Wow! I got it. Does this apply to all the name calling of Trump? Please elaborate.
After all, all he’s doing is “provoking” … with concern!
If you want to judge Pence’s debating chops for yourself here is the 2012 one. Can’t say I watched the whole thing but scrolling through he seemed like a reasonable debater,not awful at all.
In particular look from 40:58 on for him landing a pretty effective blow.
At minimum, the VP pick is important because it indicates the kinds of people who are likely to populate the administration.
Trump, whether he really wanted to or not, ultimately selected a right wing religious fundamentalist. A kinder, gentler version of Ted Cruz and Sam Brownback. We can probably expect more of the same, as well as some ultra-nationalists in the Pentagon. For the holdouts in the Bernie Sanders camp I hope that realization eventually dawns upon them.
By contrast, Hillary Clinton made it clear what kinds of people she’s going to put into place. She’s going to have a competent administration. She’s going to have an administration that will have decision makers with backbone. She’s going to have an administration that is inclusive and one that respects not only the ethnic but also the political diversity in this country, and we need both.
Beyond these pluses, I think one of the reasons why Kaine got the nod is that he’s scandal-free. He may be someone who can help Hillary move past the issue of her emails and other manufactured controversies.
Donald Trump thinks gifts that Kaine received as governor of Virginia should be an issue against him. Too bad the Washington Post has an article today about Pence using campaign contributions to pay his mortgage and car payments during an earlier failed election.
By the way, 'tis true that Kaine is not a play to win over Wall Street critics.
I liked this bit from the NYT article on him -
Trump is casting America in doom and gloom, a place where we all need to be afraid of each other, a country that is not very great.
Kaine is part of Clinton messaging the contrasting perspective that this country actually is pretty damn great and that working together we can make it even better, that together we can roll up our sleeves and continue to work on fixing the problems we have. For all of us.
I’ll bet Mike Pence can’t play the harmonica.
He’s gonna help with the South and with the Hispanic vote. Not to mention moderates.
Anyone who thinks Clinton is more in the pay of the Rich bankers than Trump is a Lost Cause anyway.:rolleyes:
He got started as a radio talk show host. Those guys are experts at sounding like they know what they’re talking about, even when they pull “facts” out of their ass, and that will be good enough to fool the majority of the electorate.
Thanks; just got done watching it.
IMO he hit every note and he hit them all out of the park (how’s that for a mixed metaphor?). This was an astounding VP announcement speech.
Like many (and like he acknowledged), I had never heard of him before this election cycle AFAICR. He presents himself well. He comes across as very approachable, friendly and upbeat. I think he will be an incredible asset to her campaign, to the point that I think he will bring in votes that otherwise would have gone to Trump-Pence.
And I think it says a lot about Mrs. Clinton that she picked him, all of it good.
Or Trump wins, and they’ll get NEGATIVE % i.e. reversion of things they already have and passage of things they really, really don’t want.
Kaine is good as a VP choice, he puts forward the “sane competence” card in play. Plus let’s face it, even if Hillary is Mrs. Establishment, well, she’s Mrs. Establishment so for a lot of people that’s already plenty “different” on the ticket.
VP debates are not decisive and even so I don’t foresee a wipeout, Pence is no Palin and if he and the campaign get what’s his job and message squared away, he has plenty of experience confidently and authoritatively stating the righteousness of something that’s wrong.
I like Kaine more and more. He’s smart, calm, funny, can give a good speech, and has a proven record in Virginia and in the U.S. Senate. His Catholic/former missionary background and Spanish fluency will definitely be assets to the ticket, and he’s ready to become President if, God forbid, anything were to happen to Hillary. I think he’ll compare very favorably to Pence in their debate this fall.
No, as I’ve mentioned in another thread, the ones for whom this is an issue are already deluding themselves that oh, no, Trump won’t be able to do much damage at all, just bluster, and the adults will stop him from doing anything seriously bad, whereas Hillary would actually get stuff done that screw over my beliefs, so obviously Trump is better.
Which makes me wonder: How many Bernie Or Busters voted in 2008 and 2012? For whom, if they did at all? That might shed interesting light on their “but you neeeeeeed us!” insistence.
And the friend on Facebook I mentioned who plunged into despair with the VP pick? Completely different tune after that speech. If he’s any indication,t his will reassure those Clinton needs to GOTV.
Yes, that will be an interesting evening–in contrast to any Clinton v. Trump “debates” that may take place. Those will be nothing but frustrating and infuriating, given that Trump can’t/won’t discuss actual issues.
Wow. Just that one speech from Tim Kaine has brought me out of the Trump-funk I’ve been feeling since the saddest looking RNC is history. Boring, my ass. He’s determined.
I have my doubts about how much simply being able to speak Spanish will actually attract Hispanics. When Dukakis and Dubya tried it, it simply came off like pandering. Even the assertion that it *should *matter to that voting bloc seems a bit condescending to me. ISTM you get those votes by earning them, paying attention to what they say matters to them (even if you need a translator; they’ll forgive that easily) and then going out and doing something that helps them. They’re just people too, and very often are people who have put up with an extra amount of shit along the way and are wary of any vague promises they hear.
I do expect Kaine to help with Hispanics, but because of the ticket’s policies and achievements they can point to that help Hispanics, not because either of them passed Spanish II in high school.
You did hear the bit about how he learned Spanish, right?
When I first heard Kaine’s name I was skeptical, mainly through my own fault because I confused him with Jim Webb. But the more I hear the more I like. Spending years representing those being discriminated against in housing, being a missionary, mayor, governor, Senator… central casting couldn’t have done it better. The rollouts for each veep are telling- Trump talked about Trump and got off the stage pronto. Trump not letting Pence get a word in edgewise on 60 Minutes. Trump leaking that he wanted to change his mind. Now you’ve got Clinton and Kaine who are on the same page and seem to genuinely like each other. So I’m all set- Clinton in '16 and '20, Kaine in '24 and '28, maybe Castro in '32 and '36.
Yeah, he seems to be getting an A+ from liberal Democrats on this speech. If he does nothing else but reignite positive enthusiasm for the campaign, that alone makes the pick hugely worthwhile.