Vance Shines, Walz Fumbles in Mostly Civil VP Debate

What was billed as an open mic brawl turned instead into a relatively respectful and thoughtful vice presidential debate on Tuesday night. However, Democrat Vice Presidential Candidate Tim Walz appeared to have opening jitters and misspoke at the outset when asked about the current situation between Iran and Israel. "Iran, er Israel's ability to be able to defend itself is absolutely fundamental," he said. 

Eventually, he got around to blaming the former president for the current mess in the Middle East. "Iran is closer to a nuclear weapon than they were before because of Donald Trump's fickle leadership." 

GOP Presidential Candidate JD Vance turned it around to the ones who are now in charge. "Governor Walz, you blamed Donald Trump," Vance began. "Who has been the vice president for the last three-and-a-half years? The answer is your running mate. Not mine... Iran, which launched this attack, has received over $100 billion in unfrozen assets thanks to the Kamala Harris administration." 

The vice presidential candidates tackled the number one issue on the minds of most Americans: the economy. 

Walz went retro, pointing to Donald Trump's record while he was president. "He gave the tax cuts that predominantly went to the top class," Walz said. "What happened? There was an $8 trillion increase in the national debt, the largest ever." 

Vance quickly responded with a comeback about how people are suffering today. "Honestly Tim, I think you have a tough job here because you've got to play whack a mole and pretend Donald Trump didn't deliver rising take home pay, which he did," Vance explained. "You've got to pretend Trump didn't deliver lower inflation, which of course he did, and simultaneously, you have to defend Kamala Harris's atrocious record." 

One of the more animated exchanges came on the abortion issue when Vance challenged Walz on a controversial bill he championed just last year. 

"The statute that you signed into law...It says that a doctor who presides over an abortion where a baby survives...Is under no obligation to provide life-saving care!" Vance said looking directly at Walz. 

"That's not true," Walz replied. 

"That's not what the law said," Vance simply replied. "That is fundamentally barbaric." 

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JD Vance was on his game all night long. As for Walz, he ran into trouble by misspeaking when asked about changing his position on gun control. He said he became "friends with school shooters." "I sat in that office with those Sandy Hook parents, I've become friends with school shooters," he said.

Walz also got called out for lying when he previously said he was in Hong Kong during the deadly Tiananmen Square protests back in 1989 when he wasn't. "I've not been perfect and I'm a knucklehead at times," Walz admitted. "Many times I will talk a lot. I will get caught up in the rhetoric." 

Towards the end of the debate, Tim Walz did try to end strong, bringing up the contested 2020 election in order to paint Trump and Vance as a threat to democracy. 

"He (Trump) is still saying he didn't lose the election," Walz said as he turned to Vance. "Did he lose the 2020 election?" 

Vance said, "Tim, "I'm focused on the future. Did Kamala Harris censor Americans from speaking their mind in the wake of the 2020 COVID situation?"

Walz looked at him and shot back, "That is damning. That is a damning non-answer." 

However, as for answers as to who might win this upcoming presidential election, tonight's VP Debate didn't seem to settle anything at all.  

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