The 2020 United States Vice Presidential Debate is over and some news was made from it.
Please watch below to see the Debate in its entirety:
First, Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee Senator Kamala Harris demonstrated that she could be the President of the United States should the need arise. Her ability to present the facts, the case for the Biden/Harris Ticket, and refute Pence's assertions that the Trump Administration is doing a good job for the American People (especially on COVID, health care, the economy, and the trade war) showed viewers a candidate that had the competence and temperament to lead if that time came. Her smiling and telling Mr. Pence on several occasions that "I'm speaking," was, quoting the Mastercard Commercial, "priceless."
Second, Mr. Pence may sound like a different musical band than Donald Trump but the lyrics are the same. He may have a calm and even pleasing demeanor but he was still rude, perhaps even chauvinistic, in his interruptions to Harris and his ignoring the moderator Susan Page when she told him he was going past his allotted time. He also lies like Trump. How many people were aghast when Pence created an alternate reality on how the Obama/Biden Administration handled the swine flu epidemic? How many people laughed at the screen when he said, for example, the Trump/Pence Administration follows the science with regards to Climate Change? Or how many mocked him when he said Trump could not be racist because he said Trump had Jewish grandchildren? So did Stalin. Ask Russian Jews what he was like to them.
Third, the moderator Susan Page performed poorly. If there are future debates, moderators should have the ability to turn the microphone off on the candidates if they go over their allotted time or if they brazenly interrupt the other person on the stage. Page continually let Pence go over his allotted time and did nothing when he totally avoided questions like the one on pre-existing conditions when he just turned around and asked Harris about court-packing. She also did nothing when Pence, like Trump, avoided the question about peaceful transitions if the Biden/Harris ticket is declared the winner.
To be fair, Harris, like Pence, dodged the Presidential disability question.
Fourth, the unexpected star of the evening was a fly that found a temporary home on Pence's head. For minutes, it just nested there, not moving and Pence seemed oblivious to its presence. One does not need to imagine the laughter of the millions of viewers watching it or the social media commentary on that. Even the Biden team launched a fundraiser on it.
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Photo from Business Insider[/caption]The best lines of the evening belonged to Harris. These included:
On the Severity of COVID 19 and Possible Vaccinations.
"And here’s the thing, on January 28th, the vice president and the president were informed about the nature of this pandemic. They were informed that it’s lethal in consequence, that it is airborne, that it will affect young people, and that it would be contracted because it is airborne. And they knew what was happening, and they didn’t tell you."
"So I want to ask the American people, how calm were you when you were panicked about where you were going to get your next roll of toilet paper? How calm were you when your kids were sent home from school and you didn’t know when they could go back? How calm were you..."
"If the public health professionals, if Dr. Fauci, if the doctors tell us that we should take it, I’ll be the first in line to take it, absolutely. But if Donald Trump tells us that we should take it, I’m not taking it."
On Pence continually interrupting Her.
"Mr. Vice President, I’m speaking."
On who Mr. Trump owes Money to.
"And it’d be really good to know who the President of the United States, the commander-in-chief owes money to because the American people have a right to know what is influencing the President’s decisions. And is he making those decisions on the best interest of the American people, of you or self-interest?"
The Economy
"Joe Biden believes you measure the health and the strength of America’s economy based on the health and the strength of the American worker and the American family. On the other hand, you have Donald Trump who measures the strength of the economy based on how rich people are doing, which is why he passed a tax bill benefiting the top one percent and the biggest corporations of America, leading to a two trillion dollar deficit that the American people are going to have to pay for. On day one, Joe Biden will repeal that tax bill, he’ll get rid of it. And what he’ll do with the money is invest it in the American people."
"Well, I mean, I thought we saw enough of it in last week’s debate, but I think this is supposed to be a debate based on fact and truth and the truth and the fact is, Joe Biden has been very clear, he will not raise taxes on anybody who makes less than $400,000 a year."
Pre Existing Conditions
"If you have a preexisting condition, heart disease, diabetes, breast cancer, they’re coming for you. If you love someone who has a pre-existing condition [crosstalk 00:01:21], they’re coming for you. If you are under the age of 26 on your parents’ coverage, they’re coming for you."
Climate Change
"So, first of all, I will repeat and the American people know that Joe Biden will not ban fracking. That is a fact. That is a fact. I will repeat that Joe Biden has been very clear that he thinks about growing jobs, which is why he will not increase taxes for anyone who makes less than $400,000 a year. Joe Biden’s economic plan… Moody’s, which is a reputable Wall Street firm, has said will create seven million more jobs than Donald Trump’s. And part of those jobs that will be created by Joe Biden are going to be about clean energy and renewable energy. Because you see, Joe understands that the West Coast of our country is burning, including my home state of California. Joe sees what is happening on the Gulf states, which are being battered by storms. Joe has seen and talked with the farmers in Iowa whose entire crops have been destroyed because of floods. And so Joe believes, again, in science. I’ll tell you something, Susan, I served when I first got to the Senate on the committee that’s responsible for the environment. Do you know, this administration took the word science off the website, and then took the phrase climate change off the website? We have seen a pattern with this administration, which is they don’t believe in science. And Joe’s plan is about saying we’re going to deal with it, but we’re also going to create jobs. Donald Trump, when asked about the wildfires in California, and the question was, the science is telling us this… You know what Donald Trump said? Science doesn’t know."
Trade War with China
"The president’s trade war with China. You lost that trade war. You lost it."
Pence's vote against the Auto Industry
"Joe Biden is responsible for saving America’s auto industry and you (Pence) voted against it."
Pandemic Preparedness
"There is a weird obsession that President Trump has had with getting rid of whatever accomplishment was achieved by President Obama and Vice President Biden. For example, they created within the White House and office that basically was responsible for monitoring pandemics. They got rid of it. There was a team of disease experts that President Obama and Vice President Biden dispatched to China to monitor what is now predictable and what might happen. They pulled them out."
Foreign and Military Relations
"And the thing that has always been part of the strength of our nation in addition to our great military has been that we keep our word, but Donald Trump doesn’t understand that because he doesn’t understand what it means to be honest."
"So, after the strike on Soleimani, there was a counter-strike on our troops in Iraq, and they suffered serious brain injuries, and do you know what Donald Trump dismissed them as? Headaches. And this is about a pattern of Donald Trump’s where he has referred to our men who are serving in our military as suckers and losers. Donald Trump, who went to Arlington cemetery and stood above the graves of our fallen heroes and said, “What’s in it for them?” Because of course, he only thinks about what’s in it for him. Let’s take what he said about John McCain, a great American hero, and Donald Trump says, “He doesn’t deserve to be called a hero because it was a prisoner of war. Take, and this is very important when you want to talk about who is the current commander in chief and what they care about and what they don’t care about. Public reporting that Russia had bounties on the heads of American soldiers. And you know what a bounty is? It’s somebody puts a price on your head and they will pay it if you are killed, and Donald Trump had talked at least six times to Vladimir Putin and never brought up the subject. Joe Biden would never do that.”
Court Packing
"And do you know that of the 50 people who President Trump appointed to the court of appeals for lifetime appointments, not one is black? This is what they’ve been doing. You want to talk about packing a court? Let’s have that discussion."
Her Record and Racial Justice
"I will not sit here and be lectured by the Vice President on what it means to enforce the laws of our country. The only one on this stage, who has personally prosecuted everything from child sexual assault to homicide. I’m the only one on this stage who has prosecuted the big banks for taking advantage of America’s homeowners. I am the only one on this stage who prosecuted for-profit colleges for taking advantage of our veterans. And the reality of this is that we are talking about an election in 27 days where last week the President of the United States took a debate stage in front of 70 million Americans and refused to condemn white supremacists."
On the Election
"Of course, we have the support of Democrats, but also independents and Republicans. In fact, seven members of president George W. Bush’s cabinet are supporting our ticket. We have the support of Colin Powell, Cindy McCain, John Kasich. Over 500 generals, retired generals, and former national security experts and advisors are supporting our campaign. And I believe they are doing that because they know that Joe Biden has a deep, deep-seated commitment to fight for our democracy, and to fight for the integrity of our democracy, and to bring integrity back to the White House. We believe in the American people, we believe in our democracy, and here’s what I’d like to say to everybody. Vote, please vote, vote early, come up with a plan to vote, go to Iwillvote.com."
Senator Harris only reinforced the message that Joe Biden gave at the last debate and throughout this campaign. The country is headed in the wrong direction with Donald Trump and Mike Pence.
It is time for a change in 27 days.
Get out and vote.
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