For
Mike Pence and Tim Kaine, whom most people outside of their home states had
probably never paid any attention to prior to this summer, are the running
mates.
THEY’RE
THE VICE presidential picks chosen by the presidential nominees to be the ones
who will be called upon to be the “Commander in Chief” of our country in the
event that our newly-elected president dies, or is otherwise incapacitated.
And unlike the presidential candidates who will have two more debate appearances scheduled between themselves, we only give the vice-presidential hopefuls one debate.
Heck,
for most of us, it will be the first we’ve ever really thought of either
official. Which means a gaffe by either man likely will live on forevermore.
Just like how most of us only think of James Stockdale (paired up with ’92 candidate
H. Ross Perot) as the guy screaming confusedly, “Who am I? Why am I here?
THIS
TIME AROUND, the would-be third party candidates weren’t strong enough in the polls
to warrant being included in the debates. So we won’t see a Libertarian or a
Green on Tuesday.
It’s
going to be the Kaine vs. Pence show.
Both
of them are going to try to make it appear as though Hillary Clinton and Donald
Trump are completely rational public officials, while their opponent is a
complete loon!
 |
| For those who wish GOP ticket were reversed |
Of
course, both men have some baggage that will make them susceptible to attack.
If anything, that may be the issue where Pence is already exposed to heat.
BECAUSE
HE’S THE Indiana governor who signed into law that measure meant to protect
religious freedoms, but was really nothing more than a law providing cover for
people to use religion as an excuse to harass people with whom they disagree.
By
now, Pence had better be used to dealing with questions about this issue. I’m
sure in his mind, he’s going to continue to stand up to criticisms just as he
has been for the past year. So maybe he has the advantage in that he ought to
be prepared.
Although
Pence’s stance does hurt him among those gay rights activists who were willing to
stand up for Trump publicly. It will be curious to see how much the mess of
Indiana politics from 2015 winds up dominating Tuesday night’s debate session.
Of
course, it’s not like Kaine doesn’t have his critics. He has made his own
stance on Capitol Hill when it comes to the Hyde Amendment – which is the law
used to justify cutting off any sort of federal funding that in any way would
benefit a woman’s ability to abort a pregnancy.
CLINTON
DOESN’T THINK much of that measure, but her pick of Kaine as a running mate is
part of what makes him a moderating force for those who think she’s too
liberal. Of course, others think she’s too conservative – and cite Kaine’s
choice as a running mate as evidence of her own political leanings.
It
will be interesting to see more liberal interests try to take off on Kaine to
try to hurt Hillary; particularly those who may still have hang-ups about the
fact that Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont didn’t get the Democratic presidential
nomination.
 |
| The debate location |
Then
again, it may be the more conservative interests who are in agreement with
Kaine who may bring the issue up – just to stir up discontent that they hope
winds up backing Trump’s chances of Election Day victory.
Because
in the end, voters will wind up casting their ballot based on their
presidential preference. Their next debate appearance is Sunday at Washington
University in St. Louis.
-30-
No comments:
Post a Comment