Pence Trumps Kaine in VP Debate

Pence Trumps Kaine in VP Debate

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

October 5, 2016

Indiana Republican Governor Mike Pence did both himself and fellow Hoosiers proud during last night’s vice presidential debate in trumping Democrat opponent Virginia Senator Tim Kaine.

Had it been a boxing match it would have been stopped in the fifth round as Kaine was flailing wildly, swinging and missing with insults, barbs, canned one-liners, and often deviating off topic. Pence remained calm, even-tempered, mostly on point, with stinging rebukes and well-placed jabs in a battle that clearly had him pitted against two opponents – Kaine, as well as the overtly biased moderator Elaine Quijano, a digital news anchor with CBSN, who maintained little control over the debate.

Governor Pence did such an exemplary job, two schools of thought emerged from the results of the debate: why isn’t Pence at the top of the GOP ticket, and this is what Trump needs to do during the next two debates if he has any hope of winning the presidency. Pence demonstrated why a vice presidential debate is important – his poise and cool-headed knowledgeable responses ought to assuage voters that Trump wisely chose a running mate capable of rising to the top should the need require. Trump needs to emulate Pence and take the high road while dodging the slings and arrows destined to be heading his way during both debates as well as on the campaign trail.

Kaine, conversely, demonstrated yet another reason why Hillary Clinton must not be elected president with his petulant behavior interrupting Pence more than 70 times, not to mention the myriad interruptions of Quijano. Kaine referred to the Trump campaign as the campaign of insults. Hello? Pot? Kettle? Who’s black? This coming from the Clinton nominee for vice president? The same Clinton who called half of Trump’s supporters residents of “a basket of deplorables.” And for good measure, Clinton called Trump supporters “irredeemable.” That’s the tip of the insult iceberg when considering the constant insulting of the American people by Clinton as a “congenital liar,” to borrow from the late New York Times columnist William Safire, who called Clinton that as far back as 1996. Safire certainly knew.

Returning to the irascible Kaine, he was as hypocritical as he was obnoxious. While purportedly pro-life in his private life, Kaine supports the party line as pro-choice on abortion, and supportive of Clinton who has yet to reject the barbaric partial-birth abortion procedure. Pence remains a man of faith and principle as fervently pro-life in his private life and as a candidate.

In addition to protecting the unborn, Pence, along with Trump, reject the open borders, amnesty, catch and release, and sanctuary cities policies pertaining to illegal aliens as is vigorously supported by Clinton and Kaine. The GOP ticket, as Pence effectively stated, is looking out for American citizens and legal residents of the United States regarding both immigration as well as terrorism. At the very least Pence and Trump are able to identify the enemy by name – radical Islam – words the Clinton-Kaine ticket are apparently unable to utter – following the same path Barack Obama has fecklessly taken lo these past seven and one half years.

As a former Virginian and current Hoosier, I voted against Kaine in 2005, and for Pence in 2012, both winning governorships. Having had several conversations with Pence, he is not only a man of faith and humility, but a believer in the greatness of America now and its ability to continue achieving greatness in the future. This he demonstrated in his debate victory over Kaine. Indiana Governor Mike Pence will prove to be a solid anchor supporting Trump as well as guiding him as needed which should give voters greater confidence to vote for the GOP ticket in five weeks.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.