Two impressions stood out at the end of the closing statements in a Vice Presidential Debate that resembled the civility of the 2000 Cheney-Liberman Vice Presidential event.
Tim Walz’s responses were grounded in reality and accuracy.
JD Vance’s responses, while shrouded in civility and style, were among the deepest bull fecal matter in debate history. Former Senator Claire McCaskill said it best after the debate that Vance “was a better liar than Trump.”
Among Mr. Vance’s most profound zingers.
- There was a peaceful transfer of power on January 20, 2021. I nearly gagged when he said that at the end of the debate. Of course, there was after Mr. Trump incited a Domestic Terrorist attack on the Nation’s Capitol on January 6, 2021, and left in the early morning hours of January 20, 2021, rather than face the man who beat him. When Governor Walz asked Vance if Trump lost the 2020 election, Vance created the political ad for the event by not answering the question. Mr. Walz scored points also by reminding people that Mike Pence was not there debating him tonight because he would not buy Trump’s election denialism. He also scored points by pushing back on Mr. Vance’s absurd notion that Kamala Harris advocated censorship of people making threats on others, saying “You can’t yell fire in a crowded room.”
- Donald Trump saved Obamacare by working with Congress in a bipartisan fashion. What chutzpah? No part of that statement is true. Vance also said that there are laws that protect people with health care preconditions. He was right there. It is called Obamacare.
- He was not for a National Abortion Ban. Of course, he is for one.
- Trump’s economy is better than the Biden/Harris one. Statistics do not lie. Vance was.
- The United States is not leading in energy production. More lies that have been proven to be untrue.
- There have been over 20 million illegal immigrants who have entered the country since the beginning of the Biden/Harris administration. Not true.
- Illegal immigrants are driving up the costs of housing. As Joe Biden would say “Come on, man.”
- The Haitians in Springfield, Ohio are financially straining the local community. While not true, at least he stopped saying they were eating pets. This was the one time when Vance became annoyed when it seemed the CBS moderators were fact-checking him.
- Said foreign nations were creating drugs to poison Americans. That one may get traction once people rewatch the debate and see that lying nugget again.
- “I was wrong about Donald Trump before and believed the lying media stories about him.”
Vance also committed a gaffe according to post-debate analysis when he said schools would be safer with better locks and windows. One young lady on MSNBC said that response was “ridiculous.”
While Tim Walz was not as stylish as Mr. Vance, he excelled in pointing out reality and actual facts including:
- Donald Trump’s pulling out of the Iranian Nuclear Deal endangered Israel and the United States.
- Mr. Trump called climate change a hoax.
- Donald Trump tanked the economy with his mismanagement of COVID and presided over a Manufacturing Jobs recession.
- The Biden/Harris Administration is leading the world in energy production and the creation of clean energy jobs.
- Calling out Trump for not supporting the Border Security Bill. The one Vance voted against.
- Reminding people that Trump did nothing to fix the immigration system during his Presidency. He mocked Trump for only building two percent of his promised border wall and not getting Mexico to pay one dime for it.
- Discussing the unfortunate victims like Amber Thurman of Trump’s abortion ban.
- How the Harris/Walz Opportunity Economy and New Way Forward plans, unlike the Trump/Vance one, would help the middle class and lift people up. Walz cited some of the same programs like affordable housing, paid family leave, free school meals, expanded prescription drug benefits, and expanded child tax credit that have made Minnesota an attractive place to live. He also brought up that the experts say the Harris/Walz economic plan would do more for the country than the Trump/Vance one.
- Corporate greed like those investors spiking up housing prices is the real cause of inflation.
- Why should teachers pay more in taxes than Donald Trump?
- Border crossings now are lower than they were during the Trump Administration.
- Women should be able to make their own healthcare decisions and not, like Amber Thurman and others, be victims of geography. He accurately cited the increasing maternal mortality rates in Texas since they passed their abortion ban.
- Guns kill people and we need common sense reform measures that do not take sane people’s guns away like Red Flag Laws and Universal Background Checks.
- Donald Trump stresses fear. We need to be like Franklin Delano Roosevelt where “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
- The Harris/Walz Campaign is a bipartisan coalition that includes Bernie Sanders, Dick Cheney, Taylor Swift, and many former staffers who worked for Donald Trump.
Some pundits on CNN and MSNBC thought Governor Walz let Mr. Vance get away with too many lies.
I would suggest that they watch the debate again and watch Walz substantively refute Vance on point after point.
Viewers should not be swayed by style and the fact Walz did not pull a Lloyd Bensten on Vance.
That is how this country was cursed with Donald Trump in the first place.
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