The two vice presidential candidates, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Senator VD Vance, debated last night and there was no clear winner, at least not if you care about truth and reality.
The moderators, Norah O’Donnell and Marilyn Brennan, took the two men through a lengthy series of national questions, including the Middle East, immigration, the economy, abortion and health care.
Gov. Walz did a good job of reaffirming his rock-solid Midwest credentials, the history teacher and the coach everyone wanted in their corner. Meanwhile Sen. Vance worked hard to mold himself into a born-again Trumpite, the slick, over-prepared defender of all things Donald. Time after time, Vance cavalierly sailed past the questions, failing to come to grips with the subject. For example, when asked about abortion, he dutifully lamented a death in Georgia before resorting to some facile “mansplaining.”
As the commentators ticked off specifics — queries from climate change to Trump’s ambitious plans to deport millions of immigrants — Vance skipped over or simply lied. When all else failed, the senator relied on convoluted answers that involved fentanyl being delivered by migrating children or placing blame on Vice President Harris. At one point in the debate, the moderators turned off Vance’s microphone after he repeatedly referred to Haitians living in Springfield as “illegal immigrants.”
When Vance responded to a question about Trump’s murky “concept” for replacing health care, he claimed that, as president, Trump had worked toward a bipartisan Obamacare health care replacement solution. Only then were his lies called out by moderator O’Donnell, who corrected him saying that, no, Obamacare had survived only because of a vote by the late John McCain.
The final Vance comeuppance came when he balked, unable to tell the truth about the outcome of the 2020 election. Delivering his final statement, Walz picked up on his reluctance, turning to accuse Vance saying, “You can’t even say that Trump lost the election.”
But, while the two men engaged in a mainly cordial manner, they did give the American people a clear view of their very different personalities, their diverse priorities and their underlying principles.
One fact check I saw elsewhere remains a little elusive for me, the connection between housing shortage and illegal immigration.
The fact check crew waved that off with “economists blame a long-term decline in the housing supply”, and of course that would be part of the picture. But, you know, supply and demand, and we have seen in Seattle the effects of great big surges in demand. Build “all you want” means, build as much as you can get financing for and without driving costs up too much for labor, materials, equipment, etc., and then there’s the lines at the permit counter. Demand is an important part of the picture.
The claim seems somewhat absurd to me, like illegal immigrants are hiking across the border and buying apartments that regular Americans can’t afford, I’m just saying that the fact check didn’t really nail it for me.
Also builders are supposed to have argued that they need immigrants to do the work, but … is this about illegal immigrants, or immigrants in general? It’s not really a secret that some industries are highly dependent on illegal immigration, part of what complicates the politics, but it usually isn’t let out in public quite like that.
As it was, Jean – a concise and precise summary. Thanks.
FYI, The second moderator is Margaret not Marilyn and though I support Walz his misstatements about his China period were troubling. I also thought he was painfully nervous.
I was shocked SHOCKED that Vance would actually complain about fact checking. OUT LOUD.
When’s the last time we heard a candidate complain about his prevarications not being tolerated?