I've been scratching my head the last couple of days trying to figure out why a politician as disciplined and experienced as Tim Kaine would go full boggie shit head on a national stage with five weeks to go before the election. Frankly I don't get it. It makes no sense. Why do it? Unless, of course, Kaine intended to do it all along.
I'm only guessing here, but I think Clinton asked Kaine to take a bullet for the team. His marching orders were two-fold: 1. Defend Hillary at all costs; and 2. Force Mike Pence to do the same for Trump. On count one he succeeded. He vehemently refuted every single attack levied against her by Pence, often interrupting the Indiana governor in mid-sentence.
But on count two, despite Kaine's best efforts, Pence never once defended his boss's outlandish statements. Rather, he did something even better: he issued one denial after another. Mexicans are rapists? Only a few. A ban on all Muslims? Only from countries that harbor terrorists. Vladimir Putin is a stronger leader that Barack Obama? He said no such thing. As far as Pence was concerned, Trump was Father Flanagan.
The preliminary consensus was that Pence had a great night and Kaine got owned. But as I noted in my last piece, Pence and Kaine aren't at the top of the ticket; they're on the bottom. And since voters vote for the top of the ticket, the only valid question was how did they do?
Well, as it turns out, Hillary did okay, thanks in large part to her running mate's loyalty; whereas Trump didn't fare nearly as well. That's because for the last 48 hours all those denials Pence made are being fact checked by, of all people, the media.
Imagine that, the Fourth Estate is doing its job and, once again, Trump is in the spotlight. Lie after lie after lie, have been exposed to the light of day. Pence - no doubt making a play for GOP conservative standard bearer - may have come off looking like Clark Kent, but unfortunately Trump is still Lex Luther. And by either refusing to defend him, or, worse, lie on his behalf, he only further cemented the view many voters already have of this ticket.
If you're team Clinton, you have to feel pretty good with how things turned out. Yes, Tim Kaine was an obnoxious ass. Big deal. In the grand scheme of things it won't matter one iota come November 8.
After all, if VP debates truly mattered, Michael Dukakis would've beaten George Bush in 1988.
Comments