Remember that time in the vice presidential debate when Paul Ryan told a random and not particularly helpful anecdote about a family dying in a car wreck? Remember when he told that story in front of a man who once lost his young wife and first daughter in a car accident one week before Christmas and one month after being elected to the United States Senate?

Yea, that happened.

Ryan talked at length about a family that he and former Governor Mitt Romney met during a campaign function in Massachusetts. In my estimation, Paul Ryan did this to rattle Joe Biden. He did it to knock Joe Biden off of his game. This makes Paul Ryan detestable.

Can you imagine if Biden had said something like this:

You know, the President and I were traveling through Wisconsin when we met a young man who found his father dead in bed. That man had suffered a heart attack. And that's why we support universal healthcare for all. We want to make sure young men don't lose their fathers in high school.

"I don't doubt [Governor Romney's] personal generosity, and I know what its like. When I was a little younger than the congressman, my wife was in an accident. [It] killed my daughter and my wife, and my two sons survived. The one thing you can give people is solace to know that if you've been through it, they can make it."

But Joe Biden wouldn't say that. Because Joe Biden has integrity. As the situation played out, the anecdote backfired on Ryan. Biden responded like you might expect, taking a moment to collect himself, then telling the nation of how he overcame great tragedy in his own life. Biden responded:Joe Biden shows again that he has the sort of empathy necessary to properly govern. Paul Ryan shows once again that he is the sort of man willing to use anything - including the painful and tragic death of his opponent's family - to score a political point.