The Other McCain

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Pence Trounces Harris in VP Debate; Commission Wants ‘Virtual’ Debate Next?

Posted on | October 8, 2020 | Comments Off on Pence Trounces Harris in VP Debate; Commission Wants ‘Virtual’ Debate Next?

 

The highlight in Wednesday’s debate, of course, was when a fly landed on Vice President Mike Pence’s head. I had turned the sound down low on my office TV, because I was working on an American Spectator column on a different topic, but I’d occasionally check the Twitter reactions and glance over at the TV, where the closed-caption conveyed the words. So about two-thirds of the way into the event, I looked and saw a dark spot on Pence’s snowy-white hair. “What is that? A fly?”

So it was, and it stayed there about two minutes, during which Pence didn’t even notice it. The man has no flinch reflex. Cool as a cucumber, and he utterly dismantled Kamala:

Mike Pence dominated in that debate. He was calm and cool. Rock-solid. Kamala Harris’s body language and voice reflected her nervousness—a stark contrast to her previous debate performances during the Democratic primary when she was still in the race. But neither her body language, her failure to answer questions, nor her constant reliance on fake stories as lines of attack were the key tell that she lost.
The liberal media conceded Pence’s victory by describing Pence’s debate performance. And their go-to explanation was to attack the vice president by accusing him of “mansplaining.”
“Pence’s mansplaining, interrupting, condescending and general smarminess is at an 11 tonight,” tweeted faux conservative S.E. Cupp of CNN. “No wonder suburban women have left the Republican Party in droves.” . . .
It is demeaning to women everywhere (not just in politics) when every time a man debates a woman he is inevitably accused of “mansplaining.” It sends the message that women aren’t up to the task of debating with men. And to her credit, ABC News correspondent Martha Raddatz disagreed with Stephanopoulos’s assertion that Pence was “mansplaining.”
“When I hear people … talk about mansplaining and talk about these things with Kamala Harris and [say], ‘A man shouldn’t interrupt her and it’s going to look bad,’ Kamala Harris is a vice-presidential candidate. She should be able to stand up for herself,” Raddatz said. “Yes, it’s history-making. Yes, you can talk about her history and who she is and she’s a woman of color there, but a man can interrupt another vice presidential candidate. It is up to that candidate to talk back, to interrupt themselves, or to hold on to that debate in any way they could.”
And the bottom line is that had Kamala Harris won the debate the liberal media wouldn’t be jumping in and accusing Mike Pence of “mansplaining.”

Now, perhaps not coincidentally, Team Biden wants to change the game:

Citing health concerns, the Commission on Presidential Debates on Thursday said that the second debate between President Trump and Joe Biden would be a virtual one, with the candidates in “separate remote locations.” President Trump quickly announced that he was out.
“I heard that the commission a little while ago changed the debate style, and that’s not acceptable to us,” Trump told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo Thursday morning. “I’m not going to do a virtual debate.”
“I am not going to waste my time on a virtual debate. That’s not what debating is all about, you sit behind a computer and do a debate. That’s ridiculous, they cut you off whenever they want,” he added.
The debate commission sent out a press release Thursday morning announcing the rule change, citing the need to “protect the health and safety of all involved with the second presidential debate” scheduled for October 15.

This is obviously bullshit, intended to protect Biden’s lead in the polls. Even though I don’t for a minute believe that Biden is on pace for a historic landslide — which is what you’d have to believe if you trust the polls — it is clear that this “virtual debate” idea was suggested by Biden’s campaign with the full knowledge that Trump would reject it.

No more debates, no more chances for a disastrous Biden gaffe. In essence, then, the Biden campaign is trying to “freeze” the race, to prevent any further spontaneous events that might change the campaign trajectory which they believe favors their candidate.

Whether there will be any future debates is now in question, but it appears there definitely won’t be one on Oct. 15.




 

Category: Debates

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