The Harris-Pence Debate

I wish candidates would answer the questions.

The vice-presidential debate reminded me of moderating candidate fora where candidates take any question as an invitation to cover the next few talking points.

The first question to Mike Pence was why the U.S., with advanced medical learning and technology has seen so vastly more COVID-19 cases and deaths than other nations? It ain’t close. We’re 4% of the world’s population and have suffered more than 20% of the world’s COVID-19 cases. Some folks blame governmental incompetence.

I think other factors contribute. For example, our junk-food-driven obesity epidemic. But with many citizens listening to a leader who mocks disease and doctors, spurns masks, lies, and thinks he knows more than the experts on any subject, . . . well, you do the math.

Of course Pence didn’t attempt to answer. Not even the red herrings of “We count better,” or “The doctors call everything COVID-19 to sabotage Trump.” Pence just made a bunch of false statements about Trump leading the biggest mobilization since World War II.

Harris should have noted the widespread conclusion that there was mismanagement and Pence’s failure to offer any alternative explanation, and yielded him 20 seconds of her time to explain why we’ve suffered so much worse than other nations. The moderator should have told Pence, “Gee, perhaps I didn’t word my question clearly: with all our advantages, we’ve suffered way worse than almost anyone else. Democrats blame Mr. Trump. What is your explanation?”

Both Harris and Pence declined to answer the good question, “Given your presidential candidate’s age, have you conferred with the head of the ticket about what should be done if he’s incapacitated? If not, should you?” Good question, but one I’m guessing the debate-prep teams might have missed.

Of course, this debate was much more civil and watchable than the first presidential debate. (What wouldn’t be?) But uttering ridiculously false statements in reasonable tones doesn’t move them into the same zip code as the truth.

Pence said many things that contradict the available evidence. About the pandemic and about Trump’s disregard for military people. He said, “We’ll follow the science” on global warming. He reiterated the claim Trump has some magical health care plan. When a fly landed, and lingered on Pence’s white hair, the Internet lit up with suggestions that some of Pence’s answers smelled like a substance flies are known to favor.

Harris exaggerated some, and substituted some stories from her life for actual answers, but didn’t seem as prone to flat misstatements; and she too evaded questions. One tough question the Democratic candidates understandably duck is their position on possible court-packing or other measures if Trump successfully adds yet another far right Justice. Tough question. The answer either becomes an instant headline (“BIDEN WON’T RULE OUT COURT-PACKING” ) or seems a broken promise if the court is later “packed.” But I’d sure try to fashion a more presentable way of waffling.

I think Harris reassured skeptics that she is not wild or weird, but well-spoken and calm and thoughtful. That was her task, as the first lady of color on a national ticket. Pence came off as far more reasonable and articulate than Mr. Trump, although some women critics accused him of “man-spaining.”

Polls showed a majority thought Harris won, perhaps because a similar majority already preferred her ticket. Probably the whole thing will matter little more than the fly.

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[The above column appeared this morning, Sunday, 11 October 2020, in the Las Cruces Sun-News, as well as on the newspaper’s website and KRWG’s website. A spoken version will air during the week on KRWG and KTAL (www.lccommunityradio.org), and will be available on demand at KRWG’s site.]

[Law students love the old Latin phrase, “Res Ipsa Loquitur.” “The thing speaks for itself.” Here, that’d mean that governmental incompetence must be the explanation of our country’s higher death rate. Add to that the many known and alleged ways that Mr. Trump has (or allegedly has) screwed this thing up.

However, journalists and lawyers try to consider all possible explanations for anything. It certainly seems that our obesity epidemic could be a factor. I’ve wondered if our medical ability to keep folks alive for a very long time could be a factor, but other countries have longer life expectancies but lower COVID-19 death rates. So I’d really be interested in ANYONE’s explanation of why we’re being hit so bad, if it’s not negligent leadership. And the fact that Democratic-led states, on the whole are doing better than Republican-led states tends to support (but doesn’t prove!) the incompetence theory. ]

[Being a moderator is frustrating, particularly when the pandemic precautions mean Walt and I are talking to candidates over the phone. We don’t tend to give people set time limits; and, because facial expressions don’t cut it, and we can’t indicate with a facial expression or nod that “yeah, we got it, wind that answer up, please,” I end up interrupting, often after minutes of battling with myself. Some mornings I hate all political candidates – particularly the ones I like. ]

[By the way, vote! I’ll vote this week. I had ordered an absentee ballot, but likely will hand-carry it to the polls. By the way, if you have ordered an absentee ballot, but want to vote in person because of concern that the absentee ballot could get lost in the mail or be disqualified for some technical reason, you’ll save a hassle by taking it in with you. My understanding is that if you don’t, you can still vote, but yours will be a provisional vote, counted only at the end once they know your absentee ballot never came in. That’s fine, and your vote will be counted, but it takes a little extra time. ]