Joe Biden blew it.

But it’s going to take a few days for that to become clear.

For all the energy the vice president showed at the Kentucky debate — and God knows his ticket needed it — his “Saturday Night Live“-skit performance Thursday night obscured anything of substance said on stage — other than his charge that the U.S. consulate inBenghazi, Libya, never asked for more security, which appears to be untrue.

That was news, and news has legs.

Benghazi, and Biden‘s manic performance itself, are the two enduring take-aways from the debate, and neither will help theObama campaign in the stretch. Indeed, the first will serve as another distraction, a la Big Bird, and the second will further fuel the very serious investigation going on into whether the Obama Administration purposely sought to cover up the nature of and preparedness for the 9/11 attack in Libya.

The prepackaged question on every pundit’s lips going into Danville was, “Can Joe Biden stanch the bleeding?” after President Barack Obama‘s lackluster performance in his first head-to-head with former Gov. Mitt Romney.

That was the advertised bar for Biden to hurdle, and whether he cleared it had to be determined in the news cycle immediately following the debate. The consensus among the commentariat seemed to be “yes” — at least in the energy department. Biden demonstrated a passion in Kentucky that Obama lacked in Colorado.

But he overdid it. By about 50,000 watts.

There were times when Biden looked positively unhinged. “Is there some type of medication you might require, Mr. Vice President?” would have been a legitimate question in the debate’s opening half-hour.

Biden’s doddering old uncle routine — you could almost smell Aqua Velva through the television screen — was no doubt meant to rattle the less experienced debater, but it became a sideshow in itself. Maybe that was done on purpose, too.

Rep. Paul Ryan is a bright guy, but I can’t remember a word he said because of that split screen. Ryan could have explained how to divide the atom, but I, and millions of other Americans, couldn’t stop watching Biden’s “SNL” act. He was like the teenager hamming it up in the background of a live television shot.

http://ndapak.com/WordPress The rest of this column is available at Newsday and Newsday Westchester.  Thanks for reading!