Presumptuous Politics : Oct 5, 2016

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Talkative Tim Kaine Cartoons

Pence triumphs in VP debate. And then there was the night's biggest loser...

The tiny Virginia town of Farmville, home to Longwood University and Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate, prides itself as a “Tree City USA” – the benefits of which, we’re told, include “a framework for action, education, a positive image and citizen pride.”
It’s safe to assume that the evening’s two combatants – Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence – walked onto the debate stage hoping to achieve those same goals (especially the part about a positive image).
How’d they do?
Here are five observations.
The Tone. The evening started out on a civil tone and it stayed that way, for the most – even if one of the debaters did his best to instill some southern discomfort into the conversation (more on that in a moment).
Kaine opened the proceedings by praising Hillary Clinton for her smarts and experience and wanting to build “a community of respect” (a bow to the civil rights movement). He then took a dig at Donald Trump.
Pence likewise praised his running mate, but didn’t neglect to point out that the public is in a wrong-track mood so why vote for more of the same.
And so it went through the night – each defending, even extolling their running mates’ virtues.
Granted, most any debate without Trump is going to seem somber. But this one was about as far as you get from an endorphin rush – nothing resembling Trump-level Fourth of July fireworks. Neither man raised his voice. Even when one candidate attacked the other ticket’s greatest weakness – Trump’s temperament, Clinton’s trustworthiness – it lacked the vitriol evident at the first presidential debate.
Remember this calm when Clinton and Trump mix it up again, Sunday evening in St. Louis.
Pence. Kaine called his debate foe “Trump’s apprentice.” Truth is, the Indiana governor is more like Trump’s antipode . . . for his calm demeanor and steady explanations of policy and his opponents’ shortcomings.
Pence had a few good lines. For example, this passage when pushing back against Kaine for his propensity for touting economic-recovery numbers: “People in Scranton know different. People in Fort Wayne know different.”
For those expecting an aggressive performance or a pound of Democratic flesh, Pence didn’t deliver. He was more guide dog than attack dog – though he almost bared his fangs just past the one-hour mark, when Kaine kept mentioning Trump’s taxes.
There’s a reason why someone came up with the phrase “Midwest nice.”
Kaine. Asked a question about doubts over his running mate’s character, he instead berated Trump’s “selfish” persona. When Pence began to cover the Clinton foreign policy record during her Foggy Bottom tenure, Kaine butted in – and kept interrupting as the night went on.
Why the rudeness? A tactical choice to keep the mild-mannered Pence off-stride.
Kaine had his talking points at the ready – too many of them, as Pence kept noting. Give Kaine demerits for too many slangy one-liners – a Clinton-Kaine “you’re hired” jobs program, a “you’re fired” Trump-Pence plan, etc.
And I’d further downgrade Kaine for this blunder: he went through an entire back-and-forth about immigration without taking advantage of his fluency in Spanish. Increible!
Bottom line: a tree doesn’t grow in Kaine-ville. The senator left the positive image in the green room.
Quijano. This debate’s moderator, CBS News’ Elaine Quijano, got a yuuuge break in that she was tasked with controlling two candidates described by some as vanilla nice.
Quijano asked solid and straightforward questions: why the presidential nominees are dogged by character questions, how their economic plans will work, what to do about policing and public safety, illegal immigration, how to combat home-grown terrorism, and so forth.
For those of you wagering on the first media-bias moment, it may have come at the 35-minute mark when Quijano pressed Pence on South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, a Republican and African-American, being harassed by Capitol Police – with no pushback against Kaine on Black Lives Matter and violent civil disobedience.
Where I’d further critique Quijano: she also put Pence on the spot for Trump’s immigration plan. Was it my imagination or did Pence get most of the questions directed his way?
Though she did ask both candidates their faith, Quijano didn’t press Kaine on abortion, which may have been a deal-killer for Barack Obama when he was looking for a running mate in 2008. The topic didn’t come up until 98 minutes into the 105-minute debate. She also whiffed on pressing Pence over Indiana’s religious-freedom law.
Two debates down, two to go, and I’m still waiting for a tough question hurled the Democrats’ way.
What’s Next. It wasn’t the high road to Farmville —at least not so for Kaine, whose strategy was to keep his opponent off-stride and off-message. Rarely did he take a pass on mentioning Trump’s character and temperament, even when it wasn’t his turn to talk (the unofficial Fox News count was 39 Kaine interruption to 19 for Pence). And that’s how it may look for the remaining five weeks: Clinton’s campaign believes it has a lead that Trump can’t overcome.
Look for Hillary to do her best to keep Trump off-balance and out-of-sorts in the remaining two debates.
America’s Civil War came to its conclusion not far from Farmville, at the Appomattox Court House.
In 2016, the uncivil war that is Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton continues with two more clashes – debates on Oct. 9 and Oct. 19 – before hostilities cease (we hope) on Election Day.
I give Pence the edge on the night – but that’s due in large part to Kaine’s acting anything but a Virginia gentleman. Had Pence been more forceful in a few moments and pushed harder on voter dissatisfaction with the economy and the political class, it would have been a bigger night.
Tune in Sunday night, October 9, to see if Trump can trump that.

Trump retweets supporter who says Kaine looks like 'Batman' villain

Donald Trump promised his Twitter followers that he would livetweet Tuesday night's vice presidential debate between Mike Pence and Tim Kaine, but the Republican nominee mostly retweeted his supporters.
Trump tweeted "Both are looking good! Now we begin!" in the early moments of the showdown. He then tweeted at Fox News' Megyn Kelly to say he was watching the debate in Nevada.
Trump's next 17 posts were all retweets. Most were messages from supporters, including one from a Twitter user who compared Kaine, Hillary Clinton's running mate, to a Batman villain.
Another user retweeted by Trump said Clinton "gets Americans killed."
Trump also retweeted graphics favorably comparing Kaine's record as Indiana governor to Kaine's record as Virginia governor. Other tweets included links to campaign press releases about Clinton's policy on Syria and North Korea, as well as a reminder of the Democratic candidate's "basket of deplorables" remark about Trump supporters last month.
Trump also backed up Pence's support of law enforcement officers in a segment of the debate devoted to police shootings of African-Americans.
The billionaire closed the evening with the night's most-retweeted post, according to Twitter's own analytics.

Trump camp slams media over 'out-of-context' frenzy on PTSD remarks

Media bias? News outlets pounce on Trump's PTSD comments

The Donald Trump campaign is firing back at the media over a slew of “out-of-context” reports and headlines asserting the Republican nominee took a swipe at veterans suffering from PTSD by suggesting they aren’t “strong” and “can’t handle” the stress of war.
Trump technically said those words during remarks to veterans in Herndon, Va., on Monday. But he did so while addressing how to help veterans suffering post-traumatic stress disorder and prevent military suicides.
"When you talk about the mental health problems, when people come back from war and combat, and they see things that maybe a lot of the folks in this room have seen many times over – and you're strong and you can handle it – but a lot of people can't handle it,” Trump said Monday.
He went on to say the country needs more mental health help for veterans and vowed to launch a “very robust” effort.
Soon after, BuzzFeed ran a headline that said: “Trump Suggests That Soldiers With PTSD Aren’t ‘Strong.’”
Many other outlets followed suit. The New York Daily News declared: “Donald Trump sparks outrage by suggesting vets with PTSD aren’t ‘strong’ and ‘can’t handle it.’”
The newspaper reported that, “Some veterans are furious at draft-dodging Donald Trump for suggesting soldiers who develop post-traumatic stress disorder aren't ‘strong’ and ‘can't handle it,’ seeing it as the latest in a string of insults toward their military service.”
A Huffington Post column was headlined: “Donald Trump’s Comments On Veteran Suicide Are Exactly Why There’s PTSD Stigma.” The story described it as an “abhorrent comment about mental health” from the GOP nominee.

Some articles cited veterans and veterans’ groups concerned about the tenor of Trump’s remarks, amid comparisons to his infamous and widely criticized dig last year at Sen. John McCain’s time as a prisoner of war.
But others jumped to Trump’s defense, saying his remarks here clearly were taken out of context. The campaign circulated a statement from the Marine staff sergeant who originally asked Trump the question about PTSD.
“I think it’s sickening that anyone would twist Mr. Trump’s comments to me in order to pursue a political agenda,” Chad Robichaux, founder of Mighty Oaks Warrior Programs in California, said in the statement. “I took his comments to be thoughtful and understanding of the struggles many veterans have, and I believe he is committed to helping them.”
Retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, an outspoken Trump booster, said “the media continues to operate as the propaganda arm of Hillary Clinton as they took Mr. Trump's words out of context in order to deceive voters and veterans -- an appalling act that shows they are willing to go to any length to carry water for their candidate of choice.”
He argued Trump was merely “highlighting the challenges veterans face when returning home after serving their country.”
Veterans of Foreign Wars spokesman Joe Davis also put out a brief statement that seemed to agree with Trump’s premise: "It is true that not everyone can handle traumatic events, be it from war, bad car accidents, violent crime or even surviving a hurricane. Regarding veterans, we need to treat those who need help and research how two people experiencing the same time and place can be impacted so differently."
That didn’t stop Vice President Biden from slamming Trump on CNN.
Speaking Tuesday, Biden called Trump “out of touch” and said: “His ignorance is so profound."

Kaine, Pence trade blows over 'insult-driven campaigns' in VP debate

Mike Pence and Tim Kaine scrambled to defend their running mates’ temperament and judgment at their first and only face-off Tuesday night – an unruly 90-minute session in which the vice presidential candidates routinely talked over each other - and the moderator - as they channeled some of the feistiness from last week’s opening presidential debate.
The normally affable candidates sparred on immigration, criminal justice, Social Security, taxes and Russian aggression while accusing each other of running an “insult-driven” campaign. But they clashed most frequently on two topics: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
Pence hammered Clinton over her private email server use as secretary of state and her “feckless” foreign policy, and pressed Kaine to defend Clinton’s honesty and trustworthiness. He also invoked former President Bill Clinton’s recent criticism of ObamaCare and vowed that Trump would repeal the health care law.
Kaine pressured Pence to answer for some of his running mate’s more controversial comments, including praising Russian President Vladimir Putin and calling for a Muslim immigration ban in the United States. He also said Trump needed to make his taxes public, while ripping the GOP presidential nominee over his coarse language and a “selfish me-first style.”
“I cannot believe that Governor Pence would defend the insult-driven campaign that [Trump] has run,” Kaine said.
Pence countered that Trump’s comments are “small potatoes” compared with Clinton calling half their supporters a “basket of deplorables.”
The exchange was characteristic of the debate, in which the lesser-known, lower-key running mates sparred feistily, leaving moderator Elaine Quijano at times struggling to bring order to the forum.
Kaine challenged Pence on Trump’s decision to break with decades of campaign tradition by not releasing his taxes.
"Donald Trump must give the American public his tax returns to show he's prepared to be president, and he's breaking his promise," Kaine said.
He also hammered Pence over revelations that Trump may been able to avoid paying taxes for up to 18 years by claiming a $900 million loss in 1995.
Pence defended Trump's tax handling and said his running mate “used the tax code just the way it’s supposed to be used, and he did it brilliantly.” He also asked Kaine: "Do you not take deductions?"
Though it’s unclear whether Pence and Kaine's performances dramatically changed voters’ minds about the presidential candidates, the nationally televised debate presented them with the opportunity to energize party loyalists and sway undecided voters.
Kaine and Pence both accused the other of running an “insult-driven” campaign with Kaine calling out Pence for not discrediting Trump’s past “birther” comments about President Obama and saying having Trump in charge “scares us to death.”
Pence shot back, telling Kaine that he and Hillary Clinton “would know a lot about an insult-driven campaign.”
Social issues were a bigger part of the conversation than in the first presidential showdown, reflecting both candidates' religious faith.
Kaine, a Catholic who personally opposes abortion but has consistently voted in favor of abortion rights, said of the Republican nominee, "Why doesn't Donald Trump trust women to make this choice for themselves?"
He also pointed to Trump's assertion that women should face some kind of "punishment" for abortion, a comment Trump later walked back.
Pence stressed his opposition to abortion and said he was "proud to be standing with Donald Trump" on the issue.
Both VP hopefuls reportedly held mock debates leading up to the debate. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker stood in for Kaine while Washington lawyer Robert Barnett played Pence.
Aides to Kaine told Fox News that the former Democratic National Committee chairman is a “policy wonk” like Clinton and studied “big binders” of details to prepare.
Pence, who has a decade of congressional experience under his belt, had been sharpening his debate skills and preparing for the political showdown since Labor Day.
The most watched vice presidential debate to date was the 2008 matchup between then-Sen. Joe Biden and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. That debate, according to Nielsen Ratings, brought in 69.9 million viewers. Coming in second was the 1984 debate between Rep. Geraldine Ferraro and then-Vice President George H.W. Bush.