Watching the debate last night, the thought that kept running through my mind was... why aren't we running Mike Pence at the top of the ticket? Seriously - calm, cool, collected... smart, knows how to communicate, knows when to attack, when to defend...
Truthfully, I think the debate was a draw. Tim Kaine didn't do himself any favors. For someone who we know nothing about, his debut was a disaster. He interrupted Pence 70+ times, which I found incredibly annoying and not professional.
Pence was articulate in explaining and defending the conservative vision for the United States. I wish the Republican Party would do this regularly, not allowing the media and the liberals/Democrats to take that vision and skew it for the public. I've said for a long time, that the GOP needs to buy commercial television time and explain what they stand for - otherwise, they let the Democrats define them.
The moderator seemed overwhelmed. Tim Kaine wouldn't shut up. She needed to shut him down and let them each have their two minutes then let them go at it without interruption. It's a tough job she had, but I don't think she was prepared for the sparring and arguments.
Pence was brave to bring up the abortion issue. I think though that the GOP needs to sort out their abortion position. Kaine made a good point about - don't you trust women to make their own medical decisions? Except that wasn't the point that Pence was making. Pence was talking about partial-birth abortions, basically infanticide.
A majority of Americans are pro-choice about abortion for the first trimester. After that, second and third term abortions don't have that support. The GOP needs to understand and focus on consolidating support against 2nd and 3rd trimester abortions, rather that attacking all abortions. Adoption needs to be a viable alternative as well as support for women who would like to keep their babies but are unable to for financial reasons.
It's all nice and good that Democrats frame the abortion issue as a "feminist" issue. Really, this is the only real "feminist" issue out there that Democrats really care about. My body, my choice. That's garbage. It may be your body, but you made a choice and got pregnant. It then becomes an issue of rights. The woman's right and the baby's right. At some point, that pregnancy becomes a real person. At only 5 weeks, there is a heartbeat. That's not life?
A Canadian journalist Barbara Kay, made an excellent point a few months ago in an article I came across. She said that since doctors are able to save babies earlier and earlier in a pregnancy, (the earliest I've found was a baby born at 21 wks. 5 days), Kay asks, when medically they are able to save babies earlier in a pregnancy - and you're still allowed to legally abort them - when are we going to realize that there's a problem? It's obviously not just a bunch of cells that don't matter anymore - it never was... but science and medicine have come a long way since Roe v. Wade in 1973. It's foolish of us to hang onto science that has long been disproven just because it fits a "feminist" ideology that is tied to it. Liberals poke fun at conservatives for not believing in science - I think it would be quite fair to call the kettle black and make the point that science no longer supports Roe v. Wade.
Putting abortion aside, it's too bad Pence didn't bring up Kaine's Islamists connections.
I guess we will see what Round 2 of Trump v. Clinton brings us Sunday night.
**To be clear, there will always be extenuating circumstances regarding abortion. I would never say that a woman could never have an abortion. Life of the mother is paramount and I'm sure we could find other circumstances to have agreement on as well.
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