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Biden, Ryan trade blows in vice presidential debate

Posted at 9:58 PM, Oct 11, 2012
and last updated 2012-10-11 23:47:15-04
(CNN) -- Joe Biden and Paul Ryan traded sharp barbs in their high-stakes vice presidential debate on Thursday, offering attacks aimed at lifting their respective campaigns less than a month before Election Day.

Ryan, a Republican congressman from Wisconsin, sought to land some of the first blows. He criticized President Barack Obama's administration for its failure to protect four Americans killed last month in a terror attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission Benghazi, Libya, and for mixed messages about what transpired.

"This Benghazi issue would be a tragedy in and of itself. But unfortunately it's indicative of a larger problem," Ryan said, adding that illustrated an unraveling of the administration's foreign policy.

Biden, the sitting vice president, responded sharply in a bid to counter the Republican's claim that the administration has looked weak and, in the process, has strengthened U.S. adversaries.