SCIENCE: ‘Study’ ties countries’ chocolate consumption to Nobel Prizes, brain power. You can’t argue with science.

NO ADULTS IN THE ROOM: Cop Breaks Up Battle Between Two Members Of Congress: Rep. Brad Sherman lays hands on Rep. Howard Berman in the bitter Los Angeles race. They’re both Democrats!

MANIC DEPRESSION IS A FRUSTRATING MESS: Stacy McCain on “Crazy Uncle Joe” in the American Spectator: 

Biden’s behavior resembled the hypomanic phase of bipolar disorder, as he grinned incongruously or faked laughter in reaction to Ryan’s answers, rudely scoffed at the Republican’s policy proposals as “bluster” and “loose talk,” and bulldozed past whatever feeble attempts Raddatz made to halt his repeated filibusters.

Read the whole thing.™

Elsewhere at the Spectator, newfound respect for Jim Lehrer.

HEH: “It’s great to know that a blog can make enough money that you have to pay $141,710 in tax.”

HEH: Joe Biden: The Smirk Store Called; They’re Running Out of Smirks.

Related: Michael Barone: “Joe Biden appealed to Democratic partisans, firing them up by attacking and, even more often, smirking at Paul Ryan’s arguments. But smirks only work when your audience starts off agreeing with you. . . . I was struck by the difference between the generational and gender appeal of the two candidates. The dial groups showed that Ryan did better with women than with men—in vivid contrast with the usual partisan patterns.”

Also: Biden, the anti-Obama, brings exasperation to debate with Ryan.

UPDATE: A reader emails:

I just finished reading the lengthy post-debate wrap up on Instapundit.

I agree that liberals are demoralized, but I sense a culprit for their behavior which has interesting implications. In fact, implications frightening to modern liberalism. Given the variety of quirks facing the left: totalitarian rhetoric, unimaginative policies, unrealistic expectations, it’s easy to brush aside the whole movement as unserious. But now I think I know why.

The left, in its crusade to dethrone male virtues from Western culture, has instead stripped its own movement of these virtues. This Peggy Noonan quote is eye-opening: “National Democrats keep confusing strength with aggression and command with sarcasm.” In other words, they no longer get how to be both strong and competent in the service of self and society.” Oh you know, that whole thing about men overcoming intense adversity and being steadfast, focused problem solvers in the face of crisis. How men like this support their families and help set an example that encourages both women and other men to act the same way in civil society.

It’s as if that notion is entirely absent in the Democratic left, so that even the tough guy liberals can’t credibly resolve today’s tough issues. They’ve replaced reliance on these virtues with a near-religious belief that government ‘daddy’ will fill the role of universe tough problem solver. Except no single constituent part of government ‘daddy’ actually possesses these traditional chivalric virtues. And the only reason this makes sense to liberals is because they no longer have any conception of those virtues to begin with.

And let me clarify that I refer to chivalric public virtue, as I’m sure there are backhandedly strong men somewhere out there in liberal households, when no one’s looking (no sarcasm intended).

Indeed.

WALL STREET JOURNAL: The Bully vs. the Wonk. The Veep’s strategy: Show contempt for your opponent. “So now we know what Team Obama’s comeback plan was following last week’s defeat in the Presidential debate. Unleash Joe Biden to interrupt, filibuster, snarl, smirk and otherwise show contempt for Paul Ryan. The carnival act contributed to the least illuminating presidential or vice presidential debate of our lifetimes. . . . No doubt the performance cheered Democrats who needed cheering after last week, but we wonder how well it played with independents or undecided voters who tuned in to learn something. . . . On nearly every specific issue on which Mr. Biden attacked, he was demonstrably wrong.”

It’s surreal to think that Biden was added to the ticket four years ago because he was thought to bring some foreign-policy gravitas to the ticket. It’s disturbing to think that it might nonetheless have been true. . . .

YA THINK? Benghazigate might be bigger news if the president was a Republican. Or if the press weren’t composed of Democratic operatives with bylines.

CHARLES KESLER: Biden’s Old-School Demagogy. But weren’t the old-school demagogues better at their delivery?

VODKAPUNDIT WEEPS: “Look at all the bourbon reporters left behind in their VP debate swag bags.”

WAR ON WOMEN: “Tonight, Joe Biden is embodying everything that women hate about talking with men.”

That’s not exactly surprising, considering the glaring misogyny of this administration from its start:

At the exact moment Jon Favreau is receiving high praise in pre-inaugural media puff pieces, the 27-year-old chief speechwriter for President-elect Barack Obama (not Jon Favreau, the Hollywood actor/ director) finds himself in a minor mess over a photo from a recent private party showing him groping the breast of a cardboard cutout of Hillary Rodham Clinton as an unnamed pal wearing an “Obama staff” T-shirt kisses and feeds her beer.

If you haven’t seen it, imagine the early stages of the barroom rape scene of “The Accused” with Jodie Foster. Or think prosecutor Mike Nifong’s graphic (though false) descriptions of the Duke lacrosse party. Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson danced to a similar tune at the 2004 Super Bowl.

Fraternities have been closed for less.

WELL, CONSIDERING WHO THEY PICKED IN 2008… Snortworthy: David Shuster thinks Biden clinched the 2016 Democratic nomination.

GOAT, SCAPED: Biden blames intelligence community for changing story about Libya attack.

L.A.’S LAST SUCCESSFUL MAYOR tries to address the pension crisis.

IT’S DEJA GORE ALL OVER AGAIN: Will Joe Biden’s laughs be the new Al Gore sighs?

UPDATE: The return of Smirky Malarkey McSmirk.

MORE: Paul Ryan Beats Blustering Buffoon Joe Biden in Vice Presidential Debate.

DID STEPHANIE CUTTER JUST WIN THE FOREIGN POLICY DEBATE FOR ROMNEY? At left-leaning Mediaite, interestingly enough.

RELATED: Blogger “Sooper Mexican” has some Photoshop fun with a recent Newsweek International cover: The Stephanie Cutter Paradox.

MICHAEL BARONE: “The instant polls: CNBC had it Ryan 56%-36%, CBS Biden 50%-31%, CNN Ryan 48%-44%, AP Ryan 51%-43%. Not nearly as one-sided as the instant responses to the first presidential debate in Denver. My sense: Biden pumped up partisan Democrats, but failed to win over the voters who are taking a serious look at Romney at a point when he is up in national polls.”

UPDATE: Barone’s AP poll quote may be based on a false tweet.

ANOTHER VIDEO GOOFING ON BIDEN’S DEBATE “PERFORMANCE:” The music is sort of Wendy Carlos meets Benny Hill’s Yakety Sax, appropriately enough. A Clockwork Biden?

FOREIGN POLICY: Biden contradicts State Department on Benghazi security.

UPDATE: Biden Bombed. “You don’t win a nationally televised debate by being rude and obnoxious. You don’t win by interrupting your opponent time after time after time or by being a blowhard. You don’t win with facial expressions, especially smirks or fake laughs, or by pretending to be utterly exasperated with what your opponent is saying.”

THAT WAS FAST: “Laughing At The Issues.”

JOE BIDEN GIVES CHRIS MATTHEWS HIS TINGLE BACK, but delivers some “unexpectedly” different results at CNN:

Even CNN’s Gloria Borger admits, “He was condescending at times to Paul Ryan. I think I could have done with a lot less eye-rolling and chuckling on the part of Joe Biden.”

Meanwhile, Ace adds, “This debate will not strongly impact the race, but note that Ryan — the crazy extremist who wants to kill your grandparents — is viewed as likable by more than a majority of the public, whereas Biden has… the Democratic Client System base.”

Love the photo atop his post.

UPDATE: On the other hand, “MSNBC Call Biden Out Over Lie About Libya Security Requests” — “Good heavens, when Andrea Mitchell is calling the Obama administration out, you know they’ve gone too far.”

SO I MISSED THE DEBATE, being out to dinner with Eugene Volokh and a bunch of L.A. libertarian luminaries. But Randy Barnett emails:

Ryan had to pass the vice president test tonight or the ticket would have suffered. He did, which against the hard charging Joe Biden was no mean feat. So there is no change in the current dynamic of the race.

And David Kirkham wrote: “Biden is overcompensating.”

UPDATE: “Joe Biden was off his meds.”

MORE: Rude Biden Turns Off Many Independents.

MORE STILL: Reader Gregory Pals sums it up this way: “The Joker vs. Robin.”

STILL MORE: “I didn’t expect, however, that Biden’s demeanor would be so off-putting. The ridiculous toothy smile didn’t come as a shock. But the smirking, mocking, laughter, constant interruptions of Paul Ryan, and cranky interaction with moderator Martha Raddatz, whom he chided at one point for allegedly misstating the facts, did.”

A GUIDE TO THE WORLD for potential expatriates.

This should come in handy for all those Obama supporters planning to leave the country if Romney wins.

THAT WAS SO ANNOYING! The VP debate was positively painful. Joe Biden’s grimacing and interrupting created such an atmosphere of anxiety. Dreadful. “So, Biden was too rude and aggressive, while Obama, by his own admission, was too polite and not aggressive enough last week.” It’s not like we’re going to take an average!

NEW CLUES ON how to treat Eczema.

BIDEN FOREIGN POLICY EXPERT:  not! as shown by this commenter on Stephen Green’s blog.