Could it be said that tonight may help Americans solve the dilemma of which presidential candidate and worldview is the better one for this oh-so-challenging-to-solve election of 2024?
If it could be said there are truly undecided voters still left in this country, and if a few people claim they are in the dark on where the candidates actually stand, tonight’s one and only vice presidential debate (in New York City, 9 p.m. on CBS, moderated by “CBS Evening News” anchor Norah O’Donnell with Margaret Brennan of “Face the Nation.”) between Republican Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio and Governor “Tampon Tim” Walz of The Gopher State (Minnesota) may help the fence sitters clear up their thinking.
The presidential campaign is now well into its second year, and even if this summer’s impromptu presidential candidate swap narrowed the head-to-head length of time considerably, it’d be difficult to argue that folks don’t yet understand what the consequences are next month. For many, it boils down to either a candidate with all the right issue positions but an off-putting (to some) personality or one whose “vibe” and “joy” indicates she’s a better alternative for some reason.
Hey look! That lady Kamala smiles a lot! She says everything is great! She’s for an “opportunity economy!” She believes in the middle class!
Okay, probably not, but if a presidential nominee’s most important decision he (or she) makes is settling on a running mate, tonight’s event should bring clarity to the situation. Vance and Walz appear to be as different as night and day, and their worldviews shed light on the politicians who tapped them, too.
Issues or likability? In an article titled, “Policy or personality: Voters weigh America’s path forward in tight Harris, Trump race”, The Washington Times’ Seth McLaughlin wrote last week:
“Voters are more closely aligned with former President Donald Trump’s stances, but his brash and chaotic approach to politics has him trailing Vice President Kamala Harris in most national polling. ‘If every person who said the economy and immigration was the No. 1 issue [backed him], Donald Trump would be running away with this race,’ said Sean Spicer, a former spokesperson for the Trump administration and the Republican National Committee.
“An NBC News national survey released over the weekend found that Mr. Trump has a 21-point lead on immigration, a 9-point lead on the economy, an 8-point lead on dealing with inflation and the cost of living, and a 6-point lead on crime. Ms. Harris has a 5-point lead in competency, a 9-point lead on representing change, a 15-point lead on honesty and trustworthiness, a 16-point lead on temperament, and a 20-point lead on mental and physical health.
“The findings mirrored the split found in battleground states.”
This appears to be the same survey pundit Stuart Rothenberg recently used to imply the race was tilting towards Harris… I didn’t believe it when he wrote it and I don’t believe it now. But if this poll is good for anything, it’s to provide a solid foundation for a discussion about the real important stuff in this year’s election. J.D. Vance and “Tampon Tim” Walz are just the ones to expose it.
The vice president’s debate is usually sandwiched between a couple of much larger profile contests involving the heavy hitters, and, if the past is a guide, typically is moderated by some establishment media also-rans who aren’t considered a big enough deal to qualify for the more substantial assignment and an audience truly paying attention. Past vice presidents’ debates have been rather perfunctory ceremonies intended to introduce the much less vetted second on their respective tickets to the national audience.
If this wasn’t so, how the heck did Joe Biden ever do two of these veep debates? Remember in 2012 how he said Paul Ryan was full of malarkey? Maybe senile Joe was right on that one in some respects.
Of course, afterwards, pundits will go back and forth, invariably suggesting that the Democrat “won” because that’s what they always think their (liberal) audience wants to hear and they’ll then proceed to spend a few hours blubbering about how such-and-such’s performance will impact the final tally.
It won’t. By Election Day, voters will be so focused on the most relevant Trump vs. cackling Kamala headliner choice that it’s extremely doubtful there’ll be any mental energy left to ponder the difference between the highly articulate and accomplished J.D. Vance versus Governor Riot – or “Tampon Tim”, or whatever the talking heads label Tim Walz, a man so inconsequential and radical that even his extended family can’t stand him.
By now, it’s common knowledge that cackling Kamala, a sort of “default choice” herself, only went with Walz for her running mate because Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro was far too unapologetically Jewish and outspoken in his support for Israel to ever deserve serious thought to having him be Harris’s back-up in the Hamas-loving Democrat party. Walz must’ve been present the afternoon the campaign’s final deliberations were being held and probably was waiting outside the door when Shapiro received the bad (good?) news, in prime position to claim Kamala’s runner-up prize.
The establishment media slobbered over Walz’s life story resume – he was a teacher and an (assistant) football coach! – to provide a couple days’ worth of news buzz before the Democrat convention. Then, Democrats must’ve realized what they were getting in Walz and the furor died down rather quickly. It didn’t help the Minnesotan that the Harris campaign kept him virtually sequestered from media interviews, just as they were confining cackling Kamala to a hotel room practicing for the September 10 debate with Trump.
What’s a bald, not very attractive, caustic and annoying abandoning-his-unit-before-the-Iraq War-dodger to do with himself?
It could just be me, but I don’t recall seeing the man after his “I’m just a potted plant” co-interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, where he was fed a couple questions -- but no one listened to his answers. Don’t people want to hear about what really happened in the waning days of Walz’s National Guard service? Or why he still, to this day, overstates his rank? Or why he seems to love China so much, even getting married to his co-commie wife on the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre?
So many questions, so few answers! Perhaps “Tampon Tim” will be asked about them tonight, but here’s thinking the majority of the discussion will concentrate on Vance’s “cat ladies” remark that he made to Tucker Carlson a few years ago or his more recent defense of a truthful view of the immigration crisis in Springfield, Ohio, where, as a Buckeye State senator he’s in position to add something to the debate that isn’t just hype.
For his part, Vance has been a ubiquitous presence in the establishment media, fulfilling his obligation as chief promoter of the MAGA 2024 effort. In the doing, J.D. has shown himself to be more than capable of handling every question that comes his way and doing so artfully and, at times, with good humor.
Here’s thinking that Vance’s views on the war in Ukraine will receive more than their share of attention along with the usual “gotcha” questions regarding how he could possibly stoop to running to be Donald Trump’s vice president. Need examples? How about, “Donald Trump has been accused of something like a hundred felonies in four different court jurisdictions and been indicted by prosecutors at the state, local and federal levels. Can you still sleep at night, and, what will you tell your children when they’re old enough to understand how awful Trump really was?”
Vance also could very well face inquiries about his abortion position, which differed somewhat from Trump’s view in the past and the media typically attempts to depict the author of “Hillbilly Elegy” as a bumpkin from the backwoods with a beard who looks as though he could double as a model for a Skoal Chewing tobacco ad.
For the record, I don’t believe Vance drinks, smokes or chews, so appearances aren’t always indicative of true personalities.
In terms of substance, the vice presidential debate usually attempts to isolate issue areas where the running mates diverge ideologically from their ticket partners. Walz undoubtedly has recently been devoting a great many hours to learning Kamala Harris’s issue positions, because she herself has had to bone up on what she believes.
Both Democrat candidates have had to learn about what “A New Way Forward” (their campaign slogan) actually means, since they can’t be too mean to senile Joe Biden, yet they hope to get as far away from his issue stances as common sense will allow. Harris and Walz are trying to portray themselves as something new and different, yet also as adherents to the Democrat party’s new socialistic emphasis.
Vance will have little trouble taking up Donald Trump’s MAGA agenda and is used to being asked about his past negative statements concerning his running mate. A tougher slog for the 40-year-old will be to convince voters that he’s ready to take over as president if something happens to Trump while in office, and also to clarify his foreign policy philosophies in order to convince skeptics that he’s “worldly” enough to assume the duties of the Oval Office.
Walz, meanwhile, has plenty of real-world experience, but extremely questionable associations and interests. Is he ready to be president? Can he adequately explain his role in the 2020 George Floyd riots that ignited a powder keg of social unrest all across the country? A quicker, more authoritative response from Walz at the epicenter may have put a stop to the violence right away.
Or, as McLaughlin’s article suggested, are voters ready to cast aside any predilection towards better issue positions and throw-in with “Coach Walz” and “Kamala Harris for the People”?
Tonight’s lone vice presidential debate probably won’t do much to solve the issues vs. personalities tug-of-war going on in America, but it might help voters get to know the second-in-command contenders a little better. Will they like a young and smart guy or prefer an old crusty communist? We’ll find out later.
Joe Biden economy
inflation
Biden cognitive decline
gas prices,
Nancy Pelosi
Biden senile
Kamala Harris candidacy
Donald Trump campaign
Harris Trump debates
J.D. Vance
Kamala vice president
Speaker Mike Johnson
Donald Trump assassination
Donald Trump
2024 presidential election
Tim Walz
Comments