The word came out today, ahead of the start of the Republican National Convention, that Donald Trump announced he would select junior Ohio Senator J.D. Vance to be his running mate. There was speculation swirling about who it could be up to the announcement, with nearly even odds tossed around. Vance may be considered a bit of a surprise pick, given his brief tenure as a Senator but he has shown in that time to be articulate and able to hold his ground with the press.

Articulate. Now there is something that the Biden campaign might have wanted to ruminate over a bit. I say this given the fact that immediately after the announcement went out Vance had been selected, and word was sent to the press that Vice President Kamala Harris had issued a “challenge” to the newly christened running mate that she was eager to sit down for a debate.

"The VP will take it to J.D. Vance," Biden campaign advisory board member and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said. "She is strong. She knows what she's talking about, and she doesn't give an inch."

[NOTE: Professionalism and decorum precludes commentary on that last phrase.]

It is rather obvious how this is simply posturing bluster from the administration side. Vance has not even been introduced at the convention, and here they are making it sound as if Kamala is being the forceful, cagey figure. “Pushes Vance for a debate”?! Really? 

A Vice Presidential debate is something rather standard in any general election, yet here is USA Today dutifully making it appear as if Kammy is being a force of nature. The report declares that Kamala pledged to a debate with CBS News months ago, yet the GOP side has, we are meant to assume, ducked the offer – “Trump’s campaign never committed.” 

To reiterate, Trump’s non-existent running mate did not commit to a debate in May, and to this point still has not committed…despite only being announced and not yet officially installed on the ticket yet.

With the Republican ticket locked in, Biden's campaign reissued the challenge and put the onus on Trump's campaign to agree. "The vice president is fully prepared to take him on," Biden campaign spokesman T.J. Ducklo said.

She is fully prepared to face the man she learned would be her opponent - hours earlier.

The real amusement is in the over-insistence seen from Democrat sycophants who are declaring Kammy will weave a loquacious web around Vance, leaving him tongue-tied and stammering as he is overwhelmed by her elocution.

Extremely excited to watch Kamala Harris run circles around JD Vance.

She has more experience, more vision, more empathy, and more integrity in her little finger than he has or could ever have.

— Sally Kohn (@sallykohn) July 15, 2024

This is a joke, right? Vance graduated college in two years and went on to be editor of The Yale Law Review. Oh, and he was a best-selling author, whose “Hillbilly Elegy” was both a best-seller and made into a motion picture. I’d say J.D. has a better grasp on the talent of verbal communication than the woman known for salad-spinning aphorisms such as these:

• "We invested an additional $12 billion into community banks, because we know community banks are in the community, and understand the needs and desires of that community as well as the talent and capacity of community." 

• "We also recognize just as it has been in the United States, for Jamaica, one of the issues that has been presented as an issue that is economic in the way of its impact has been the pandemic." 

• "So right now we know we still have a number of people that, that is in the millions of Americans who have not been vaccinated, and could be vaccinated, and we are urging them to get vaccinated because it will save their life."

And, of course, there is the Harris classic:

• It’s time for us to do what we have been doing, and that time is every day."

Kamala Harris waiting for the debate is like a kid eyeing a candy store

— Jen "I dissent " Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) July 15, 2024

Um, Jenny? Do you really think resorting to a tired cliche that renders Harris into being a child is the way to go? I mean, points for accuracy - given Kamala is basically someone in need of an adult to provide craved items - but is this impressing anyone?

Who else can’t wait to see Kamala Harris SHRED JD Vance in a debate? pic.twitter.com/evMP6UTijp

— Jack Cocchiarella (@JDCocchiarella) July 15, 2024

(In Kamala’s voice:)

“Shredding is something people do to a variety of items they wish to be shredded. One thing people shred is paper that is not wanted. People also shred mountain slopes. And wheat!”

Just to get a sense of the verbal fireworks one may expect from Harris, take a look back at her last debate and you realize her magnificence with this reality: The only thing anyone recalls from that debate was the fly landing on Mike Pence’s head.

Reviewing the tapes. Fly appears on Mike Pence's head at 10:17:08 and doesn't leave until 10:19:10. MORE THAN TWO MINUTES! Here is the precise moment, Zaprudized, when the fly makes lift off and leaves the debate. pic.twitter.com/OSfSjjBlfX

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) October 8, 2020