Ben Sellers
‘You’re entitled to your own opinion, but you’re not entitled to your own facts…’
The grand theme of Wednesday’s only vice presidential debate seemed to be contrasts.
It was a word that both Sen. Kamala Harris and Vice President Mike Pence invoked in relation to the differing visions of their respective parties.
But the contrast that was undoubtedly in the minds of many was the difference between the two running-mates’ conduct and their respective leaders’ bickering during last week’s presidential debate.
The night’s final question, from Utah eighth-grader Brecklin Brown, capped off everyone’s prime concern: “If our leaders can’t get along, how are the citizens supposed to get along?”
Fortunately, last week’s war of words got something of a do-over in the hands of two strong, outspoken party representatives.
On several occasions, in fact, the two vice presidential candidates were called upon to directly respond to or clarify the positions that President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden took last week.
Although Pence’s and Harris’s demeanors and philosophical differences “couldn’t be more clear” as they emphatically repeated, the demand for civility to supplant the chaos remained at the forefront as the unspoken metric upon which debate success or failure was riding.
Moderator Susan Page of USA Today stuck largely with the same topics as Fox News’s Chris Wallace outlined last week—some of which had unfairly framed the issues against Trump.
“One of the things that makes the American people dislike the media so much is that you selectively edit,” Pence said, while fielding a falsely premised question about Trump’s response to a 2017 clash in Charlottesville, Va.
Pence noted that Harris, like many in the media, had “conveniently omitted” the context in a ubiquitous attack that Biden and many others on the left has used to misleadingly accuse Trump of racism and anti-Semitism.
“You’re concerned that he doesn’t condemn neo-Nazis—President Trump has Jewish grandchildren,” Pence noted after Harris mischaracterized Trump’s sarcastic response to Wallace and Biden last week.
Although Trump was asked to condemn white supremacists and militia groups seen as supporting him—a demand which he tentatively and circumspectly obliged—Biden got a free pass on the equivalent—if not far more egregious—violence from radical left-wing extremists associated with groups like Antifa.
Page, however, seemed determined to avoid the moderating pitfalls that Wallace faced by ruthlessly managing the clock and haranguing the two candidates (mostly Pence) when their time had expired.
Pence was visibly frustrated at times with being cut off, but he avoided escalating his grievances over the format.
While Page’s questioning generally favored Harris, Pence was not shy about creating his own opportunities to challenge her within the parameters of polite and respectful dialogue.
One particularly notable moment came as Pence pressed Harris over the issue of packing the Supreme Court with additional justices should Judge Amy Coney Barrett be confirmed later this month.
“This is a classic case [of] if you can’t win by the rules you’re gonna change the rules,” Pence said. “… If you haven’t figured it out yet, the straight answer is yes they are gonna pack” the court.
“… If you cherish the separation of powers, you need to reject the Biden–Harris ticket,” he warned.
Harris, for her part, ducked a direct answer, but she did, at least, offer a more coherent response than Biden.
She scored rhetorical points by bringing up an equivalent situation in which Abraham Lincoln, during his re-election campaign, was faced with filling the seat vacated by the October 1864 death of Chief Justice Roger Taney.
Despite holding both the Senate and the White House, “Honest Abe said it’s not the right thing to do,” Harris recounted.
Alas, Harris’s “history lesson” did not align entirely with the facts.
The historical information provided by President Lincoln’s Cottage in Washington, DC, reveals that there was little moral calculus in his decision.
Rather, Lincoln feared deepening the rift between moderate and radical branches of the Republican Party, who were divided in their views of the Confederacy and the abolition of slavery.
“As ever, Lincoln was the shrewd politician and in October of 1864 he saw no profit in alienating any of the factions of his political support by making a selection before the election. There is no evidence that he seriously considered announcing his choice before he was re-elected… Lincoln was not, however above using the enticement of the office to encourage campaigning on his behalf…”
Pence had the final word before moving on, saying to “let the record show” that Harris had failed to directly state whether Democrats would pack the court.
On another occasion, the vice president nearly began to laugh as Harris stepped into a quagmire over Biden’s flip–flops about fracking.
Having prefaced her remarks by saying “I think this is supposed to be a debate based on facts and truth,” Harris went on to deliver two easy-to-refute whoppers herself.
“Joe Biden will not raise taxes on anyone who makes less that $400 thousand a year; he has been very clear about that,” she first claimed.
And “Joe Biden will not end fracking; he has been very clear about that,” she added.
Pence chuckled audibly at the assertion.
He noted that Biden had repeatedly insisted he would repeal Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which would involve raising taxes on most Americans who saw cuts across the board under the plan.
As for fracking, Pence noted that Biden was on tape saying the opposite of what Harris had claimed.
“You’re entitled to your own opinion, but you’re not entitled to your own facts,” he told Harris. “… Joe Biden looked a supporter in the eye and said, ‘I guarantee that we will abolish fossil fuels.’”
Harris also tried to duck her past co-sponsorship of the Green New Deal following Biden’s insistence last week that his multi-trillion-dollar environmental infrastructure plan was “different” from the one proposed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio–Cortez, D-NY, which has been the source of considerable derision.
During another portion of the debate, Page aggravatingly allowed a deceptive media narrative to stand while asking both candidates what they would do if Trump refused to accept the outcome of the election.
Trump—who was stricken but undiagnosed with the coronavirus at the time of last week’s debate—was unable to do justice to the trick question during the final minutes of the free-for-all.
Pence, on the other hand, availed himself of the opportunity to land all the right points and reiterate Trump’s criticism of a hypocritical double-standard.
“When you talk about accepting the outcome of the election, I must tell you, senator, your party has spent the last three and a half years trying to overturn the results of the last election,” he hammered Harris.
“We’ve all seen the avalanche [of] what you put the country through,” he said, recounting the long saga of Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. Increasingly, declassified evidence has confirmed that there was conspiracy by the Obama administration’s intelligence community to undermine Trump’s campaign and early presidency.
Pence went on to note that after finding no evidence of obstruction in the Mueller report, Democrats then tried to impeach Trump “over a phone call.”
Moreover, he said, failed 2016 candidate Hillary Clinton has continued to push for Biden to refuse to concede under any circumstances, with nobody on the Left or its media allies appearing to repudiate her.
Despite the litany of endorsements Biden had received from longtime members of the DC swamp, “I think we’re gonna win this elect because … President Donald Trump has launched a movement of everyday Americans from every walk of life,” Pence said. “… If we have a free and fair election, we’re gonna have confidence in it.”
Pence also succeeded in nailing the better response to the final student question, asking leaders about the need to get along and set the right tone for civility.
Harris’s answer, essentially a plug for the Biden campaign and its websites, came off as more divisive than conciliatory.
She once again invoked the debunked Charlottesville narrative and even glossed over the significant racial and civil unrest that occurred during the Obama administration.
“One of the reasons that Joe decided to run… is that, after Charlottesville, it so troubled him that there was that kind of hate and division [that] over the course of the last four years … has been happening,” she claimed.
“Joe Biden has a history of lifting people up,” she added—a stark contrast to her own race-baiting attacks on Biden during the Democrat primary.
Pence, meanwhile, sincerely appealed to the young questioner with every ounce of Christian empathy.
“I started following the news when I was very young,” he said, “and in America we believe in a free and open exchange of debate.”
Pence cautioned viewers not to assume that the political gridlock the media sensationally reported on was synonymous with the reality, citing as an example the unlikely friendship between ideologically opposite Supreme Court justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia.
“Here in America, we can disagree [and] debate vigorously … but when the debate is over we come together as American citizens,” Pence said.
“We love a good debate; we love a good argument,” he continued. “But we always come together, and we are always there for each other.”
Trump’s coming landslide just becomes more certain by the minute:
Attachment
The following article from ZH is an excellent prognosis of the next few months. Trump will prevail, but there will be hell to pay in the interim. As usual, the gold is in the comments; 99% are anti-Biden. What does that tell us? Most polls are fixed. Gallup has it right, but you will not hear much re their results on TEE VEE.
The conclusion:
((Whether the Democrats implode or not after all this happens remains to be seen, but it is my prayer that when the dust settles, all the Marxists plotters and schemers be exposed and truth will be recognized as truth. And then … maybe then … Trump can get on with his promise to drain the entire swamp.))
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/7-predictions-how-2020-comes-end
Bye bye dems…it’s going to be a landslide! 56%…highest number EVER recorded by Gallup!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=134&v=r3b3aNdYnv4&feature=emb_logo
No matter who wins, it is still MIGA not MAGA and I did not vote for MIGA.
There are times I feel the same way, but a vote for Communist ‘hidin’ Biden will not fix a thing. Want to wear a mask and social distance for the next 4 years?…enjoy yourself.
You’re thinking quality is of a strange nature. Who said anything of voting for Biden? I don’t wear a mask and I have refused work because of this. You are not much more than a partisan hack caught in a web. Do you actually do any activism or is this it? Pom poms for Trump? Sad.
The latest electioneering by Twitter:
“…Twitter was caught censoring #Obamagate and #Russiagate after new documents released this week show President Obama was briefed on the Russia Collusion spying scandal and approved of the unprecedented spying on the Trump campaign while knowing Hillary Clinton was behind the preposterous scandal.”
https://nworeport.me/2020/10/09/twitter-is-censoring-obamagate-and-russiagate-hashtags-it-could-hurt-joe-biden/
Attachment
I am sorry to say, since as far as I know, ‘nothing was revealed ‘ since the goggle debacle in 2018, that social media could be the deciding factor in this election as well. If John and Jane Q public knew about Obamagate as the truth and not a conspiracy theory, this election would be over as we type.
Trump will be on Rush for three hours (12 noon – 3 PM Eastern)
https://therightscoop.com/listen-live-president-trump-holds-largest-rally-in-history-on-the-rush-limbaugh-show/
I’m listening now and this is Trump being Trump…just sensational….still on!!
Do not miss this.
Thanks for the head’s up, Will. Trump did two hours without a break and later he’ll be on Mark Levin’s show at 6 eastern and on Tucker at 8 eastern.
The opposition is ‘worried’ that Trump is having a manic episode, heh. They wish they could parlay it into invoking the 25th Amendment. “He’s out of his mind!”
Although just now, Rush said that Pelosi’s 25th amendment summit is for replacing Biden, if elected, as he is more likely to be “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”
Attachment
Thanks, Toni…I caught that…and it seems to be more logical since, as Rush said, there is just no way they can prove Trump unfit. The man is a dynamo at 74. Biden is just about ready for a walker. I WOULD like to get your opinion as to the use of a Biden double at the last debate. My question would be, how would Trump not know being that close to him.
I don’t know. I’m not good at that body-double stuff.
I have no reason not to accept Fetz’s analysis. I just find it very difficult to believe Trump would not notice the difference.
But I appreciate the reply.
Check ’em out.https://twitter.com/JimFetzer/status/1314649478079668224 Biden has blue eyes, the debate “Biden” has brown eyes. Biden has ear lobes. Debate “Biden” does not. Biden has somewhat round head, Debate “Biden” does not. Biden ties a double Windsor, debate “Biden” a single. Biden has skull implant and does not need a wire. Debate “Biden” has a wire beneath his lapel. He seems to be a more diminutive version of Biden, slightly wispy. They have replaced Joe Biden. Check out NeedToKnow today’s show: https://twitter.com/JimFetzer/status/1314723453065289730
Watching that right now…thanks.
I should add I do not question the obvious (the ear lobe being the prize) differences. What confounds me is Trump being on the same stage and not seeing the difference OR being in on it.
They were separated. He has a voice-box that makes his voice the same. They did not meet and shake hands. I think he hasn’t noticed the difference yet. But this really IS a BOMBSHELL! Gut the Democrats now and expose it, Mr. President!
And now they have canceled the next debate…virtual or not, they took it off. One could certainly wonder if the possible recognition of the double could have been an incentive.
Could it be that Trump is going along with the Biden production the same way he’s gone along with the covid hoax? Not saying he might not have very good reasons to go along with these lies of which we are unaware, but it does seem, at least in our minds, that exposing even one hoax would blow the whole charade of out of the water.
Every news cycle from the pro-Dem media is led by a newly prefabricated story/commentary meant to undermine the Trump election. It may seem prudent to Trump and the campaign not to point out obvious disparities, which could draw the charge of ‘conspiracy theorist!’
There has to come a time though, when the number of discrepancies reaches a tipping point and the credibility of the self-described Left crumbles to reveal the globalist forces undermining the country.
RE: Biden Body Double
When I saw Dr. Fetzer’s Tweet, I found a 2019 youtube video of Biden on the Late Show and compared that image of Joe’s face to the debate images.
After looking long and hard at the mouth, the neck and the general skin condition, it looks to me like Debate Joe is different. And how could you explain the eye color?
Just when you think it can’t possibly get any stranger.
Toni…”Could it be that Trump…….”
Having listened to Trump on Limbaugh, unless I am a naive fool (a description of which many friends and family would whole heartedly agree), I am once again convinced Trump is legit. His candor and courage to put himself out front is sure as hell a contrast to ‘hidin’ Biden. There are likely as many reasons to go along with the ‘vid and doppleganger Joe as there are plugs in Joe’s head and toupees in the Sinate. At this point, we know less now than we did in kindergarten. “We were so much older then…we’re younger than that now”.
But, keericed, throw us an organic carrot once-in-a-while.
The go-along-to-get-along scenario in regard to the ‘vid leaves me cold. Even with full exposure RIGHT NOW (how that has been avoided is beyond belief, except to conclude WE the People are simply completely and totally ignored and left in the dust to continue their world-wide agenda), the damage done to the societal psyche, our children and the economy is far beyond any band-aid.
As we speak, the election is being stolen, Biden is ‘hidin’, the media is lyin’. ANTIFA is cryin’ and freedom is slidin’.
Take what you can use and throw the rest away:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Etyo8lKaMLk
Looks like the Billionaires have purchased Boris Johnson.
Overthrowing Trump is CRITICAL to their agenda because Trump cannot be bought like Johnson or Andrews.
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/conspiracy/using-every-trick-in-the-book/
I never heard of Steven Mosher before today. While everyone is focused on the election, China motors on in destroying the US with total war except for bullets and bombs. This is an eye opener.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTsARxx1dqA
I think Mosher has blinders on. There is little doubt China has violated human rights to an outrageous degree…But for him to say they have interfered in the peaceful beneficent support of world order by the US since WW II is incredibly hypocritical. How many wars have we started? How many elections in other countries has our CIA had a hand in? How many countries has the US invaded and how many has China invaded? Trump wants Venezuela’s oil. He wants Syria’s oil. He just threatened Iran. I could walk away from that lecture thinking the US is pure as the driven snow…..but I know better….and so do you. Am I incorrect?
“Here in America, we can disagree [and] debate vigorously … but when the debate is over we come together as American citizens,” Pence said. [ from the Post ]
When I heard that I cringed. That’s the theory but it certainly has not been practiced for many years. If you believe that is currently in operation, you live in a dream-world of delusion.
These clowns will say anything. And people believe it.
Sure as hell did not happen after 2016. As good as Pence did in that debate, he was fulla crap there.
Guys I can’t even watch Kamala. Perhaps it would be more fitting if Trump debated her, no one thinks Biden will ever be in charge of anything but rubber stamping the destruction of the American way. One place that is consistently shredding light on our national insanity is Hillsdale College in Michigan. The speakers as top notch and incredibly informative. This last one was particularly good at exposing the Kung Flu response as the most arbitrary non-sense. Check it out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCn5LuZOFZI
Now that is a panel I can get behind; hard to find fault with anything said. And what they point out more clearly than anything else is that the MEDIA is responsible for the panic……and we all know Gates from Hell is behind that control. Gates, the same man that paralyzed 500,000 Indian children without any repercussion. Disgusting beyond words. His billions will keep him free…that’s the way things work inside the US, INC. and within the remainder of the world CORPORATE governments. Where are the CIA assassination teams when they could put to really good use, eh?
Not only is Kamala not presidential timber, she is not even presidential twig. Race and knee pads are not qualifications for leadership of a political office.
I have asked this before and will ask again…Why is there such fear to mention BLM in this article and in either debate so far? There seems to be no problem using the term ANTIFA. Are we all so ashamed of ourselves? Have we succumbed to this BS about “white supremacy”?
From the article:
—violence from radical left-wing extremists associated with groups like Antifa…
AND BLM…there, I said it…did the world fall apart?
Ask Trump. He condemned the proud boys even though he knows nothing about them. He knows about Charlottesville and said there was blame on both sides. Anyone of honest character knows that there was not blame on both sides.