Why do we spend ninety minutes of our life watching a Vice Presidential debate?
That was the question we were asking ourselves last night as we watched Governor Mike Pence of Indiana (Trump) and Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia (Clinton) square off in the first and only debate between the two men who could be President of the United States of America if the situation ever arose during the next four years.
First off, let’s say this: Governor Pence was absolutely outstanding.
He was calm, cool, and very presidential. A gentleman. He was tasked with a tough job of defending attack after attack after attack that came his way from the Clinton campaign on everything Donald Trump said, didn’t say, felt like saying, would have said, would do, wouldn’t do…..you get the point. Gov. Pence handled the questions with grace and maturity and answered/defended when he felt the obligation to do so.
As a side, we felt it was better for Mr. Pence to say little in defense of his running mate and turn it back on Hillary Clinton and her actions as senator and Secretary of State.
Actions speak louder than words, right?
Vice Presidential Nominee Mike Pence was the clear winner last night with his poise and knowledge of the issues. He spoke directly to the audience at home several times throughout the night by looking directly into the camera and reminding the people, who have suffered the past eight years under President Obama and his surrogate Hillary Clinton, why the Trump/Pence ticket is required to save our republic.
We certainly have some policy differences with Donald Trump on trade and his serious commitment to constitutional conservatism. But his VP choice of Governor Mike Pence was a very solid pick. After tonight’s debate performance, dare we say an excellent one? Yes.
Mike Pence was well-prepared and sharp.
On the other hand, Senator Tim Kaine was an utter disaster. Plain and simple. We do give him some credit though, albeit reluctantly, for being a good surrogate and Hillary Clinton’s “right hand person” (so gender neutral by the way!). He listens and takes orders well. Kaine received the attacking talking points memo from the Clinton war room, memorized them, and repeated them over and over and over…you get the point again. The senator repeated the attacks so many times with playground snideness that Pence couldn’t help but laugh straight at the bully and crack a joke or two. “Is this the grade school line again?”, he asked Kaine in one of the Indiana governor’s several quips of the debate.
Also, Senator Kaine interrupted Gov. Pence so many times (anywhere from 55-75 times according to some online media outlets) that it was outright embarrassing for him. We laughed at him, however.
Even the Clinton partisan (surprise, surprise) moderator, Elaine Quijano, had to slightly scold Kaine for his rudeness and continual interruptions on a few occasions.
Cue the Matt Lauer treatment for Ms. Quijano.
But back to the question we asked at the beginning: why did we spend 90 minutes of our life watching this debate?
It’s what we, and you the reader, love and care about and why we devote such time to these events when we could easily be distracted with playoff baseball and the fall television lineup. But we, like you, are deeply concerned with the direction of this country and about saving it from the course of destruction we are headed towards with over $19 trillion plus in national debt, failing schools, terrorism here and abroad that is threatening our national security, and an economy full of high taxes and regulations which is crushing small businesses, working-class families, and our coal miners.
That’s why we tune in.
Though purposely distracted by the attacks by Senator Kaine and the moderator, Pence delivered. He and Donald Trump promise to make America great again.
At the end of the night, when asked about his faith and if there was ever a struggling moment he experienced with it as a public servant, Gov. Pence discussed the issue of sanctity of life and his deep commitment to it. Instead of just keeping the issue personal, he pivoted the issue of partial-birth abortion onto his VP opponent and asked how he, a self-proclaimed man of faith himself, could support Hillary Clinton and a political party which believes in such an act of murderous barbarism. It was a surprisingly rare, yet welcomed, moment for conservatives and pro-life advocates to witness.
In a mud-slinging presidential election cycle for the ages, Mike Pence showed off a soft and sincere side that played well with us and many other conservatives.
Media pundits and the political commentators will talk post-debate about how the Vice Presidential debates mean so little to voters while others will suggest that they are useless and should be done away with.
After tonight, with two of the oldest and most unpopular nominees ever in modern history, this debate was a classic example of why they do indeed matter. Perhaps it may even persuade some of the undecided voters who are unsure whether or not to show up at the polls come election day.
Should the vice-president be called upon to serve his country, who do you want entering the oval office as president: a solid conservative with experience, knowledge, and poise, or an obnoxious surrogate puppy dog so eager to do the dirty work of his boss that he reminds voters of who the real bully is in this race?
We’ll take the solid conservative gentleman Mike Pence, no question about it.
