive and insincere, maybe even nervous. (Does he have a crush on Paul Ryan, too?)

“A cranky old man,” Britt Hume called him. And frustrated, angry, defensive, apologetic, rude — all that, too.

“Creepy,” my mom said, referring to the toothy grins.

Ryan, on the other hand, was respectful, on point, focused and was able to improvise. He took more notes, too. Ladra loves politicos who take notes. And while Biden frequently interrupted with sarcastic guffaws that blinded us with light shining off his perfectly straight and white chewers when Ryan spoke, the Congressman was respectful, if when he seemed to look at Biden with a little bit of a perplexed expression.

Like he was saying “What are you talking about?” Or maybe, “El pobre.” It looked like Ryan le tenia lastima.

At one point, one Ryan dig seemed to also do double duty as a excuse handed right to him: “Mr Vice President, I know you’re under a lot of duress to make up for last time,” referring, no doubt, to the Oct. 3 presidential debate where Romney shattered President Barack Obama.

Other than one or two more jabs like that — the best was in response to Biden’s attack on Romney’s “47 percent” comment: “Mr. Vice President knows that sometimes the words don’t come out the right way” — Ryan was un muchacho educado. Biden was un falta respeto. Expect another bump in the polls.

Biden clasped his hands so much you could see the knuckles get white. He yelled a lot (was he hoarse at the end or is that just our imagination?), and hammered his pointed finger up and down — with the pen in hand — like a ranting woodpecker trying to dig a hole in the moderator’s face. Like it was her fault that he was rattled from start to finish. At one point, he even whined to the moderator that he got less time than Ryan.

The Vampire VP wannabe, on the other hand, folded his hands one on the other like he was at ease. He spoke slower and lower and seemed like he was relaxed at someone’s dining room table. Like someone with nothing to worry about.

Despite Biden’s veteran politico status and their nearly 30-year age difference — Ryan wasn’t afraid to challenge back and try to get the last word in when he could.

Biden seemed worried. Ryan seemed like he didn’t have a worry in the world.

And he shouldn’t. Not after Thursday’s performance.

One of the things Ryan said about the country’s defense and international policies — a subject in which his deep  knowledge was unexpected — was that “it’s unraveling before our eyes.”

Yes, Paulito. But so is the Obama campaign.