It seems weird to me for Vance to be the one announcing it. Trump had recently claimed the existence of a debate agreement that has not happened.
I’m surprised Vance seems eager. He should have been dreading this. Unless Vance is convinced that Trump is, in fact, behind in the polls.
Generally, only the losing side stands to benefit from a debate; it’s their chance to claw out of their hole. Sure, they could dig deeper too but at that point it’s a Hail Mary.
I’m not, thanks to the magic that is the Dunning-Kruger effect.
Whenever you are sent from your home base to somewhere else, you are deployed. Even if it’s in peacetime. I was deployed seven times or so, only one of which was to a combat zone.
He wants to appear to seem eager. That doesn’t mean he’s eager.
And that’s the tack Walz should take. “Mr Vance served in the military honorably and I’m not going to cheapen his or any soldier’s service by taking cheap shots at it. I salute and thank him for that. Now if he really wants to talk about somebody who has cheapened and denigrated the sacrifices of our armed service members, I’m more than happy to talk about Mr. Trump’s very convenient bone spurs.”
“Trump fully agreed with my handling of it and also said I’m an excellent guy”.
Walz did exactly that in a video I saw of one of his appearances: asked about what Vance had accused him of, he replied something pretty close to “I have just this to say to Mr. Vance – Thank you for your service,” and went on to something else.
In the words of Flounder from Animal House “oh boy, this is gonna be great.”
An excellent comeback for him. I’m betting he’s been underestimated a lot in his life, since he looks like your favorite uncle. But that folksy smile hides a shrewd politician.
So, have the campaigns actually come to terms on a debate, or is this just Vance pulling the same “I agree!” shenanigan that his boss attempted?
I think this one is legit.
Ohio Sen. JD Vance agreed to debate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Oct. 1 on CBS, locking in a match-up between the Republican and Democratic nominees for vice president.
On Wednesday, Walz had publicly agreed to the October debate in CBS’s New York City studios. “CBS Evening News” anchor Norah O’Donnell and “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan will moderate the forum.
Source:
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/08/15/vance-walz-debate-00174160
Never mind
People often can’t tell when I am being sarcastic. There should be a separate font. Comic Plus?
Most people get by with just a [/s] at the end.
That’s the trouble with a text only format. I’ve had to start adding a [/s] tag, becuase people took my (obvious to me - and only me) sarcastic comments seriously.
Vance has so far been an unmitigated disaster for Trump but I’d still be careful about dismissing him. He was smart enough to get into a good college, he well educated, and articulate enough to write a book that did very well. He has said all kinds of stupid shit trying to earn the bullies’ acceptance but it would be a mistake to believe he is just a fool.
Walz needs to be prepared. Yes call Vance out on crap he has said. But most of all be very well prepared with pithy but not mean responses to likely lines of attack. (Stolen valor? “I’ve never claimed any valor. There are many heroes and unlike Mr. Trump I respect and admire them, but like you I never saw combat. Like you I have experienced the value of serving in my own capacity for over two decades. Unlike some who used their elite status to claim bone spurs…”)
But don’t presume Vance will be a clown.
I don’t think Vance should be so easily dismissed. He is hardly Trump’s first lickspittle and he has several things to his credit. I am not qualified to know if he will help win new voters to Trump’s cause. Time will tell. I am enjoying this newfound momentum and enthusiasm and hope it leads to victory. Complacency and overconfidence are not the answers.
Somebody here pointed out that he’s terrible, but broadly the same type of terrible as Trump. I think that’s a good observation.
It means he’s kind of a wash in terms of enthusiasm. Nobody’s going to say “I was undecided/unenthused until Vance came on and brought a new and different energy to the ticket.”
So that’s great because he’s not winning anybody over, less great because his unforced errors aren’t any more impactful than Trump’s ever-growing list of nonsense that his base already doesn’t care about.
And I think that absolutely means Vance can’t get discounted. Every point he scores against Walz is unanswerable, and it’s pretty unlikely that Walz will destroy any existing goodwill that voters feel towards Vance.
Walz’s main job here is defense and judo. It’s much more important that he comes out clean than that he comes out with a few choice insults against a man who’s already signaling his weird terribleness on every media platform.