October 8, 2020
Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris squared off in Salt Lake City, Utah on Wednesday night. As expected, it was a dull trudge through an hour and a half of predictable questions and answers from the two candidates for Vice President. At one point a house fly landed on Pence’s hair and stayed put for a couple of minutes. That was the highlight. As for substance, there were no surprises from either runner.
Regarding style, Pence was considerably more refined in his rude interrupting and running past his allotted time than his running mate Trump had been in the Biden debate. But the rudeness and entitlement still came through loud and clear: he was going to talk as long as he wanted and then interrupt Harris when she finally got her turn. The moderator, Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page of USA Today, was unable to restrain him and he probably gave himself points for that.
For her part Harris had a good night, striking a delicate balance between displaying an almost maternal patience for Pence’s childish antics and restraining herself from crossing the stage and socking him one. When it was over the cable pundits led off, like the Gazette, with the fly anecdote. Female commentators zeroed in on the mansplaining affect that Pence did nothing to tone down. Harris was criticized by conservative pundits for not answering yes or no to a fracking ban because that’s top of mind in a country where the President is bouncing off the White House walls in a drugged out Covid-19 delirium. If you missed this debate you didn’t miss anything.