Thursday and the morning after the Vice Presidential debate featuring vice-president Mike Pence and the challenger, Kamala Harris. Not nearly as zesty as the Trump / Biden debate a week ago.

I watched the whole thing. Susan Page, the moderator, did a passable job with the candidates, but I found her questions to be skewed against the president.

Here’s a sample of what she asked them (not verbatim, from memory) and my reaction:

“The Chinese Flu is not under control. Sen. Harris, what would a Biden-Harris administration do that Trump would not?” First of all, does anyone expect that the WuFlu should somehow be “under control”? What does that even mean?

“VP Pence, you were recently at a Rose Garden event without masks and now there’s a cluster of infected people. How can the American people trust you and the President?” She assumes cause and effect here. Maybe, maybe not. It’s a hostile question.

Page did something similar later with questions about climate change. “VP Pence, scientists have concluded that climate change is responsible for the huge fires in California and all the hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico. Explain.” The changing climate has been argued about for a hundred years. This is merely the latest angle. It’s not nearly the “existential threat” the Left makes it out to be. Never was, still isn’t.

The worst was, “Trump has said he won’t promise to leave office if he loses. Sen. Harris, how would you and president Biden force him out?” Why not ask Harris the same thing? Clinton said Biden should not concede under any circumstances. Will he or won’t he if he loses?

Let me focus on Harris. She’s the challenger and had an uphill climb.

You can tell the answers are rehearsed and the debaters try to sound like they’re talking off the top of their heads. Kamala failed in that regard. She comes across as a snarky Left Coast stoner with a Brooklyn accent who’s talking with a stuffy nose. It’s weird.

She also came across as indignant—”I will not be lectured …”—when there wasn’t really any reason for doing so. I think she wanted to come across as feisty, but came across as super-annoying instead.

Worse than that, though, is that she lied about Donald Trump. Repeatedly. Here’s a list:

• Trump called members of the military “suckers and losers.” Denied by former members of his administration like John Bolton. One Fox News reporter says two former administration officials confirmed the allegations. The Atlantic’s story was all anonymously sourced.
• Trump ignored “Russian bounties” placed on the heads of American soldiers. The intelligence wasn’t strong enough to prove and he was never briefed on it.
• Trump is going to leave those with pre-existing conditions out once he finishes destroying Obamacare. He has consistently said he will keep provisions for pre-existing conditions in any new plan.
• Trump refused to condemn white supremacy in his last debate. This is a straight up lie. Chris Wallace asked, ““Are you willing tonight to condemn white supremacists and militia groups…” and Trump answered, “Sure…” He just didn’t use the words Wallace and Biden wanted to hear.
• Trump said that there “were very fine people on both sides” at the Charlottesville rally in 2017. No. He didn’t. Read this.
• Trump called Mexicans rapists and murderers. Here’s what he actually said: “When Mexico sends its people [illegal immigrants], they’re not sending their best … They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
• Trump called John McCain a loser. He did, but not for being a soldier. He called him a loser for losing his presidential election in 2008, as this anti-Trump tweet makes clear.
• Trump implemented a “Muslim ban” when he entered office. “False. The travel ban was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.“

The one question Harris did not answer, in a direct challenge from Pence, was whether or not she and Biden plan to pack the Supreme Court. In one of her responses, she tried to make “packing” about race, claiming that in all the judges that Trump has appointed, there isn’t one black. To my ears, it fell like a log on a carpet of moss—nothing. The takeaway there is exactly what Mike Pence said:

The American people deserve a straight answer. If you haven’t figured it out, they are going to pack the Supreme Court if they somehow win this election. Men and women, I gotta tell you, people across this country, if you cherish our Supreme Court, if you cherish the separation of powers, you need to reject the Biden/Harris ticket. Come November the 3rd, re-elect President Donald Trump, and we’ll stand by the separation of powers in a nine-seat Supreme Court.

Pence was adept with his answers, kept his cool, never raised his voice and was as polite as pie. He over-ran his allotted time with responses to statements from Kamala that were inaccurate or incomplete. I don’t think his over-talking hurt him.

My take is that Harris had an uphill climb and instead of talking policy, she talked smack about the Trump administration. She needed to convince undecideds that Biden-Harris would be better for the country and, in my opinion, she failed to do that.

Vice-presidential debates don’t seem to count for much, but in this case, Biden’s running mate may very well become president. If Biden-Harris win the election, we can kiss the country goodbye.

[Image credit: Author]

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A Personal Note
I write five days a week on personal time because it’s one way I can contribute to strengthening the resolve of Christians, conservatives and other like-minded compatriots in the face of unprecedented division in our country. I would like to eventually do more. If you like what you’re reading and think others would benefit from it, please consider regularly sharing and commenting on my posts. Also invite your friends to subscribe. They can do that right on the home page. Thanks for reading! — Dave