Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Back to Opinion

Jewish Twitter-Sphere Abuzz Over Veep Debate

What’s the use of a spin room when we have social media? Last night, the Twitterverse turned its eyes towards the vice presidential debate between Joe Biden and Paul Ryan.

You’ve probably already heard all of the “malarkey” from partisans representing both parties, but here’s a look at the lighter side of last night’s important debate.

Early on, many viewers thought Biden was faring better than President Barack Obama’s widely-criticized performance last week. Andy Borowitz, author of The Borowitz Report, tweeted:

As discussion turned to Iran, Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu became the hot topic of discussion. Commentary magazine’s Alana Goodman observed:

Michael Koplow, program director at the Israel Institute, noted that:

After Biden claimed to have known Israeli’s Prime Minister for decades, New Yorker writer Philip Gourevitch, wondered:

Of course, some of the Twitter observations had nothing to do with the debate, but the physical appearance of the candidates. Some tweets referenced Biden’s great dental work:

While others were impressed with Ryan’s forehead.

Aside from political views, there was also a large generation gap between the two candidates. Jeffrey Goldberg, correspondent for The Atlantic, predicted:

As the night went on, many Tweeters saw Biden turn serious, reeling off facts as Ryan circled around questions. Ari Melber, a correspondent for The Nation, gave some kudos to Ryan:

Overall, many felt the Dems regained some momentum, while Ryan held his ground. Alex Koppelman of The New Yorker had one of the most astute observations: of the night.

Perhaps musician Josh Groban tweeted it best though:

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.