24 Comments

So JD Vance, who has been in the Senate for a cup of coffee, is considered the “professional politician” over a guy who did years in Congress and is the two term Govenor? To quote Kissinger, “under what theory”? As a conservative, Vance is not my cup of tea but that was as solid a debate performance as I can remember. Yes, Vance won by simply and constantly reciting the poor Biden record as well as that Harris is still in office and is the embodiment of this hapless administration.

Ps CBS was as biased and arrogant as one could expect, particularly the wayward, smug and erroneous M Brennan “fact check.” But a leopard can’t lose its spots so I blame Trump for agreeing to this crazy inside the beltway debate system.

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Coach Walz is, since 2019, Governor of a large Midwestern state and formerly sat in Congress for 12 years, which is a much longer career as a politician than his opponent, who just entered the Senate less than three years ago. And yet you characterize him as an "aw shucks" amateur who got bested.

Coach Walz just sucks.

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Further evidence, if any was needed, that The Democrats have anointed another dreadful candidate. First they tried to pretend President Biden was competent. Then they force fed a lightweight onto Te American electorate. Her (was it really her) choice of VP is further evidence VP Harris doesn’t have the leadership skills or competence to be the current leader of the free world.

If they really believe Trump is the ‘anti-Christ’ or an ‘existential threat to democracy’, how could they do this? (Disclaimer: I wouldn’t vote for Trump under any circumstance. I also have more faith than most that The Republic is bigger and capable of handling a second President Trump term.

They are playing a dangerous and irresponsible game. Just look at the recent results first in Germany and now in Austria.

It tells us all we need to know about how arrogant and out of touch the metropolitan political elite are.

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Joe, you confuse prrformance with proficiency. I thought Walz was masterful, if not s little shaky. Vance was locked and loaded for a knife fight, Walz kept the tenor of the debate at such a congenial level that he proved he is the bigger and better person. Vance refused to actually answer any questions, was chided by the moderators about that, Walz answered them all, and refused to rise to Vance's bait. Walz demonstrated a love of country and its people, Vance is the con-carpetbagger. Thanks, coach.

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I'm sorry that this is all too complicated for your limited intellect but exactly what questons did Senator Vance not answer?

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Why oh why didn’t Harris pick Shapiro?

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Vance was indeed slick and smarmy. And anybody who reads the papers could tell when he was lying or dodging, which was often. Vance's refusal to say whether Trump lost the election was rather obvious.

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What lies? What dodges? "Anybody" with an IQ on the top half of the IQ curve instantly recognizes that there was widespread election fraud in 2020. Only a moron belives that basement Biden got 81 million legitimate votes.

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Uff da. Walz just made us 5.7 million Minnesotans look like characters in “Fargo”. Great column and spot on, you-betcha.

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Sorry Joe you’ve missed this one. I thought both showed they were “competent”. The question is competent to do what. Vance is competent to implement an anti-democratic (small d)agenda and competently run it. Waltz is competent to continue a democratic (small d) agenda and competently run it. In other words be a competent President of a democracy. I think that’s the correct analysis of the debate.

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Can't confirm Joe, and I'm a registered Republican. Yes, Walz got stronger in the back half of the debate, when some viewers had likely tuned out, but I thought he did a better job of stating Democratic arguments than Harris has, in her debate or other contexts. Also yes, Vance did a more presentable job of presenting his side's arguments than Trump has ever succeeded, or even tried, to do. Talk about low bars! Vance succeeded in not looking or sounding like Mephistopheles and Walz succeeded in not looking or sounding like he's actually to the left of Harris, which he may well be. You wanted a knockout. A draw or a close fight on points was not a result you were going to be able to accept.

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I completely agree with Joe. The debate was a disaster - not as bad as Biden’s but bad enough to make Trump a favorite now. I never thought Walz would do well but I also never thought it would be,this bad. There’s been a lot of talk about finding ways to give Rs “permission” to vote for Harris. Walz just helped Vance give independents permission to vote for an authoritative government in America.

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Please explain how individual liberty, individual responsibility, small government championing conservatives are authoritarian? Then explain how big nanny government, over regulating, culturally mandating left wing progressives are not authoritarian?

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Don’t know why Walz didn’t do better. Plenty of time in Congress and as governor. And years in the classroom speaking. But hard to explain how Biden has done such an amazing outstanding job but needs to be suddenly replaced.

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founding

Thanks for the straight shooting. Walz was bad enough and Vance was good enough that the VP debate might matter.

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I find it amusing that the MAGA movement does not appreciate elite university skills when it comes to medicine, science or economics, but it does when it comes to slick talking lawyering. As Van Jones noted on CNN, “I went to Yale Law School, and this is exactly what they prepare you for.” But while Walz, cautious to a fault, missed numerous opportunities, the moments that will last will be Vance’s assertions: that Trump’s behavior following the 2020 election was perfectly fine, that abortion bans in states will go on for the foreseeable future and that Trump saved (!?) the ACA. Especially given the fact that, as Jon Stewart noted the other night, “the only people undecided at this point are people who got kicked in the head by a horse”, I think this won’t be too impactful.

Meanwhile, to the (mostly fine) moderators: no questions about Ukraine???

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Curtis, it’s not amusement, it’s ignorance. I suppose it is as they say that ignorance is bliss. Graduates of todays’ so called elite universities are some of the dumbest people on the planet. They are the primordial soup of all of all the Marxist/America hating/woke/DEI/Transgender BS that has infected modern culture. Name one of these idiots who know anything about science more than just being able to spell the word. Look at the ivy league dumb as a box of rocks examples in the incompetent Biden staff; Antony Blinken, Jake Sullivan, John Kirby. Put those three in a room together and it will still be a struggle to achieve a cumulative triple digit IQ. Van Jones is a grifter trying to make pay dirt with his racist rants. I have no problem with challenging the widespread election fraud in 2020, in fact I think it is patriotic. If you want to deny that the “big lie” is that there wasn’t wide spread election fraud in 2020 then go screw yourself. I don’t know of any state that has banned abortion but President Trump was correct that there are states that have allowed killing children who survived failed abortions. Minnesota documented eight before Walz signed a bill making it legal and then stopped reporting them. Obamacare is still a disaster for the people who are forced to pay for it and Ukraine is still an offshore money laundering operation for the DC swamp down to the life of the last Ukrainian. I don’t think the ignorance necessarily comes from a horse kick in the head, some are naturally ignorant. Thanks for demonstrating.

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Sorry guys, I thought Waltz was just fine. Vans appeared to be a slick insincere guy pretending to be a decent person . Waltz, not telegenic -but after the debate transcripts, he was fine . Being nice shouldn’t be a negative. In these times defined by performance in the political big tent circus, lying and bullying seems to attract . The pettiness of the media in going after Waltz for not being in China the week he said was - so trivial . At the same time normalizing Vance , Mr blame everything on immigrants, as ‘the winner’ sorry - strongly disagree Joe.

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Alas, you speak truth. It’s not the whole story, but it’s important.

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Your characterization of the debate shows in clear, not to be misunderstood, the difference between

Minnesota nice and New York cynicism. That is not bad, but it is different.

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