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Vice presidential candidates Tim Kaine and Mike Pence squared off in Tuesday's 2016 vice presidential debate. Who pulled off a victory? Who disappointed? Our Latino panel points out the hits and misses and whether the two men made their case.
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Tim Kaine was a Slugger, Mike Pence a BunterIf tonight's vice presidential debate were to be described in baseball terminology, Senator Tim Kaine would be a 'slugger,' and Governor Mike Pence would be a 'bunter.' Kaine came out swinging with a full-throated endorsement of Hillary Clinton's candidacy, and branded Donald Trump as self-interested, untrustworthy, and frightening.
Pence, on the other hand, took a subdued approach, just barely stepping up to the plate, and doing what he could to lay down the barrage of critiques leveled at his presidential nominee. Pence kept the ball in play, but he never seemed to get off a 'line drive.'
Throughout the night, Kaine championed Clinton's credentials and was refreshingly direct in the way he addressed criticism against her. More impressive was his ability to flip almost any script Pence issued to drag her down.
When Pence suggested that Clinton was capitalizing on fraught relations between police and the Black community, Kaine confidently stated that the nation shouldn't be afraid to talk about bias in law enforcement. When Pence described Trump as 'brilliantly' using the tax code to avoid paying federal taxes, Kaine asked whether it was smart to not pay for the military, veterans and teachers, then topped off his retort with, "So, does that make the rest of us stupid?" With frequent sighs and head shaking, Pence never seemed to fully wrest the terms of the debate from Kaine's control.
If Pence's performance tonight was lackluster, his unexcitable demeanor should at least appeal to that portion of the GOP who under no circumstances will vote for Hillary Clinton, but who are also wondering how they could vote for a man so many have come to see as rude, narcissistic, and reckless. By painting Kaine as overly prepared with his "pre-done lines," (a depiction that will nicely compliment their perception of Clinton as staged and inauthentic) Pence will assure the anti-Clinton camp that her running mate is more of the same.
A vice presidential candidate should be able to defend the person at the top of the ticket. Kaine not only defended Clinton, he made a thoughtful case for her. But, when Kaine asked Pence to defend the litany of offensive statements Trump has made about Mexicans, women, Senator John McCain, Indiana-born judge Gonzalo Curiel, President Barack Obama, and the African American community, Pence simply didn't, and it is on this point where he most clearly 'struck out.'
Note: this except is taken from a longer article which can be found on the NBC News Website.
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