Kamala Harris Downplays Debate Skills as Buttigieg Stands In for Pence
Source: Bloomberg
Kamala Harriss 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
sandensea
(21,530 posts)Kathy Bates?
BumRushDaShow
(127,330 posts)DUzy!
sandensea
(21,530 posts)The resemblance is undeniable - to some of Bates' more sinister characters.
BumRushDaShow
(127,330 posts)George II
(67,782 posts)....Buttigieg standing in for Pence.
usaf-vet
(6,094 posts)sheilahi
(277 posts)To make it more realistic Pete's gotta master that swooning at his master hangdog look.
TomCADem
(17,378 posts)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.
Lucky Luciano
(11,242 posts)Illumination
(2,458 posts)AnnieBW
(10,350 posts)Only one is honest about it.
Polybius
(15,239 posts)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)1. He is not gay
2. You are using being gay as an insult
Disgusting.
AnnieBW
(10,350 posts)And Pence is most likely a closeted gay man.
Pete Buttigieg made the same joke himself, or something similar.
PatrickforO
(14,516 posts)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.
Sierra89
(127 posts)Chuckle like Santa Claus? Seems to be Pence's go-to when he wants to avoid an issue.
PatrickforO
(14,516 posts)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)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)Sen Harris will have great debate prep. Pence will be bruised beyond recognition.
LiberalLovinLug
(14,154 posts)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.
TeamPooka
(24,156 posts)LiberalLovinLug
(14,154 posts)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)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)tell. I'm sure Joe will have a place for him in his administration.
scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)TeamPooka
(24,156 posts)pence has learned a lot from trump.
kacekwl
(6,994 posts)the facts.
NoMoreRepugs
(9,260 posts)Harker
(13,880 posts)and subbed in any large houseplant.
BootinUp
(46,928 posts)niyad
(112,440 posts)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)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.