This vice presidential debate was painful to watch. Donald Trump gets criticized often for calling other people names, and sometimes he really does sound like a 3rd grade child. But this vice presidential debate was just completely childish.
They were both sent out as attack dogs. Tim Kaine was there to attack Donald Trump. Mike Pence was there to attack Hillary Clinton. The “moderator”, Elaine Quijano, was there to attack Trump.
From a libertarian standpoint, I am not a fan of Mike Pence. But I will get to him in a moment.
This guy Kaine though is a total hack and a total phony. At least when Hillary Clinton lies, it could be somewhat believable if one didn’t actually investigate the facts. But Kaine speaks to the audience as if everyone is a bunch of dumb children. He reminded me of a male version of Debbie Wasserman Schultz at times – like a little gnat that won’t shut up.
Both candidates interrupted each other frequently, but it was especially ridiculous on Kaine’s part. For the first 30 minutes of the debate, it seemed that Pence could not speak for 10 consecutive seconds without being interrupted. And the so-called moderator would either allow it or actually side with Kaine and try to give him time.
Pence should have told him to shut up and to stop interrupting. I blame him for allowing it to happen and not calling both of them out on it. I don’t understand why Pence (and Trump in his first debate) allow these so-called moderators to be shills for the Democrats without pointing it out. Most Americans, other than hardcore Democrats, no longer trust the establishment media, so Trump and Pence aren’t going to lose any points by politely pointing out that these people are in the tank for Hillary Clinton.
When Kaine wasn’t attacking Trump (and even sometimes when he was), he was constantly promoting the agenda of the left of ever-expanding government. It is not a surprise, but it is just amazing that so many people can fall for this total propaganda.
Kaine is just horrible on everything from a libertarian perspective. The few times he made sense, he was mostly lying. He slipped in a few things about getting troops out of Iraq and about preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons. The best we can do here is to give Obama credit for not going to war with Iran. He could have been even more violent than he has. But if it is up to Hillary Clinton, she probably would go to war with Iran. She is a bigger war hawk than Obama.
Kaine is just a total annoyance. I don’t understand how anyone can believe the garbage coming out of his mouth. He was talking about Trump calling women pigs, slobs, etc. Then he said that it breaks his heart that he has to say that in front of his wife and other female family members. Yes Tim – I’m sure your heart is just breaking for them having to hear those words. What a complete phony.
One last thing on Kaine. He mentioned that Trump had said Obama wasn’t born in the United States. Then he brought it to race. What is wrong with Trump and Pence? Why don’t they respond to this? They should say, “Why do you have to bring up race? Can’t someone question where Obama was born without being a racist? That is one of the problems in this country. People feel like they can’t say anything anymore. We are living in a world of political correctness. You can’t even criticize the president without being called a racist.”
I guarantee you this won’t lose any votes. Most people in the U.S. truly are fed up with feeling like they can’t say anything without risking being called a racist or having race brought up as an issue. The people who wouldn’t like such a response are already in it for Hillary.
In terms of Mike Pence, I think he is a typical Republican conservative. He sounds better than the Democrats on some economic issues.
I still think it was a mistake on Donald Trump’s part in picking him. I wish he had picked someone who was less pro-war. It makes it harder for Trump to defend a relatively non-interventionist foreign policy.
Pence is not similar to Trump, or at least the Trump from the Republican primaries. Pence plays it safe. He says the politically acceptable things. He doesn’t leave the zone of acceptability.
Trump played that safe game in the first debate, at least for him. He needs to get back to what won him the Republican nomination. If he doesn’t, he may hand the election to Hillary Clinton. I don’t think he will ultimately go down without a fight, but the fight didn’t start with Mike Pence.
I am glad there is only one vice presidential debate. It was tough to watch. Overall, I don’t think it is going to move a lot of people. If anything, a few independents might move away from Hillary Clinton because Kaine was such an annoyance.