Rope a Dope
During the latter stages of his boxing career, Muhammad Ali would lie on the ropes and let the other guy punch himself out. Tim Kaine acted and sounded like the dope as he fell victim to the rope-a-dope strategy. Pence, calm and collected, just got stronger as the debate went on and ended on a very high note defending Christianity and the sanctity of life.
No more “journalist as moderators”, please
You have to wonder how many times the RNC is going to fall into the “journalist as moderator” trap. Since the 2012 election with Candy Crowley, supposedly professional “journalists as moderators” have been an increasing bias problem for Republicans – and the VP debate was no exception. I expect the next Presidential debate will be more of the same if not worse since there will be two moderators.
Too much in too little time
There were some 9 different topic areas spread over 90 minutes. This means that each topic area, no matter how important the question or substantive the answer, only got 10 minutes. With the time for the question plus interruptions, there was about 3 to 4 minutes worth of answers. Often, just as the debate was getting interesting and informative, the moderator would stop the proceedings and claim it was time to move on.
Gaggle of Geese galore
I found myself disliking Tim Kaine. His incessant interruptions and smug demeanor reminded me of a honking goose who seemed to be addressing something of concern to the flock but made no sense at all. If Tim Kaine was supposed to be an attack dog, he was ineffective because of canned statements and unabashed lies. To anyone who was listening, he was the epitome of the elite talking down to the little people.
Who won
Mike Pence won the overall argument. However, he allowed Kaine too many opportunities to define the supposed distinction between Clinton and Trump. Pence eventually figured out how to handle both Kaine and the moderator. I give Pence an overall B+ and Kaine a C-. The moderator got an F for interference and bias.
