The Morning Briefing: Veep Debate Was a Painfully Boring Overcorrection

Debate Fatigue Is Setting In

Happy Thursday, dear Kruiser Morning Briefing fans. Is it happy hour yet?

So much for what I wrote yesterday about the 2020 vice-presidential debate being one to actually look forward to. You’d think after 2016 I would have learned to stop making any predictions about politics. It’s a good thing I’m not a gambler, I’d be eating dry ramen for every meal.

Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris squared off in the only vice-presidential debate this election. We knew it was 2020 because the stage featured some COVID kabuki theater choreography. There were some ridiculous plexiglass screens that were there, more to heighten the COVID panic porn and aid the Democrats than to keep the virus away.

I really hoped that there might be some fireworks but it was an evening full of duds for the most part.

Tyler wrote a recap last night, and his take was a lot more optimistic than mine:

Vice President Mike Pence dissected each of the arguments for Democratic nominee Joe Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, during the vice-presidential debate. Pence schooled Harris on issues ranging from the coronavirus pandemic to packing the Supreme Court to the Green New Deal and from China to the riots to the false “white supremacy” attacks on Trump.

Moderator Susan Page from USA Today was the same as all of the moderators for these debates are — biased and awful. Every question was framed in terms of a Democratic talking point. Pence should have spent the night chiding her for that and rejecting her premises but he was, as always, a bit too polite.

About three sentences into her first response, Harris barfed up the canard about Trump calling the virus a “hoax.” Pence let it go, which I found very disappointing. Biden and Harris keep repeating thoroughly debunked media lies about the president and it’s imperative that they not be allowed to get away with it. Pence should have pounced on that as soon as he had the chance, then gotten to his response to the question. Instead, he went into full automaton mode and hit the talking points right away.

Harris was a little more subdued than she usually is, which didn’t make her any less annoying. Her Botox sneer was a constant distraction, as were her frequent obfuscations and unchallenged lies.

Harris is an undeservedly condescending shrew. Of course, if one points that out one is racist, sexist, or both. At one point during a discussion about the Supreme Court vacancy, Harris put on her painfully fake smile and began to lecture Pence with a story about Abraham Lincoln. There was just one problem: she was utterly full of crap.

The debate was also just plain boring. It was as if they were all trying to make up for how out of control the first contest between President Trump and Grandpa Gropes was. As I said in today’s headline, it was an overcorrection. It’s not that I expected Pence to get all worked up, but I mentioned yesterday that I hoped he might be able to get Harris to lose it a little. There were only the sneers.

So, lesson learned: I will never get excited about a vice-presidential debate again. Not that I think there will be anything resembling a free election in America again if the Harris-Biden ticket wins.

At least there won’t be any more debates.

Cool

The wealth of the world's billionaires soared to a record new high of $10.2 trillion at the end of July as the coronavirus pandemic raged, according to a new report. https://t.co/jF86yUwIEd

— ABC News (@ABC) October 8, 2020

Mea Culpa

During yesterday’s VIP Gold Live chat with my colleagues Stephen Green and Bryan Preston, I confused the moderator for last night’s VP debate with the moderator for the next presidential debate. EVERYTHING IS A BLUR NOW. Carry on.

Can’t. Be. Unseen.

There’s a lot happening here and, frankly, I’m not comfortable with any of it. pic.twitter.com/UAjlNGylwe

— Super 70s Sports (@Super70sSports) October 8, 2020

Bee Me

Biden Confused By Woman Of Color On TV Who Isn’t Stocking Grocery Shelves https://t.co/tULPfczCPe

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) October 8, 2020

The Kruiser Kabana

pic.twitter.com/tkH5jjFqiG

— Archillect (@archillect) October 7, 2020

I’ll be drunk and making dreamcatchers at the bottom of an abandoned mine shaft if anyone needs me.

___

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PJ Media Senior Columnist and Associate Editor Stephen Kruiser is the author of “Don’t Let the Hippies Shower” and “Straight Outta Feelings: Political Zen in the Age of Outrage,” both of which address serious subjects in a humorous way. Monday through Friday he edits PJ Media’s “Morning Briefing.” His columns appear twice a week.