The Romney campaign on Saturday unveiled a new TV ad spotlighting Vice President Biden's laughter during Thursday night's running mate debate to paint the administration as not facing the nation's economic issues in a serious manner.
The new ad titled "Fiscal discipline," features contrasting debate clips of Romney running mate Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) discussing the GOP ticket's approach to fixing the economy with close-up clips of Biden laughing.
We can't keep spending and borrowing like this. We can't just keep spending money we don't have," says Ryan in a clip from the debate, as the video begins.
"[D]id they come in and inherit a tough situation? Absolutely. But we're going in the wrong direction! Look at where we are. The economy is barely limping along,” Ryan says as the video shows him in a split screen with a laughing Biden along with full-screen images of Biden grinning.
“Leaders run to problems to fix problems," says Ryan as the ad concludes. "Mitt Romney is uniquely qualified to fix these problems."
Biden provided a sharp contrast to the somber Ryan during Thursday's debate, often interrupting his rival's comments and openly laughing and dismissing many of the GOP vice presidential nominee's positions.
The Romney campaign and Republicans were quick to criticize the vice president, with some saying he treated Ryan rudely and was failing to treat important debate issues seriously.
“The reason that Vice President Biden smirked his way through the debate is because he can’t explain to the American people how the next four years are going to be any better than the last four years," Romney campaign spokesperson Andrea Saul said during an interview Friday.
But the White House defended Biden, with press secretary Jay Carney saying on Friday that Biden was smiling at Ryan's "hypocritical" criticisms of the administration's policies. Carney added that Biden's reactions "demonstrated the passion, wisdom and joy he brings to the job of serving the American people."
