Kaine wins debate by stating facts
Bet you didn’t know that during this presidential election season, there’ve been nearly 50 debates, and town hall forums.
I didn’t know that until I checked.
Going back to Aug. 3 of last year, the Republicans have held 12 debates, and nine forums.
Democrats had nine debates, and 13 forums.
There have now been two general election debates featuring the presidential candidates, and one for the vice presidential aspirants.
I don’t think I’ve missed more than a couple of them.
So, when Democrat Tim Kaine, and Republican Mike Pence walked onto the vice presidential debate stage last week, my eyes were already rolling back in my head.
I’ve watched 17 Republicans, and five Democrats say stuff during debates that won’t much matter come January, when we swear in the new president.
It’s still moderately entertaining fare.
Like when Mike Pence used that always handy retort when somebody talks about some of Donald Trump’s more provocative statements.
“He’s not a polished politician,” Pence claimed.
I don’t know how many times Trump’s ill-natured rhetoric has been placed under that particular rubric -especially by his merry band of surrogates.
Polished or not, Trump has been running for the presidency since 2015. He is a politician.
It’s too easy to claim that his foul-tempered tirades could be chalked up to his lack of understanding about how politics works.
He simply doesn’t know how to shut-up when he’s on a roll at his campaign rallies.
Besides, Pence added another clause to his “polished politician” gambit, by claiming that Trump is unlike those “polished politicians” Tim Kaine and Hillary Clinton.
The fact is, though, that while Trump plays the outsider game, his running mate, Pence, has been part of the political elite longer than has Hillary Clinton.
Pence ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Congress in 1988, and again in 1990.
He served in Congress for 11 years. Then he became the governor of Indiana in 2013.
He’s been part of the Republican political establishment for the better part of 20 years.
Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, has only been an elected, and selected public official for 12 years.
And while Pence made points by appearing to be cool under fire on the debate stage against Kaine, he revealed that he is very polished.
Perhaps, too polished.
So polished that he skillfully pirouetted away from Kaine’s withering attacks on Trump’s prior statements.
“Donald Trump and Mike Pence both say that Vladimir Putin is a great leader,” was Kaine’s direct accusation.
Pence responded with, “That is absolutely inaccurate.”
It was accurate.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that Putin is a strong leader.
And on Sept. 8, Pence had even said, “It’s inarguable that Vladimir Putin has been a stronger leader in his country than Barack Obama has been in this country.”
Pence tried to ignore Trump’s bizarre claim earlier this year that women who get abortions should get “some form of punishment,” by volunteering that he and Trump “would never support legislation that punished women who made the heartbreaking choice to end a pregnancy.”
Pence had obviously known that Trump had said what he said, but he either played dumb, or he was just being yet another “polished politician.”
The same with Trump’s previous statement that “more nations should get nuclear weapons.”
When Kaine brought that up, Pence sternly replied, “He never said that.”
But he had said that during a town hall meeting on CNN back in March.
He’d mentioned to the host that Japan, South Korea and even Saudi Arabia would be better off with nuclear weapons to protect themselves.
Pence must not have gotten the memo.
Or, he’s simply ignoring the fact that he, like many of the people Trump regularly shows disdain for, is nothing more than a politician.
Of course, the post-debate consensus was that Pence had won the debate.
But there was also another consensus.
That Pence had won on style, because he remained calm in the face of Kaine’s repeated interruptions.
While Kaine won on the facts.
Something with which Pence and Trump have real problems.
Edward A. Owens is a three-time Emmy Award winner and 20-year veteran of television news. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net
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