On today’s BradCast, coverage and analysis of this year’s one and only (thank God!) Vice Presidential Debate at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia on Tuesday night between Hillary Clinton’s centrist Democratic running mate Sen. Tim Kaine of VA and Donald Trump’s religious right Republican running mate Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana. [Audio link is posted below.]
It was, in my opinion, as I noted on The Twitters last night, the worst Presidential or Vice Presidential debate in modern U.S. history, thanks in no small part to the disastrously horrible moderator, CBS News’ Elaine Quijano. Her questions seem to come straight off of Fox “News” (where CBS News chief David Rhodes previously worked, coincidentally), failed to follow up any answers, failed to either keep decorum between the two candidates or at least get out of their way, and failed to raise real issues of note — such as gun violence, race issues, health care, global warming, LGBT issues, campaign finance or voting rights, to name just a few — effecting the actual everyday lives of Americans.
Mike Pence is a man who has argued smoking doesn’t cause cancer, denies climate change, couldn’t run for President himself in 2016 because he screwed up so badly on the anti-LGBT bill he signed in Indiana, in December of just last year tweeted “Calls to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. are offensive and unconstitutional” in response to Trump’s call for same — and, yet, Quijano couldn’t muster up a single question on any of those incredibly disturbing things from Pence’s career.
But it was also the remarkable avalanche of lies, as offered by the very impressive if astonishingly dishonest GOP Veep nominee, which made the evening simply jaw-dropping at times. Some of those lies were rebutted by a struggling, over-eager Kaine. Others have since been left to those in the media who care to sort such things out.
That’s where we come in, I guess. I’m joined today to try and make sense of all of the above by Heather Digby Parton of Salon and the Hullabaloo blog, John Amato, founder of the Crooks and Liars blog and, of course, our own Desi Doyen.
Buckle up and tune in as we “whip out that Mexican thing again”…
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[audio:http://bradblog.com/audio/BradCast_BradFriedman_VPDebateKainePence_DigbyAmato_100516.mp3]
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Last night Lawrence O’Donnell marvelled over those who declared Mike Pence the winner, despite his making one demonstrably false statement after another. Performance, he noted, has come to matter more than facts. And meanwhile the amount of money spent on weapons of mass distraction–pretending that our problems are either beyond solution or that “government is the problem” or a bumper sticker will do–hinders the effort to move forward.
“We have reached the point where something is not valid unless someone in authority says so.”
Those words were spoken years ago at a science conference, but they have stayed in my mind. While he was lamenting how a certain hypothesis can be dismissed before experiments are conducted, his point applies to politics as well. For the self-styled “mainstream” press, whether print or broadcast, has put assertion and repetition at center stage. And those who question are dismissed.
Watched the debate? and wondered when it became common for politicians to lie. Would someone tell me why when you put your hand on the Bible you supposedly can’t lie but other than that it is alright to lie your ass off. Does God up stairs forgive the lie if you don’t have your hand on the Book. The Republicans have spent the last 24 years lying 24/7 on Fox and the right wing radio.
When preachers are supporting going to war, killing gays and preaching hate in their churches makes one wonder what Bible their using. They forgave Newt for his adultery and now they are supporting the greatest fraud this country has seen. The constitution says that every one is created equal yet the churches want you to ignore it. The Bible says you are created in the image of God but the churches wants to say different. They preach against Sharia law but want to dictate the law. It’s no wonder people are leaving the churches in droves.
Very good points guys.
I wish Kaine hadn’t kept interrupting Pence. It was sort of weird that Pence didn’t seem to care. I guess he was more comfortable being interrupted then having to say anything, which is understandable.
It was very painful to watch. Tim Kaine is a terrible debater. Impatient, insecure, and spending much too much time sort of pleadingly looking at the hapless moderator he came across worse telling the truth than Pence did repeatedly lying. But then I guess it all made for some good ads for Clinton exposing the lies with editing. And it’s probably true what they say about the VP debate not counting for much.