joining me david gregory moderator of "meet the press" and chris cizilla msnbc contributor and managing editor of post-politics.com. the big night in danville first to you, chris overnight quick reaction polls which we don't rely on because they're on-line polls. >> right. >> but your sense from your blog as to whether this was a win, place or draw? >> you know, i think everything your analysis in this debate fends on what you think of joe biden and joe biden's performance. paul ryan was there. he made some points. you know, i mean he did the things that i think republicans wanted him to do, not back down, look like he was credible, could be the vice president of the united states. biden was this huge figure for good or bad depending on your perspective. i think he would have won the debate andrea on points, narrowly, had he just controlled a little bit more his off camera reaction. the two of you spend more time on television than i do but we all spend some amount of time on television. the camera can be on you when you're not talking. joe biden has been in politics and he knows that. to quote spinal tap turned the amplifier up to 11 when like 8 would have probably done the laughing and the kind of open disdain for paul ryan and paul ryan would be talking and you could in the split screen he would mouth that's not true. the democratic base loved it. but i thought he was a little too hot. >> stopped the hemorrhaging, fired the base. don't know what impact is on undecided voters. there were some serious policy points. he absolutely threw the state department and cia under the bus. contradicted the state department in what they had just testified to about benghazi, serious subject obviously, and sort of blamed the cia. let's take a look at this. >> we weren't told they wanted more security again. we did not know they wanted more security again. by the way, at the time, we were told exactly -- we said exactly what the intelligence community told us, that they knew. that was the assessment. and as the intelligence community changed their view we made it clear they changed their view. >> and jay carney today just to go a little farther, was asked about this conflict. >> he was speaking directly for himself and for the president. he meant the white house. in over four hours of testimony the testimony that you just referenced, the other day, no one who testified about this matter suggested that requests for additional security were made to the president or the white house. these are issues appropriately that are handled by security professionals at the state department and that's what he was talking about. >> david, there is a continuing controversy, hillary clinton asked about it today and said we knew what we knew at the time and investigating, she ducked the question. >> paul ryan came out among the more memorable lines is there's an act of terror against the united states we're going to call it what it is. this administration is caught in a lot of different explanations, complicated story, and you've got the intelligence community, state department and the white house. we cover washington. we understand there's a lot of competing voices when it comes to that. the buck stops at the white house with the president on these matters. and this was an act of terror as he says and there are a lot of different explanations. heated testimony about the fact that there were additional security requests. again this is just messy. i don't think -- look, martha raddtz asked direct questions i believe in moderators asking direct questions and getting answers. was it an intelligence failure. he didn't answer the question. and she did go back at a later point. this just -- they're just sewing more confusion about this rather than resolving the issue which is creating more of an ish. >> >> what's fascinating is that mitt romney by almost everyone's account when they still did not know where chris stevens' body was or whether he was alive -- it's forgotten because of the overarching problem with the administration pointing fingers in all directions. the testimony on capitol hill was that there was real-time video and real-time reporting back to washington as the assault was taking place. at that moment they knew there was no protest, there was an invasion. >> right. >> and at the same time the initial intelligence say assessment that went to susan rice and sat down with you on "meet the press," what everybody is referring to, that intelligence assessment is what people say and hillary clinton again today said rice was operating off of. >> right. i mean this is the problem. so you know, where did this line of communication get so bad? why did it take so long? let's also remember jay carney said it was self-evident it was terrorism but he said that, you know, more than a week later. i just think this is confusing. as a policy matter a lot of sort of accountability for this. still the question of where does it go. you know, what are we doing right now to investigate and track down the killers? and what does it mean more broadly for american policy in the region? i think the next layer of this is an area of complication for republicans and for this ticket which is beyond being rhetorically tougher than this administration, what is it that romney/ryan would do differently on some of these difficult matters? >> i wanted to show mitt romney in richmond today on this whole same subject. >> the vice president directly contradicted the sworn testimony of state department officials. he's doubling down on denial. >> to this day, to this day, we do not have a complete picture. we do not have all the answers. no one in this administration has ever claimed otherwise. >> and that wasn't the only foreign policy issue. another was iran. also afghanistan. interesting partly because of martha raddtz's experience and expertise and talk about winners and losers, the winner of that debate was martha raddtz my friend and colleague at abc but also on iran you have two completely different postures. >> 100%. actually, for -- having said that, that paul ryan was kind of along for the ride i will say for a debate that was, it was supposed to be domestic and foreign policy it was both of those things but a lot of foreign policy. for a guy who has no real track record on foreign policy, been a member of congress they deal with these sorts of things but not certainly as deeply as joe biden had either in the senate or as vice president, he was i think fine on foreign policy. david's point, look the foreign policy big foreign policy story we're talking about today is what the vice president of the united states said and now what the white house is saying to explain what he said. so, you know, paul ryan did not get himself spun around the axle in some way on foreign policy which is clearly not his natural area of expertise. >> mike allen's line is memorable he spoke foreign policy as a second language. he was channeling his advisers dan senor but didn't get in any trouble but a big distinction. the romney camp saying this administration has gone soft, sent certain signals to iran and has not been close enough to b.b. netanyahu and israel and the vice president saying very forcefully we have the toughest sanctions and we, not the bush administration, have the diplomatic credibility to get russia and china engaged and to finally get the world to back us on sanctions. >> i interviewed governor romney several weeks ago and he said we ought to continue the crippling sanctions in place, should have been in place sooner. critical of the administration coming into office saying that we ought to try to engage iran diplomatically, should have backed the green revolution there, so obviously there's a difference of an approach to iran. a more hardline approach that you get from governor romney. to what end is not clear. set a different red line than this administration. we don't know the answer to that. look, president bush, president obama, and a president romney would all say we will not allow iran to acquire the nuclear know how basically to produce weapons. biden was saying clearly, look, it's not as bad as it seems, they don't have a weapon to mount this on. >> one point ryan seemed to agree with that saying we have more time. >> it's not clear to me where the real difference is in the policy. >> yep. >> rhetoric is fine. one of the challenge for republicans right now post the bush era if you're saying that basically the democrats are soft on foreign policy, what is the difference between that and the projection of american power under the bush era where you invaded other countries and the like? is there some middle ground. if there is i don't know what that is. we're in the rhetorical stage after neo conservative sounding ticket -- >> and biden made -- >> being tougher is not a policy. >> biden made a virtue out of that for his base saying would you go to a war? would you start another war? and that is very resonate with democratic base and independents. >> saw joe biden doing everything he could on foreign policy speaking from a position of power. i've met netanyahu 39 times, you don't understand on afghanistan. look you may have the note cards in front of you, that tell you what to say on these things, i've lived this. >> one question david, how does this tee up the president's performance next week? does he have to be sort of goldilocks, much more agrees severe than last time clearly, but not amped up as much as joe biden. >> he never would be. only joe biden can pull off a joe biden performance like that. and even if it was over the top. that's just not president obama's style. but i think he's going to be more aggressive about challenging what romney is saying. again, i think biden did it to a point where every other word of ryan's he was inter -- trying to intercept. i think that the main thing is, the big lament from the obama team is they felt they let romney back in. i think the president comes in, more aggressive, energetic, more fight. that's what we expect to see. this idea that you don't know who these guys are, they keep changing their positions, there's no truth there, that's the big argument. >> thanks so much, chris cizilla. we'll see you on "meet the press." >> thank you. >> and coming up, we'll check in with the campaigns, jim talon and debbie wasserman-schultz and ben affleck brings you the iran rescue you've nef seen niver se. this is "andrea mitchell reports." x. just picking up some, brochures, posters copies of my acceptance speech. great! it's always good to have a backup plan, in case i get hit by a meteor. wow, your hair looks great. didn't realize they did photoshop here. hey, good call on those mugs. can't let 'em see what you're drinking. you know, i'm glad we're both running a nice, clean race. no need to get nasty. here's your "honk if you had an affair with taylor" yard sign. looks good. [ male announcer ] fedex office. now save 50% on banners. try the #1 gastroenterologist recommended probiotic. align. align naturally helps maintain digestive balance. ♪ ooh, baby, can i do for you today? ♪ try align today. i promise you the four people on this stage, we are way more fiscally conservative than the people they got running for president, vice president, and every other office. becau because, as i said in charlotte, we believe in arithmetic. >> bill clinton still clicking today in indiana, including a political dig against the romney/ryan ticket in his speech for state departments there. how does the romney team feel paul ryan did playing with -- that is playing with undecided voters in key swing states? joining me now former missouri senator jim talent adviser to the romney campaign. i haven't had enough sleep but presumably you've had more. how do you feel about the paul ryan performance and where we go heading into this big debate next week? >> i thought congressman ryan did very well. i thought he won. he was presidential on that stage. he did a good job of explaining why governor romney will turn around the economy and i thought the vice president was a lot of the time was rude and, you know, when they prep you for debates andrea, they always teach you or they warn you, you got to be respectful of the format and audience because if you're not people don't like it and then they turn off what you're saying. they don't hear the substance of it. i thought the vice president dialed it down a little in the second half but the first half of the debate he was over the top. >> there were a couple points where paul ryan had to defend his own position where they differ with mitt romney's. one in particular was abortion. let's watch. >> the policy of a romney administration will be to oppose abortion with the exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother. >> well, i guess he accept govern's romney's position now because in the past he has argued there was rape and forcible rape. >> we tried to play that earlier but had problems with our tape technically in new york. but the point being, that as you know, paul ryan has a very firm position against -- with no exceptions was a cosponsor of one of the personhood amendments in congress and mitt romney has had differing positions, one this week in iowa was that he would not produce any legislation, nothing on his agenda if he's elected president and then they would walk that back the next day. he talked about exceptions for rape and incest. is this a problem with the base and with your own position which is very much anti-abortion? >> well, no, it's not a problem with me. my personal position is very similar to governor romney's. i thought both of these -- the candidates last night were sincere and made good statements on that subject. i do think the vice president was sincerely wrong when he said that religious institutions are not going to have to provide contraceptives when it's against their crede. i think the law does that. but i thought they were both pretty good on that. i think this election is still about economics and in the first instance and then foreign policy and i thought vice president -- i thought -- i almost said vice president ryan. congressman ryan did a great job in explaining governor romney's position on those. i also think that -- >> go ahead. >> avoided mistakes and the vice president didn't. his statements on benghazi as you've been covering andrea, are going to be an ongoing problem for the administration. they really just enhanced the contradictions in the administration's policy. >> there were other issues for paul ryan, though, when it came to medicare and tax policy that have been questioned. what about the differences over medicare, health care? he said that there were no -- that there was no study, no statistics that show increased costs in ryan one in the first medicare proposal which the congressional budget office says is not the case. ryan two is another issue. they were debating ryan one. do you think this is going to be a problem with seniors and the vote in florida and other key states? >> i don't think so. i think the romney ticket is winning on that issue and it's just uncontested that the administration takes money out of medicare, $700 billion to pay for obama care. you know, seniors understand that medicare needs to be reformed and there are reforms proposed from the left, reforms proposed from the right but they all have the point of saving medicare. making medicare stronger except what the president did with obama care. >> romney takes the same $716 billion out. the same number. >> the ryan plan is designed to make medicare stronger and it does it along the lines of medicare advantage and part d. it does it by giving seniors more choices and counting on them to police the waste and the fraud in the system and that's worked very well with medicare advantage and medicare part d. aimed at saving medicare. obama care takes money out of medicare to pay for a program that seniors can't use and most people don't want and i can tell you, seniors understand once medicare is seen as a cash cow to pay for the federal budget no matter what it is you can wave good-bye to it. i think that's a powerful point. i thought paul did a good job last night talking about it and i'm sure governor romney will in the next debate. >> senator jim talent thanks for joining us. >> thank you, andrea. >> up next, the democratic take on last night's debate. party chair deppby wasserman-schultz. >> time for the your business entrepreneur of the week. former model and goldman sachs analyst created shoptiques that helps local boutiques that don't have their own sites sell on-line. she knows content sells and launched a companion on-line magazine as an ultimate source for what's in. for more watch your business sunday morning at 7:30 on msnbc. 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[ male announcer ] join the millions of people who have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp, an organization serving the needs of people 50 and over for generations. remember, all medicare supplement insurance plans help cover what medicare doesn't pay. and could save you thousands a year in out-of-pocket costs. call now to request your free decision guide. and learn more about the kinds of plans that will be here for you now -- and down the road. i have a lifetime of experience. so i know how important that is. there are critics that say joe biden had too much red bull before his debate. that his amped up attack at the beginning of the debate did delight a disspirited democratic base, though. what about the swing voters, florida congresswoman and democratic national chair debbie wasserman-schultz joins me from sunny florida. you've heard the criticisms of joe biden. some said he came on too strong, smirking, mocking and interrupting and was basically too had heavy handed and jim talent just said basically rude. >> wow. you know when the other side is talking about facial expressions and arguing over whether the vice president smiled too much, that they know they lost on substance and i think the vice president did a fantastic job last night. he was clear and concise and detailed and quite frankly vice presidential. he showed he has the experience and gravitas and he demonstrated the reason why president obama asked him to run with him for vice president of the united states in the first place. i was very prou