The Vice Presidential Debate

Pence wouldn't commit to a peaceful transfer of power.

You need to read this article. It's more important than anything I have to say herein:

"Democrats Need To Be Clear About Where This Could Be Headed": https://bit.ly/3iBqDrf

It's about the system, not the issues. The above was written by a Harvard professor, not someone wearing a tin foil hat.

No one's mind was changed via tonight's debate. As a matter of fact, I'd recommend all further debates be canceled, they're a waste of time. We've seen the candidates, we get it, all that is left is for Donald Trump to browbeat Joe Biden while he fails to observe the debate rules that he agreed to.

Just like Mike Pence.

At first you had to have sympathy for the vice president. He had to defend the terrible record of the Bizarro in Chief. But as one continued to listen, one could see that he buys into a lot of the crap he was saying, which is positively scary.

As for the Trump team's governing philosophy...Pence came out with it right away, and then hammered it over and over again, he believes in the American people, not government, that the people will do the right thing, in other words...YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN!

I'd go deeper but you've already made up your mind. But it's clear if you believe Donald Trump cares about you, is gonna help you, the answer is no, AND PENCE ADMITTED IT RIGHT UP FRONT!

Not that he'd answer the question, almost never. Which is why these debates are such a waste of time. Kamala could think on her feet, Pence just repeated his talking points over and over again, like a third grader who didn't do his homework.

But having said that, it was painfully obvious that the same people who prepared Trump for last week's debate prepared Pence for this one. Not only would Pence not answer direct questions, he consistently went over time, again and again, as if the rules didn't matter. And the truth is both Trump and Pence believe they don't. Never forget that.

The one thing we learned, that was loud and clear, is that Kamala Harris is the smartest of the four people running, the most nimble, the one who can think while talking, who can deftly argue her case. After tonight, no Biden fan should have any worry about Harris taking over his Administration. She's beyond competent. As for experience, she's more experienced in government than Obama was!

But you can see why Kamala lost the nomination. She's a prosecutor through and through. She's tough as nails and there to win. And some of her expressions when Pence railed on worked against her, she was disgusted by his lies. However, she did temper those reactions as the debate wore on.

My point being you wouldn't want to have a beer with either of these people. That was George Bush, who ran on being warm and fuzzy. And I'm talking about impressions here, image, not truth. And the unfortunate thing is running for public office is oftentimes too much about image, substance is kicked aside.

Like Pence's lies.

We live in scary times. The Trumpers get all their news in a parallel universe, where falsehoods and twists of truth are de rigueur, to the point where when Trump or Pence utter them their acolytes believe them. Then again, almost everybody watching is not up on the facts of what is being discussed. Like fracking...it's an ungodly large money pit. These companies will never make any money, meanwhile they paid their CEOs millions. It's been all over the "Wall Street Journal," the right wing paper of record, but once again, don't let the truth get in the way of a good story.

Americans hate change, sorry to say so. They're all fearful they're gonna lose something in the transition. So if you try to throw the long ball, they cower, even though it's Sanders and Warren who were truly standing up for the average American, who is financially challenged and behind the 8-ball. So we've got Biden.

The problem with Biden is he's not good at conveying his message. He can only lose in further debate. Biden is experienced, he knows the right thing to do, he's exercised good judgment, but as a candidate...not good. Furthermore, there's no doubt he's not as sharp as he was in the VP debates of yore.

Which brings us back to Kamala Harris. She's too edgy to win general election. But as #2 she's a princess, a hammer in a velvet glove. To watch her work her way through what she wanted to say to ultimately answer the question was amazing. We haven't seen this skill since Bill Clinton. Then again, if you're smart and educated you've got two strikes against you with the right. The right would rather pray the problems go away, are so busy keeping themselves in the hole they're in that they cannot be lifted up. The right is so busy denigrating the left that its disadvantaged constituents can't see what they're losing, their religion is hating liberals just as much as loving God.

Now if Biden were to become incapacitated, or to pass, I've got complete confidence in Harris, she proved her mettle tonight. She can think on her feet, weigh the evidence. And if she were to inherit the presidency I have no doubt she would do a good job and be electable thereafter. But, once again, I can see why she lost in the primaries. America doesn't like smart women, doesn't like women with a backbone. And I'm wary of prosecutors, but maybe that's exactly what our country now needs, to stand up to the bullies, not that Harris responded as to what measures she and her party would take if Trump refused to leave office.

No one answered the tough questions, no one answered the gotcha questions. Harris bobbed and weaved. Pence employed the Trump playbook, just hammer the points and lie, lie, lie...what are the chances your voters are gonna see the corrections in the "New York Times" or on CNN, never mind MSNBC. NONE!

But the truth is there is now no truth. We all drink from different media wells and Donald Trump has done an excellent job of undercutting truthful media. So far, it's only been pundits fighting back, but tonight Kamala Harris fought back, and that was inspiring.

It's time we got a fighter.

And isn't it interesting that the fighters in the Democratic party are all women. From Harris to AOC to Pelosi. It's the men we've got to worry about, the mealy-mouthed Schumer who seems to have left his balls in the locker room. You don't bring a knife to a gun fight and to win you have to know your enemy and prepare for their behavior, whereas the men in the Democratic party whine and then say to trust the system. As for that system, I was waiting for Harris to say that Trump put in so many unqualified and biased judges because the Republican Senate refused to approve Obama's picks. But, once again, these are not history lessons, just impressions.

Maybe, like in "Borgen," we need a scoreboard. Maybe we have to move to the world we presently live in, reality television, where Trump made his bones. It seems that straight reporting, doing it the tried and true way, no longer works. So let's get the flashing lights and buzzers. Let's have a counter that evidences the number of lies told. Let's declare a winner. Hell, we can have a panel, like in boxing, or in ice skating...a judge from each team and then a neutral arbiter.

Trump has turned America into a cartoon. Harris expertly listed the Trump administration's foreign policy flaws and Pence couldn't get out of the Middle East, telling lies all the while.

But I guess their debating style, Pence and Trump, is just like their governing style. Let's forget the big picture, the "losers," the people of color, while we drill down on broad issues that don't speak to everyday life, like religion. Or coal. Or the "fraud" in mail-in ballots.

Unfortunately too many Americans are just that dumb. Whomever hammers their message more consistently too often wins, no matter how flawed and fraudulent.

This is where we've arrived.

But thank god we've got someone who's up to the challenge.

That's what we learned about Kamala Harris tonight.


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