RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/10/pence-prevails-lloyd-billingsley/

In Wednesday’s debate, moderator Susan Page of USA Today came out of the gate on the pandemic. Kamala Harris said we were witnessing the “greatest failure of any administration in history.” The Trump administration “said it was a hoax,” covered it up and “they still don’t have a plan.” Joe Biden, Harris said, would stress testing and contact tracing.

Page asked Mike Pence why the U.S. death toll was higher, and the vice president reminded viewers that President Trump suspended travel from China, which Biden opposed as xenophobic. The president’s national mobilization that saved hundreds of thousands of lives and he launched Operation Warp Speed for a vaccine. The Biden plan, Pence said, “looks like plagiarism, which is something Joe Biden knows about.”

Harris said she would take a vaccine if doctors approved it, but not if President Trump approved it. Pence took her to task for undermining public confidence and “playing politics with lives.” The vice president reminded viewers that the administration in 2009, by their advisor’s own admission “did everything wrong” on the swine flu epidemic that affected 60 million Americans.

Page said the recent White House event for Amy Coney Barrett was a “super spreader.” Harris cited the event as “ineptitude.” By contrast, Pence said, “Trump trusts people. They talk about mandates. We are about freedom.”

Page also raised the issue of possible presidential disability. Harris told viewers she was the first woman of color to be district attorney in San Francisco and the second black woman in the Senate. “Joe knows we share a purpose,” Harris said. Joe Biden had been “incredibly transparent,” on his health record, and on his taxes.

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/mike-pence-aces-the-audition/

EXCERPT

Pence’s capacity to respectfully and convincingly weave stories into a coherent articulation of the merits of his own worldview and the problems with his political opponents’ is undeniable. On coronavirus, Pence held his own and rightfully pointed out that the Biden campaign is without novel ideas to address it. On every other subject, he embarrassed the California senator on both substance and style. Without apology, he defended the pro-life position. Without reservation, he explained why the strike that eliminated Qasem Soleimani was not only justified, but vital to U.S. interests. The whole evening was a reminder of just how appealing the conservative agenda can be when it’s not packaged within Donald Trump.

In 2024, Mike Pence has a case for being that package.

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/kamala-harris-dishonesty-on-abe-lincoln/

It was impossible to miss how Kamala Harris, like Joe Biden, refused to answer questions about their plans to expand the Supreme Court. But she also misrepresented history.

Harris claimed at the VP debate that Abraham Lincoln refused to nominate a candidate for Chief Justice in October 1864 because “Honest Abe said, it’s not the right thing to do” and wanted the people to vote first.

Lincoln, of course, said no such thing. He sent no nominee to the Senate in October 1864 because the Senate was out of session until December. He sent a nominee the day after the session began, and Salmon P. Chase was confirmed the same day. And Lincoln wanted to dangle the nomination before Chase and several other potential candidates because he wanted them to campaign for him. Lincoln’s priority was winning the election, which was necessary to win the war — and he filled the vacancy at the first possible instant.

Kamala Harris is simply inventing history.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/10/kamala_harris_won__if_the_prize_was_awarded_for_the_most_lies_in_a_debate.html

The vice-presidential debate is over. If the winner is the person who quietly dominated the room, fought off two antagonists, never lost focus, and landed one deadly blow after another, then the winner must be Mike Pence, hands down. However, if the score was for the person who lied incessantly and refused to answer a critical question, Harris is the winner.

Before getting to the lies, the most important moment of the evening was Harris’s refusal to answer when asked about packing the Supreme Court. Pence had cornered Kamala, telling her to answer whether she and Joe would pack the Supreme Court. It was a question that required a “yes” or a “no” answer. Instead, Kamala squirmed, lied, smirked, and played the race card, all the while hoping no one would notice she hadn’t answered. Pence noticed, though, and he put it on the record:

And then, as I said, there were the lies. Pence masterfully rebutted as many as he could, but an easily uttered five-second lie may require a longer rebuttal, and the moderator worked hard to deny Pence the chance to correct the record. The following are just some truths to rebut Kamala’s many lies:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/mike-pences-re-election-case-11602131584?mod=opinion_lead_pos2

The pre- and post-debate spin about Wednesday’s clash of vice-presidential candidates from the left was that it’s merely a sideshow. They say the appearance of rhetorical norms is an illusion with Donald Trump at the top of the ticket. But Mike Pence and Kamala Harris did a public service by offering a contrast on issues and values that voters aren’t getting from the media or the presidential candidates.

The Vice President did as well as he could playing defense on the pandemic, especially with his accurate gibe that Joe Biden’s policy sounds like policy plagiarism. Senator Harris’s main critique on the virus, as on most other issues, was less about substance than about Mr. Trump’s rhetoric and personal behavior. It’s a powerful point that Mr. Trump reinforces daily. But Mr. Pence is right that on vaccines and testing and other details, the Biden “plan” is mostly Mr. Trump’s.

Mr. Pence was most effective in pointing out how far left the Biden-Harris Democrats have moved. With Donald Trump’s personal antics sucking up all the media attention, voters haven’t heard much about Mr. Biden’s $2 trillion in spending over four years on the Green New Deal; the $4 trillion of tax increases that will reach into the working class through higher business and corporate rates; their goal of eliminating fossil fuels that would cost jobs and raise energy prices; and the Biden record on foreign policy that includes opposing the raid on Osama bin Laden.

Mr. Pence also exposed Senator Harris for refusing to answer, as Mr. Biden also did last week, whether they support packing the Supreme Court if Judge Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed. Their response that the election is the issue now and everyone should vote is embarrassing even by the standards of political evasion. If they won’t disavow Court-packing now, it’s on the table with a Democratic Senate, House and White House.

https://spectator.us/single-mind-change-vp-debate/

It was a predictable clash between two solid professionals, who said what they came to say, and not one jot more.

Both evaded the awkward questions. Pence never explained how a second Trump term would handle pre-existing medical conditions and Harris never renounced a potential court-packing scheme. Neither answered questions about abortion beyond repeating their parties’ positions.

We did learn Harris admires Abraham Lincoln. Pence admires police and first-responders. The controversy surrounding these bold positions should die down over the next week or two.

Moderator Susan Page jumped over the low bar set by Chris Wallace, but she made two predictable errors. She asked some biased questions and stuck to a formulaic format that produces two parallel interviews. When a real debate threatened to break out, she stepped in to quash it. Voters were left exactly where they were when the night began.

Oh, yes, and children are our future. The final Q&A made clear. We can all rest a little easier after that was settled.