If anything sums up the difference in significance and ultimate impact of this debate versus the prior one, the choice of venue should speak volumes.
When Madame Vice President and Fat Orange Jesus duked it out last month, they did so at the pristine National Constitution Center in Philadelphia which, as USA TODAY’s Phaedra Trethan described it last month, is a private, nonprofit and nonpartisan organization that opened July 4, 2003. It offers interactive exhibits and programs centered around the Constitution, government and civics. It hosts regular discussions that bring people from across the political spectrum together and offers a variety of online educational resources (including a blog post about presidential debates).
Last night, the octagon for the verbal cage fight between Beverly Hillbilly Elegy and the political answer to Hayden Fox (Google it, millennials) was the far less storied and downright deteriorating CBS Broadcast Center that has sat across from a Lincoln dealership at the corner of West 57th Street and Eleventh Avenue for nearly six decades, currently houses a handful of CBS News and sports studio programs, as well as LAST WEEK WITH JOHN OLIVER, and was dropped into the non-audience studio that once was where CAPTAIN KANGAROO was taped.
I dare say the sophistication of Bob Keeshan’s target audience was somewhat above that of those who were hoping to learn anything of consequence about either participant, and even Mister Moose and Mister Green Jeans had a more contentuous relationship.
With a significant portion of supporters already skeptical about the choice of Tim Walz over someone with more potential impact on a key battleground state than Josh Shapiro, and without the spectacle of the Democratic National Convention and the ability to show how wonderful a father he is, Walz fell right into a trap set by his far more cunning and diabolical opponent early on, and from that point on it was J.D. Vance who was in command.
As THE INDEPENDENT’s Eric Garcia lamented in his writeup that dropped earlier this morning:
(O)nce the debate got going, the crowd fell largely silent – particularly as Walz got off to a rather rocky start and then had to admit he was not, after all, in China during the Tiananmen Square massacre.
“I’m a knucklehead at times,” he painfully admitted.
All the while, Vance seemed to stick religiously to his talking points, particularly about illegal immigration.
Some watch party attendees said that Walz was likely caught off guard by his opponent’s lies.
It was painfully evident that Walz is nowhere near as accomplished at debating as his running mate is, and even when he did get in some more meaningful points as the night wore on he was overly reliant on notes that he was seen as actively taking while Vance was speaking and spoke with his hands flailing to a greater degree than a mime.
Not that Vance did much better at even attempting to establish believable credibility. While Walz was quick to point out in one of his stronger moments that Vance’s presence on the stage was due in large part to Mike Pence’s refusal to “take the appropriate action” on January 6, 2021, what Vance did first and foremost was remind those watching the more important reason is that he’s a more polished and less emotional sycophant for his running mate. As POPULAR INFORMATION’s Judd Legum noted in his newsletter this morning:
Vance showed he can stay on topic, properly pronounce most words, and express empathy for other people.
But in other respects, Vance showed that he and Donald Trump are the same:
Like Trump, Vance falsely claimed that Democrats want to allow babies to be killed after birth.
Like Trump, Vance refused to acknowledge that Trump lost the 2020 election and refused to commit to accepting the results in 2024.
Like Trump, Vance did not back down from his lies about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio
Like Trump, Vance did not acknowledge the scientific reality of climate change.
Walz did react with appropriate disbelief, as NBC NEWS’ Ryan J. Reilly reported:
Toward the end of the debate…Walz asked Vance to affirm that Trump lost the last election. “Did he lose the 2020 election?” Walz asked.
“Tim, I’m focused on the future,” Vance replied, before pivoting to press Walz on censorship on social media.
“That is a damning non-answer,” Walz said. “I’m pretty shocked by this. He lost the election. This is not a debate, it’s not anything anywhere other than in Donald Trump’s world.”
But immediately after that, whatever potential street cred his party might have hoped he would have gained was all but conceded, as DEADLINE’s Ted Johnson and Dominic Patten observed:
Walz, running mate of Dem candidate Kamala Harris, drove home the civility of the debate when, as the event neared its conclusion, he admitted, “I’ve enjoyed tonight’s debate, and there was a lot of commonalities here, and I’m sympathetic to misspeaking on things, and I think I might have with the senator.”
“Me too, man,” Vance, Donald Trump‘s running mate. interjected.
“Midwestern Nice” might have worked for the backdrop of PARKS AND RECREATION, but it sure doesn’t cut it in this environment at this time. And not even an audience sector that is arguably one of the most crucial to the final tallies–first-time voters in an age group with historically low turnout potential–wasn’t buying for a second whatever version of it was being offered up by “me, too, man”. Per HUFF POST’s Lee Moran:
One of Republican JD Vance’s lines of attack during Tuesday’s vice presidential debate against Democratic rival Tim Walz was thoroughly torn apart by a college student, live on TV.
Vance disingenuously argued that Vice President Kamala Harris has during her time in the White House failed to deliver on the promises she is now making to voters, as the Democratic presidential nominee, ahead of the election.
After the debate, MSNBC’s Jacob Soboroff talked with students at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. One student, called Marcus, expressed frustration with that particular spin from Donald Trump’s running mate.
“If anybody took high school civics class they’d know what the vice president can do and what the vice president can’t do,” Marcus began.
“Neither candidate on that stage talked about what executive action they’re gonna take on day one to do what they want, nor were they asked,” he continued.
“Because they know that they can’t,” Marcus pointed out. “That’s not how the vice presidency works. You don’t get to do what you want, you do what the president delegates you to do.”
Captain Kangaroo would have been proud.
Until next time…
1 thought on “They’re Still Doing Children’s TV On West 57th Street”
“If I bring up Trump in LA, people react like they got shot with a dart containing rabies and crystal meth”
~ Elon Musk
Is it true that Kamala Harris has dropped more boxers than Muhammed Ali?
Trump/Israel 2024
Can’t wait to hear what you think of the African-American Elon Musk. I’m sure it’ll be insightful.
Blocking the Holy Land. Nice job Steve. I understand you’re on board with the mullahs. They want Trump dead too.