Kaine-Pence Debate

The rules of debate in high school are much different from what we saw last night in the vice-presidential clash between Tim Kaine and Mike Pence. Debate is usually meant to show two sides arguing civilly about a debate topic. Whoa! We certainly didn’t see any civility last night. First and foremost in either debate system (high school or congressional) the opponents are supposed to wait their turn. One answers the moderator’s question, then the other offers a rebuttal, but during either answer or rebuttal, neither debate participant is supposed to interrupt the other. Well, that went out the window early on. Kaine did more interrupting than Pence, but both were almost equally guilty. It became apparent almost from the beginning that this would be a contest between two hatchet men, Kaine wielding the hatchet for Hillary Clinton and Pence the hatchet for Donald Trump. Both had their moments of addressing their running mates’ policy proposals, but both then went into shouting mode about the faults of the two presidential nominees. Their hatchet assignments, apparently, were to restate and underscore the faults of both candidates, faults we’ve already heard over and over again—Clinton’s carelessness with national security in her private e-mails, the Clinton Foundation’s misuse of donations, the Iran nuclear deal, the Benghazi fiasco, and her unfortunate word choice describing Trump supporters as “deplorable”; Trump’s insults of women, Mexicans, Muslims, the disabled, soldiers suffering from PTSD, John McCain, and just about anyone else who dares to contradict him, his tax returns, his Russian connections and admiration for Putin. For ninety minutes they shouted, growled, interrupted, and paid little attention to debate moderator Elaine Quijano, CBS news journalist. Who won? Neither. This wasn’t about winning or losing. It was about reminding the national audience why we should or shouldn’t vote for either candidate. And it was just another indication of how strangely awful this election has become. Come on, come on, November 8th. You just can’t get here soon enough.