The VP Debate
It's not often a vice presidential debate moves the needle much in a presidential election year. There have been a few notable moments in the understudy events, such as Lloyd Bentsen's zinger to Dan Quayle:
Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy.
But for the most part, these are strictly secondary events with little consequence. However, the October 1st debate between Republican Senator JD Vance and Democrat Governor Tim Walz was something different. This debate may make a difference in next month's election. Here's why.
Demeanor
In appearances, the differences between the candidates couldn't have been more stark. Granted we shouldn't judge people by appearance alone (after all, it's not like I'm all that handsome myself). But demeanor, that's a different thing, encompassing not just appearance but facial expressions and articulate speech. In these, Vance dominated; he was cool, confident, and whimsical at times - the little sideways glances into the camera with a slight smirk while Walz was speaking were priceless, and that's how you knew he was waiting to pounce. On the other hand, when Walz opened the debate he was clearly nervous; his brows perpetually raised, staring at the moderators and into the camera with wide-open hoptoad eyes, he presenting a picture of anything but confidence and command. He improved some after the break, but the damage was done. Walz didn't break out into a Nixonesque sweat, but he came off looking uncertain and nervous.
The Debate
Both candidates made some key points, but Walz's worst moment was when he was answering the question about his Tiananmen Square fiction; he tried to deflect the question and attempted a pivot, but this line destroyed it:
I'm a knucklehead at times, but it's always been about that.
A candidate for the second-highest office in the land referring to himself as a "knucklehead" is never a good look.
The worst part of the actual topical debates, as is too often the case, was the "moderators." One of the rules was that the moderators would not engage in fact-checking; that did not stop moderator Margaret Brennan from fact-checking JD Vance - but he handled it forcefully.
JDV: Margaret. The rules were that you guys weren't going to fact check, and since you're fact checking me, I think it's important to say what's actually going on. So there's an application called the CBP One app where you can go on as an illegal migrant, apply for asylum or apply for parole and be granted legal status at the wave of a Kamala Harris open border wand. That is not a person coming in, applying for a green card and waiting for ten years.
MB: Thank you, Senator.
JDV: That is the facilitation of illegal immigration, Margaret, by our own leadership. And Kamala Harris opened up that pathway.
But the best, most memorable line of the night came from JD Vance:
JDV: I asked a specific question, Governor. And you gave me a slogan as a response.
That, more than anything else that was said in this debate, or frankly, the previous two presidential debates, sums up the Harris/Walz campaign in a nutshell.
See Related: Focus Groups and Snap Polls About VP Debate Are Going to Make Dems Tear Their Hair Out
WATCH: Even CNN Thought Vance 'Carried It' on Main Issues, While Jennings Just Levels Walz
Personal Connections
JD Vance captured the emotional high ground with his reaction to Walz's son having witnessed a school shooting:
JDV: Tim, first of all, I didn't know that your 17 year old witnessed the shooting. And I'm sorry about that. And I hope --
TW: I appreciate that.
JDV: Christ, have mercy. It is awful.
It is awful, and JD Vance - as well as, frankly, Tim Walz - handled it very well, not as competing political figures, not as opponents, but as one father talking to another, for that brief moment, before the discussion resumed. Points to them both for that - but JD Vance initiated it and owns it.
Conclusions
JD Vance won this debate, clearly and unambiguously, without qualification or reservation. Watch for the next few days as Democrats, the legacy media, and the Harris campaign engage in damage control. Barring something last-minute, this will be the last debate of the election. JD Vance's performance dominated and largely wiped away much of the impressions of the more muddled Trump/Harris debate. Momentum in the polling was already moving gradually in favor of Trump/Vance; it will be roundly interesting to watch the polls for the next week or so.
If you weren't able to attend our live blog of the VP debate, you can review it here.
We're in the home stretch now, folks. Stay tuned.
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