Friends, there's never been a Vice-Presidential debate that had a significant impact on the outcome of a U.S. Presidential election, and probably what we saw tonight will maintain that trend, but I nonetheless congratulate V.P. Mike Pence on a stellar performance. Pence reminded us of why President Trump chose him as his running mate back in 2016: he's steady, he's articulate, he's unflappable, he's loyal, he's patriotic, he's devout, he's honest and straightforward, and he's knowledgeable and experienced. He's everything one could possibly want in a Vice President and in a standard-bearer for the Republican Party. I think he successfully made the case that a Biden presidency would mean higher taxes, more job-killing regulations, no meaningful policy changes in our response to COVID-19, the betrayal of law enforcement, and a radical, anti-capitalist approach to environmental protection. What I hope will be the big takeaway from the debate, however, is that Kamala Harris continued the Biden campaign's refusal to respond to questions about court-packing. Court-packing, if it happens in 2021, would literally demolish the separation of powers on which our democracy is based. It is the epitome of extremism and authoritarianism. Plus -- think about it! -- packing the Court only makes sense if you are reasonably confident that your party will never again lose control of the White House and the Congress. For, if you did, the other party would simply pack the Court in response. For my money, therefore, court-packing is on the Democratic Party's agenda for 2021 -- Democrats just refuse to admit it. Moreover, the Dems see a compliant Supreme Court as their ticket to permanent domination and, in fact, to a one-party state. In that assumption they may well be correct. That ought, then, to be the headline for tonight, and for weeks to come! Our constitutional system is in peril, and the Democrats have thrown down the gauntlet. If we elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in November, American democracy will never be the same again. Please bear that in mind.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: I did not view the debate because I cannot endure the visceral attack on my mind directed by the left. I'm confident that VP Pence stood for all I value. I'm willing to venture that the contrast between any of the 1960 debates and today's contests is that the Dem side is expressed by people fundamentally opposed to core American principles and that that was unthinkable in 1960.
ReplyDeleteI would like to know what happened to Linda? Linda, where are you?
ReplyDeleteLOLOL. Sorry Ray...I got a job 3 weeks ago! Training/ management for the #1 retailer, HOWEVER, tomorrow I have a job interview with a local school system for a teaching assistant or sub. We shall see. Hours are crazy at the moment, Thanks for asking, Ray, I have missed all of you.
DeletePence did the best he could under the circumstances, and especially with that dingbat moderating the debate. Interesting that Pence comes from a Democrat background and converted to conservatism during the Reagan administration.
ReplyDeleteHarris showed what a fool she is by bringing up Abraham Lincoln as an example to illustrate one of her points. Too bad she forgot to tell us that Lincoln was a Republican. She also showed how stupid she was by repeating the death figures from the Corona virus. She kept yapping about 210,000 deaths as if Trump killed all of them with his bare hands. Ha! How stupid can you get?
Actually, it is sad that 210,000 people died, but what is that compared to a population of over 300 million? Anyway, deep down, does Harris really care? I doubt it. What she does care about is advancing her own career, which of course is normal for all politicians no matter how stupid or smart they are.
50 years ago, Laurence J. Peter wrote a book "The Peter Principle" the theme of which was that people in a hierarchy tend to rise to their "level of incompetence". In other words. they are promoted based on their success in previous jobs until they reach a level at which they are no longer competent.
ReplyDeleteKamala Harris is a perfect example of this concept/theory. She has no real experience at governing anything, and yet if Biden were to win, and then become incapacitated in some way, or die, Harris would become President. Then "The Peter Principle" would kick in on a major scale. Scary isn't it?
Here's a much more accurate account of the debate:
ReplyDeleteIn terms of content, the two were about even. Harris punted on packing the court and talking about a transition from Biden to her. Pence pivoted from almost all questions (Susan Page "Vice-President Pence, is water wet?" Pence: "Susan, it is more important that I answer a question about sand.").
But, in terms of style, Harris won big. First, as a woman of color running to be a heartbeat away from the presidency, she had to look strong enough to be a president, but not too strong so that she came off as a bitch. She handled that task well (despite the conservative commentary, who already decided she was a bitch).
Second, the continual tactic of Pence not only interrupting Harris, but just ignoring Susan Page's pleas to stop because of time, does NOT play well with women, particularly women who work. Pence, the "mansplainer-in-chief," came off as that boorish male co-worker who always interrupts his female co-workers.
So, Harris carried the day in terms of style.
The REAL winner of the debate: the fly, who knew where the shit was on the stage.
Rod
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you back again. Since you are a dedicated Leftist, your comments are exactly what I expected. Thanks for confirming that.
What I liked about Harris the most was her toothy smile. Lots of teeth are what a lot of dogs (bitches) show just before they bite you.
Stay calm. Your dream of a Marxist paradise could come true if The BidenISTAS win.
Welcome back Comrade Rod.
Jack, sorry to hear you couldn't bear to watch. It was, in fact, pretty watchable. No one disgraced him or herself...unless you count Kamala and the Dems' prevaricating on whether they will uphold the separation of powers. But hey, surely a massive concentration of power in Dem hands will make government run more smoothly and efficiently, right? Eek!
ReplyDeleteRay, Linda is busy working. She got a shiny new job, despite Depression 2.0. We're all rooting for her!
Quite right, Ray -- 210,000 deaths is a tragedy, but so are the 3 million deaths we face every year. Only some deaths can be weaponized politically, though, so there you go. Question: if Trump died of coronavirus, would that count as suicide, since he's personally responsible for the virus? Food for thought.
Ray, I would agree that Harris is under-prepared to be President, BUT being California Attorney General and then a U.S. Senator are no mean feats. She passes the smell test just barely, whereas all the other black women on Biden's wish list didn't.
Rod, thanks for proving yet again that the only way a Republican can "win" a debate is by committing seppuku on stage. That would get some genuine applause from the Fourth Estate and the intelligencia, but short of that the Left will always regard its own as the better debaters. They'll grasp at flies, if need be.
Ray, thanks for your hospitality towards Comrade Rod. We might need him to be a character witness for us, when the new-and-improved KGB starts drafting its deportation lists...
Rod, I always agreed with you 100%! Don't forget that.
Dr. Waddy et Al: We conservatives may have been conditioned by the reign of the silly Obama's, who mainly enjoyed the perks they thought their due and paid lip service to luke warm leftist views. But, a deadly serious,viciously vindictive far leftist went for it in 2016 and we were spared her dictatorship only by the gutsiness and constancy of Donald Trump. After an almost unendurable four year denial of their due, the far left is "baaack!" We have a chance in November to break their backs; they are constitutionally unable to endure any more insolent rejection and will probably descend into a black hole of despair and self destructive anarchy if we remain true to the hombre who has stood for us - President Trump!
ReplyDeleteI judged high school and college debate in MA for a number of years. Neither Harris nor Pence would have wracked up many speaker points on Wednesday, but Harris would have outpointed Pence. She was more often on topic than he was.
ReplyDeleteHad it just been Pence interrupting Harris, that would not have been that big an issue because 1) it happens in these settings and 2) Harris interrupted Pence 5 times (to his 10).
The big issue is the constant ignoring of Susan Page's attempts to get Pence to follow the rules. Even after she would plead with him to stop 4 times he just ignored her. In 2020, women are not going to be ignored like that. Bad move.
As for Anonymous, there are fewer folks in Trump's base than there are in Biden's base. No matter how committed Trump's base is, if Biden's base comes out, he wins. If you merely use 2016 as a predictor, then you can see hope for Trump.
But, 2020 is NOT 2016. While the recent Gallup poll suggests that a majority are feeling better off economically, that is not translating into support for Trump, whose support is in the 42-44% range. That disconnect is due to his fumbling of his response to the virus, and his recklessness that resulted in him getting infected.
Trump needed to win the first debate. All scientific polls showed he lost and he lost ground to Biden. Pence needed to win Tuesday's debate. Again, the scientific polls showed that he lost it (Pence narrowly won among men, got widely defeated among women). Every day that Trump does not gain ground in this race, he loses.
Right now, it looks as if it Biden's race to lose. He could make a major gaffe in a campaign appearance, he could get beaten badly in another debate (if Trump agrees to one), he could get sick, or there could be some October surprise (though with Barr saying the Durham report won't be ready before the election, nor will a vaccine, it is hard to know what kind of surprise there will be).
There is always a possibility Trump can win, but it doesn't look like that is under control.
No matter who wins, I think the end of 2020 is going to be a real shit storm.
ReplyDeleteTest from Jack
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy and Ray: I consider the left a thoroughly discredited viewpoint. Though it has in the past done beneficial things,it is now dominated by Marxists. A considerable part of its present discreditation derives from it's unrestrained and almost universal use of personal excoriation and ridicule, a liberty initiated in the 60's in its present form. But I must observe, Rod does,for the most part, eschew such intellectually unprincipled argument. Oh, he may occasionally direct a relatively mild jibe but he supports his main argument with reason and evidence. That said: we conservatives are , in the main, justified in dishing out the personal hassle to the left. They started it; persons my age remember when it was not this way. One of President Trump's most admirable traits is his willingness to say to the left"Ok, ya wanta do hardball, yeah, bring it on!" instead of wilting into cringing apology like so many before him. I'll never be convinced that the left is not dominated by America haters compelled by a historically decisively disproven doctrine; my views are informed by 60+ years of observation and experience. But Rod's mostly graceful expression is meritable. Had his side embraced it in the 60's today's cultural civil war might have been avoided. There's nothing for it now; this will be decided by one side marginalizing the other. The left made a terrible mistake when it presumed the real America would surrender to Pelosi, Hillary, Sharpton and Schumer.
ReplyDeleteJACK
ReplyDeleteRegrettably, a substantial percentage of the American population has surrendered to The Left. The Left controls the media, academia, and the film industry, and has for decades. Actually they controlled that unholy "trinity" before the 1960s. They still control it. It's almost a miracle that the majority of The American People aren't Leftists. The Left has also managed to infiltrate sports and the churches. Marxism is alive and well in this country. We are a brain-washed nation.
Rod -- here's a question for you: how often did Susan Page upbraid Senator Harris for going beyond her allotted time? Never? And was that because she never did so, or...for some other reason, at which we can only guess. Hmm. And since when is a debate a contest to see who can follow the rules more assiduously? I think there might be a little more to it!
ReplyDeleteRod, you're right that Trump's approval and favorable ratings are not where any incumbent would like them to be. On the other hand, his ratings are decidedly better than they were in 2016. But, as you've already pointed out, 2020 isn't 2016. Nor is it 2018. It's an entirely different animal, and we'll just have to wait and see whose base comes out in droves.
Jack: "This will be decided by one side marginalizing the other." Probably most of us would agree with that statement, although we have wildly different ideas of which side will be marginalized, and which will do the marginalizing. Probably we also disagree on the endgame. Be that as it may, do ANY of you believe that the current partisan food fight is sustainable for another 50 or 100 years? Something has to give.
Ray, you're right: it IS a miracle that leftists haven't completed their conquest of the American psyche. Given all the key institutions that are in leftist hands, how a powerful vein of free-thinking conservatism persists is beyond me. Perhaps we should credit the internet, which, despite its left-leaning corporate overlords, provides a space for ALL voices to be heard. Arguably, cable tv began that trend of breaking the mainstream media's monopoly on news and information...and the world wide web cinched it.
Dr.Waddy fromJack: I fully agree, this existential confrontation will be brought to a decisive conclusion in the foreseeable future. By "marginalization"I mean reduction to powerlessness and "ridiculousness" with no hope of recovery. I've always thought this era of far leftist presumptuousness will prove to have been a bizarre interlude and we could well see the beginning of the slippery slope for that profoundly wrongheaded and vicious movement within a month!
ReplyDeleteJack, the sort of "marginalization" of which you speak could only happen if the nature of the media were to change. For people to see the Left for what it is, its apologists would have to be removed, and journalism would have to return to its roots of professionalism, impartiality, and truth-seeking. I'm not holding my breath...but, since the media is ultimately accountable to its corporate masters and to the advertisers who pay the bills, there's an outside chance of real transformation.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: Good points! Now how to discredit the MSM and consign it to the margin, the gutter, where it belongs? My experience in Trump nation demonstrates to me that the MSM is already there in their view. Political defeat and yet unrelenting attacks on all we value could be the ticket. Remember how sanctimonious Phil Donahue failed in his attempted return to popularized America hating? The MSM's vicious prejudice succeeds only because the real America is very busy leading positive, constructive lives and can only devote limited time to understanding and resisting the contempt the MSM flaunts! Drive 'em to the Saturday night wasteland of "pro wrestling" and they will be seen for the cynical dissemblers and low lifes they are!
ReplyDeleteJack, it's true that much of America has already dismissed the MSM as America-hating scumbags...but not yet enough of America. How can we turn the tide? Not easily, but one thing we could do is to buy the media out from under the Left -- literally. Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post and turned it into a woke travesty. What's to stop Sheldon Adelson or Trump himself from doing something similar?
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: Good point; money does talk and we do have money on our side. I've always been amused by the leftist attitude that money is an abstract thing and not at all indicative of effort and positive living very often leading to the material benefit of many others. Oh no, to them it is condemned unless of course it is in the possession of such as Soros and Pelosi. We should long ago have abandoned any thought of appeasing the left, which resolutely purposes our destruction and subjection. Yeah, buy up the MSM and force it to return to objective professional responsibility. We need not fear exciting the antipathy of a faction already dedicated to expunging all we value.
ReplyDelete