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brooklynite

(93,879 posts)
Tue Sep 22, 2020, 06:43 PM Sep 2020

Kamala Harris Downplays Debate Skills as Buttigieg Stands In for Pence

Source: Bloomberg

Kamala Harris’s team is working to manage public expectations that her upcoming debate with Vice President Mike Pence will present her with an easy opponent, despite her withering attacks on Democratic rivals in earlier presidential primary debates.

As the Democratic vice-presidential nominee readies for the face-off on Oct. 7 in Salt Lake City, her team has cast former presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg to play Pence in mock debates, according to two people familiar with the preparations.

The debate would mark the highest profile moment for Harris and Pence of the final campaign stretch before the Nov. 3 election. While Harris has participated in multiple debates during the Democratic primary, neither she nor her Republican rival has taken part in a one-on-one debate in years.

Surrogates and allies of Harris are cautioning voters not to look for a knockout punch from Harris, even though she has developed a reputation as a strong debater on the campaign trail, backed by her experience as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and years as a prosecutor in California.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2020-09-22/harris-downplays-debate-skills-as-buttigieg-stands-in-for-pence

33 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Kamala Harris Downplays Debate Skills as Buttigieg Stands In for Pence (Original Post) brooklynite Sep 2020 OP
Who stood in for mother? sandensea Sep 2020 #1
!!!! BumRushDaShow Sep 2020 #2
Why, thank you. sandensea Sep 2020 #3
The suggestion was so deliciously spontaneous! BumRushDaShow Sep 2020 #4
Hah, we're thinking along the same lines - I was going to say Mother won't be happy with.... George II Sep 2020 #10
Lindsey Graham. He fits the bill to a T. He lies with the best of them. W/ a raging spitting rant usaf-vet Sep 2020 #23
got your work cut out for ya Pete sheilahi Sep 2020 #5
Pete B is a good debater, but a stand-in for Pence? TomCADem Sep 2020 #6
Both from Indiana, so Pete May have a sense for Pence. Lucky Luciano Sep 2020 #17
Yes. But the question is: Does Pence have any sense???... Illumination Sep 2020 #21
They're both gay men from Indiana AnnieBW Sep 2020 #19
Honest about being from Indiana? Polybius Sep 2020 #27
Yeah AnnieBW Sep 2020 #33
Seriously, you are saying Pence is gay obamanut2012 Sep 2020 #31
I am not using gay as an insult AnnieBW Sep 2020 #32
Harris is going to do great in the debate against Pence. PatrickforO Sep 2020 #7
But, can Pete Sierra89 Sep 2020 #12
You made me laugh. PatrickforO Sep 2020 #20
Good idea from 2 points Raven123 Sep 2020 #8
I'd bet Pete's understanding of issues helps fab pitfalls and vulnerabilities on the fly bucolic_frolic Sep 2020 #9
She should do well. But she has to expect the unexpected. All the lies told like they are the truth LiberalLovinLug Sep 2020 #11
Biden and Harris can't just be fact-checkers on stage. They have to make a case for themselves TeamPooka Sep 2020 #16
That is why I see this as a hurdle. LiberalLovinLug Sep 2020 #18
It will be a challege debating Pence or Trump because they're wacky! Here's some Pence Illumination Sep 2020 #26
I'm so glad Pete is a player in all of this, he has a great future, is well liked by all that I can monmouth4 Sep 2020 #13
I think it's an extra bonus that Pete is standing in for homophobe Pence. scarletwoman Sep 2020 #14
Hard to knock out a guy who lies so freely about EVERYTHING TeamPooka Sep 2020 #15
She has to say, you're lying again Mike and here's kacekwl Sep 2020 #22
This - every single time it is warranted, which will probably be every question asked of pence. NoMoreRepugs Sep 2020 #24
They could have saved Pete the trouble Harker Sep 2020 #25
Pete will make an excellent practice partner. nt BootinUp Sep 2020 #28
JFC. This is NOT a f'n sporting event. Face-off?? Knock-out punch??? Are the language and thought niyad Sep 2020 #29
Kamala has to be careful as Pence is a Midwestern white 'family man' radius777 Sep 2020 #30

George II

(67,782 posts)
10. Hah, we're thinking along the same lines - I was going to say Mother won't be happy with....
Tue Sep 22, 2020, 07:20 PM
Sep 2020

....Buttigieg standing in for Pence.

sheilahi

(277 posts)
5. got your work cut out for ya Pete
Tue Sep 22, 2020, 06:59 PM
Sep 2020

To make it more realistic Pete's gotta master that swooning at his master hangdog look.

TomCADem

(17,378 posts)
6. Pete B is a good debater, but a stand-in for Pence?
Tue Sep 22, 2020, 06:59 PM
Sep 2020

Those are two really different people with very different views on certain issues. I can see Pete copying the demeanor, but the Pence's casual homophobia and lies? Pence can be just a big of a liar as Trump, except that he does so without losing his temper.

AnnieBW

(10,350 posts)
33. Yeah
Fri Sep 25, 2020, 09:57 PM
Sep 2020

My Indianapolis-born husband claims that Mayor Pete passed the intelligence test, so he was allowed to leave Indiana. I don't know why he went back.

obamanut2012

(25,911 posts)
31. Seriously, you are saying Pence is gay
Wed Sep 23, 2020, 07:50 AM
Sep 2020

1. He is not gay
2. You are using being gay as an insult

Disgusting.

AnnieBW

(10,350 posts)
32. I am not using gay as an insult
Fri Sep 25, 2020, 09:55 PM
Sep 2020

And Pence is most likely a closeted gay man.

Pete Buttigieg made the same joke himself, or something similar.

PatrickforO

(14,516 posts)
7. Harris is going to do great in the debate against Pence.
Tue Sep 22, 2020, 07:07 PM
Sep 2020

But, depending on the bias of the moderation, it may not be a knockout punch. Good they are having her practice against Buttigieg. That is a very solid move, because he's smart and much more articulate than Pence.

PatrickforO

(14,516 posts)
20. You made me laugh.
Tue Sep 22, 2020, 09:14 PM
Sep 2020

I think if he tries to pull that, it will backfire on him. Harris is a pretty good debater.

Kamala for the people - that's her.

Raven123

(4,716 posts)
8. Good idea from 2 points
Tue Sep 22, 2020, 07:10 PM
Sep 2020

Pete is from Indiana. Has heard a lot of Pence and can answer questions like him without having to to much studying.
Pete generally answers questions at a measured pace, also like Pence

So, on style and substance Pete can come pretty darn close to Pence, and acclimate Harris in simulated debates.

bucolic_frolic

(42,679 posts)
9. I'd bet Pete's understanding of issues helps fab pitfalls and vulnerabilities on the fly
Tue Sep 22, 2020, 07:14 PM
Sep 2020

Sen Harris will have great debate prep. Pence will be bruised beyond recognition.

LiberalLovinLug

(14,154 posts)
11. She should do well. But she has to expect the unexpected. All the lies told like they are the truth
Tue Sep 22, 2020, 07:23 PM
Sep 2020

Its difficult in a formal debate, to have at the ready, source material that will know, and correct all the lies that will surely be used by Pence. Pence and the Trump team will use lies and turn it into a "he said, she said" for the public viewers. So that no one's minds will be changed. Pence (and Trump) simply lie unabashedly knowing that the only ones fretting about that sentimental thing called "truth" or "facts" are those that will never vote for them anyways. Those voters just want to own libs, and will lap up and believe, anything that does that.

So the Biden/Harris team must be prepared for that kind of debate.

Also it does matter what kind of questions will be asked. How many "gotcha" questions for Harris where she is forced to spend her time defending herself rather than putting pressure on her debate opponent.

LiberalLovinLug

(14,154 posts)
18. That is why I see this as a hurdle.
Tue Sep 22, 2020, 08:31 PM
Sep 2020

In order to "make a case" for Democrats, they my have to forego some of the fact checking. ESPECIALLY if they don't have all the facts and sources ready to go to be able to quickly retort and move on to their own platform.

If they are forced, because of time constraints and unpreparedness, to let slide all the lies, the public, especially the sometime-voters, will be left either confused about the real facts, or worse, believe the last thing they heard on it, Pence's fake talking point.

 

Illumination

(2,458 posts)
26. It will be a challege debating Pence or Trump because they're wacky! Here's some Pence
Tue Sep 22, 2020, 10:16 PM
Sep 2020

quotes:"I don't know that this is a resolved issue in science today". Pence in 2014 on whether climate change is man-made. Another one is: "If Democrats here in Washington would rather play political games & shut down the government than support our troops, defend our treasury & respect our values, then I say: shut it down". Pence about a 2011 budget deal he approved...

monmouth4

(9,664 posts)
13. I'm so glad Pete is a player in all of this, he has a great future, is well liked by all that I can
Tue Sep 22, 2020, 07:25 PM
Sep 2020

tell. I'm sure Joe will have a place for him in his administration.

niyad

(112,440 posts)
29. JFC. This is NOT a f'n sporting event. Face-off?? Knock-out punch??? Are the language and thought
Tue Sep 22, 2020, 10:55 PM
Sep 2020

processes of these writers so impoverished?? This election is too damned serious to be treated like some Las Vegas betting event. (And I wish they would stop saying "contenders". It is as if none of them ever heard the word "candidate".

radius777

(3,624 posts)
30. Kamala has to be careful as Pence is a Midwestern white 'family man'
Wed Sep 23, 2020, 06:04 AM
Sep 2020

and going at him too hard, with white (and male) fragility being what it is, could turn off swing voters in those states we need to win. I'm pretty sure Kamala's team is cognizant of this, just as Obama was against Mittens. We all wanted Obama to pound him, but being a black man he couldn't appear to 'disrespect' a white man. Yeah, it's sickening but this is the America that elected Trump because those Midwestern states bought into his white resentment politics and flipped red. As long as we have the shitty Electoral College these white states control the game.

Kamala simply needs to prosecute the case against Trump - forget about Pence - just take on the Trump admin and its failures.

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