Kaine vs Pence

So, this is the one that I’m more interested in.  I like Pence.  Much like when John McCain ran in 2008, picking Sarah Palin to run with him, I’m more excited to vote for a vice president than the guy on top of the ticket.  I don’t care for Kaine, but he’s not a shrill harpie like his running mate.  I fully expect Pence to dominate this.  Kaine will likely just sit there and attack Trump, never spout any real policy points, and probably go off on guns at some point.  And I think Pence will pounce all over him.

Oh, great. Shep Smith says that Trump will be live tweeting.  So, now news anchors just read tweets?  Let’s just get this thing started.  Now we’re talking polls.  I’m not getting warm fuzzy feelings about the polls…and unfortunately, they’re usually fairly accurate.  I’ve been saying for years that she’s going to win.  I hope I’m wrong. 

Here we go. 

Presidential leadership.

She just asked a question about the topic, now Kaine is spouting nonsense about I don’t even know what.  “most historic administration possible”…most corrupt in history?  Oh, there’s the Trump slam.

Come on boys, just answer the questions.  Stop with the talking points and sob stories.  “To answer your question…” Thank you. 

Ooo…she dropped the Clinton Foundation. 

And….he didn’t answer the question…just pivoted to attacking Trump.  

Ugh…come on, Pence. Answer the question. 

“The questions were about your running mates.”  I actually like that she’s back to it.

Pence answered, briefly. 

Lots of crosstalk. 

Now to the economy.  Impressive…she’s asking about the debt.

Now Pence is on point.  Giving him a beatdown on taxes, regulations, and ObamaCare.  Lower taxes…end the war on coal…repealing executive orders…trade deals.  “Get the economy growing to deal with the national debt.” 

“Do you want a ‘you’re hired’ president…or a ‘you’re fired’ president?”  Really?  That’s your catchphrase?  Oh, so free college to reduce the debt.  And now the class warfare talking points.  “Independent analysts”…on the Clinton campaign payroll.

Ha…Pence just called him out for using “pre-made lines”.  Word. 

I’m bored with this tax return thing. 

I actually like her.  She’s trying. 

Social security “is one of the greatest programs the American government has ever done”?  So, they’ll never privatize social security?  Not that you had my vote, but if you did, you just lost it. 

Oh, so Kaine just admitted there would be a debt explosion under a Clinton administration, but then said that it’ll be bigger with a Trump administration.

Law enforcement and race relations.  Really?

Kaine just can’t get off the Trump attacks.  Mental health reform…and now he’s trying to prop up his 2^nd Amendment credentials.  Pretty sure he has a lousy voting record on guns. 

I don’t really have any commentary on Pence.  He’s nailing this. 

I don’t think the question about Senator Tim Scott was really necessary, but Pence danced around it. 

And now Kaine is just spouting the playbook talking points about racism and sexism. 

Immigration.

Pence is nailing this. Oh, nice…he just dropped the “deplorables” bomb.

Surprising that Kaine came back to immigration after the Trump insults…then dropped a pre-made line “deportation nation”. 

“We’re going to enforce the law.”  Nice, Governor. 

Here’s Kaine, laying out the plan for defeating ISIL…giving them plenty of prep time.  And now we’re on to the Trump attacks.  Pence looks rightfully dumbfounded.

“Did you work on that one a long time…a lot of creative lines in there.”  Classic.

Pence kind of handed it to him on the Iraq thing. 

They’re doing a lot of back and forth on the refugees, but Pence is winning with “the safety and security of the American people” part, as opposed to essentially let them all in policy Kaine is promoting. 

I like how Pence just keeps saying that he’ll work with Kaine in the Senate. 

Nice…Pence just told Kaine that if either of their sons had handled classified information the way Hillary had, they’d be court martialed.  Then Kaine said that’s false.  Pretty sure it’s true.

Lots of Syria talk. 

“American strength on the world stage.” 

See…I actually agree Putin > Obama…in terms of strength and leadership…not tactics.  And now Kaine pivots back to Trumps tax returns, because he’s not winning on this.

What is it with the Clinton campaign that keeps up this “Trump praises Putin” thing.  Since when? 

I would be tickled pink if Pence would pounce on this ridiculous Putin praise theory and bottom line watching by reciprocating with the Clinton Foundation pay-for-play.  I’m not seeing it going that way.

Oh my bacon.  Could you just stop with the “we got bin Laden” line? 

I actually don’t wholly agree with Pence that American government is better than the corrupt government of Russia.  Maybe marginally, but we’re Roman in our corruption. 

Oh my bacon.  Just stop with the tax returns and the praising Putin business. 

Pence just said “peace through strength”…he should really drive that home.  However, I like how he pivoted to the Clinton Foundation.  Oh, nice….pay-to-play. 

Kaine is trying to counter with how great the Clinton Foundation and bashing the Trump Organization.  The key difference here is, Trump wasn’t secretary of state.  Roman corruption, anyone? 

Defending against Korea…Kaine almost sounds reasonable, but he’s dancing around it.

Personal faith vs public policy

Kaine just propped up his Rockhurst High School (right next to where I used to work)…said his 40^th reunion is soon…I guess we get to deal with that here in the metro.

Kaine says essentially the upholding the law as a public servant trumps faith, Pence countered that his faith guides his public servanthood. 

Kaine actually made a decent point, quoting Matthew to condemn Trump.  However, I could think of several instances that could be used against Hillary. 

“Why don’t you trust women?”  What is that supposed to mean?  We’re talking about the life of a child…voiceless, innocent. 

Last question, about unifying the nation.  Yeah, good luck with that…regardless of who wins.

Kaine actually didn’t attack Trump on this one.  Shocking, actually.  Instead he just propped up Hillary’s Senate record.  Not that impressive.

Pence’s answer was good.  Really good. 

This Elaine gal did quite well.  Much better than Lester Holt’s lame moderation. 

This is actually classy.  The candidates families had a nice chat. 

Like I said, I was much more interested in this one, and I don’t think I was wrong in my assumption that this would be the more substantive debate, as opposed to what the two buffoons at the top of the ticket keep yammering on about when they meet up.