Age of the Geek

By: 
Travis Fischer

Vice Vices
     This year's Presidential election race has introduced a lot of interesting characters to the political scene, but up until last week there have been a couple of conspicuous absences. Senator Tim Kaine and Governor Mike Pence have spent the bulk of this campaign standing in the shadows of their running mates, all but absent from the campaign trail.
     It's an odd shift from previous years. Joe Biden continuously made his presence known as Barack Obama's right hand in 2008 and 2012. Paul Ryan was a high profile GOP congressman before he campaigned with Mitt Romney and as Speaker of the House is now closer to the presidency than Romney ever got. And Sarah Palin, one could argue, all but overshadowed John McCain after he pulled her from obscurity.
     Yet last week's debate was the first time for many to be exposed to the two men looking to be the vice-president this time around.
     As far as introductions go, Kaine could have done better and Pence could have done worse.
     If you were keeping score at home, Kaine was factually correct more often than not, and in general offered greater detail on the policies of his running mate. But these traits were overshadowed by his frequent interruptions and aggressive tendency to redirect any particular topic at hand towards Donald Trump's many flaws.
     From a pure optics standpoint, it's clear that Pence came out looking the better of the two.
     Pence interrupted less frequently and spoke with far more composure and grace than his opponent. His background as a radio host served him well as he offered a calm and polished alternative to Kaine's manic performance. Particularly since Pence was operating under a handicap. While Kaine had Clinton's extensive expertise to draw from, Pence had the near impossible task of extrapolating a coherent policy out of Trump's inflammatory and often contradictory statements. Instead of offering a clear and concise answer, Pence relied on his skills as an orator to filibuster his way out of tough questions with meaningless platitudes.
     Well, that and the utter denial of objective reality.
     Both men cherry picked facts to their liking, as is expected of politicians, but Pence's gift for poise make even the most outlandish statements seem reasonable and he pushed that gift as far as it would take him.
     But there was one assertion from Pence that no amount of smooth talking could make believable. That was the notion that it was Hillary Clinton, not Donald Trump, running the "insult driven campaign" in this race.
     Pence said it with such authority that I'm not sure he's met his own running mate. This is, after all, a man who made giving his opponents derogatory nicknames a cornerstone of his campaign. Personal attacks aren't simply a reality of the Trump campaign. They're an ever present component. In fact, if Pence had access to his phone during the debate, he would have seen Trump tweeting out insults live.
     As for attack ads, it is true that the Clinton campaign has put out some devastating material. I'm not entirely sure you can call them "attacks" or "insults" though. Yes, there are insults present in the ads, but that's because the Clinton campaign has taken the strategy of compiling the terrible things Trump says on a regular basis and presents them verbatim.
     If judging purely on the basis of being likable and convincing voters to be okay with having you a heartbeat away from the presidency, there's no doubt Kaine lost. However, that didn't appear to be his primary goal. Instead, Kaine's objective seemed to be to put Pence on the defensive as often as possible. Within twelve hours, the Clinton campaign released another "attack ad" composed of Pence denying that Donald Trump has said terrible things, immediately followed by the video proof.
     I can't say I approve of such a strategy. I would have liked to see what these two had to say about themselves, rather than each other's running mates. That said, it will probably be effective. By the time this column sees print, we'll already be back to focusing on the main candidates. Few will remember Kaine's hyperactive debate performance, but the clip of Pence denying that Donald Trump didn't know Russia had invaded the Ukraine will go on forever.
     Travis Fischer is a news writer for Mid-America Publishing and still wishes Hillary would have picked Bernie Sanders as VP.

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