The Morning Dispatch: The Throwback Debate

Plus: More magical thinking on COVID at the White House.

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549

Happy Thursday! Two post-debate Dispatch Lives down, two post-debate Dispatch Lives to go. Thank you to the thousands of you who tuned in—if you missed it, you can catch the gang breaking down the Kamala Harris and Mike Pence showdown here. 

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

  • The United States confirmed 50,082 new cases of COVID-19 yesterday per the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 Dashboard, with 3.5 percent of the 1,430,249 tests reported coming back positive. An additional 901 deaths were attributed to the virus on Wednesday, bringing the pandemic’s American death toll to 211,753.

  • A three-judge panel in New York unanimously ruled on Wednesday that Manhattan district attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. can enforce a subpoena for Donald Trump’s personal and corporate tax returns, paving the way for another Supreme Court battle if the president appeals the decision.

  • Two men alleged to be members of an Islamic State cell known as “The Beatles” due to their British accents have arrived in the U.S. to face criminal charges for their involvement in the beheadings of American hostages in Syria. The two former UK citizens are being prosecuted with British help, under the condition that American prosecutors will not seek the death penalty.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Victor Clairmont

    Pence won the debate.

    Simple as that, even with all the classic walking around questions or not answering.

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  2. Caleb Bucshon

    I haven’t seen many people mention this, but the moderator’s question regarding Roe was bizarre and led nowhere. After acknowledging that the effect of overturning Roe would be to return the issue to the states, she went on to ask the candidates what they would want in their respective home states. How is that relevant at all? They are running at the top of the ticket not for state office. It wouldn’t be their business. Ask dumb questions and you get dumb or evasive answers, which happened repeatedly throughout the night.

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    Angie

    I remember I didn't watch it...I have not generally watched debates and only since this cycle have I done so...and even though I think he is a decent guy. I don't always remember what Tim Kaine's name is..I didn't watch last nights and just read all the pundits, journalists, experts, and intellectual leaders stuff to find out what happened

    The fun that happened with the fly on Twitter was good though...last I looked Mike Pence's fly has over 87,000 followers already...lol...( he is actually the comms director for The Lincoln Project)

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  4. Bill Bregar

    Re: debate between Mike Pence and Tim Caine. Who is Tim Caine?

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    1. Jess

      “I am told that if you are a member of the female portion of our species that Pence came off like an absolute jerk.“
      I would say that this has a lot to do with your first point. Trump is a jerk, especially to women. It’s awfully hard to separate Pence from Trump, especially since Pence talks as if Trump is the Chosen One. I think I would find Pence reasonable and fairly respectful in another context, free from Trump’s dark shadow.

      I did appreciate that Pence acknowledged the “historic nature” of Kamala’s VP nomination. It must take some extra inner strength for a woman of color to get to this point and own it, after 244 years.

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        1. Avatar photo
          Jess

          I agree. Harris had to safely navigate between the Scylla and the Charybdis. As a prosecutor, the danger was more that she would seem aggressive, as you pointed out. But if she had gone too far to avoid being seen as "shrill" or "strident", she could have appeared too cautious and hesitant/weak (she sometimes got those criticisms during her primary run).

          I thought Pence won if we are grading the debate on verbal points scored, but this was about more than who "won" the argument or had the last word. It was about what percentage of Americans could picture Harris as their president. I've seen her criticized here at TD for being smirky and sloppy, and in conservative media for much worse. But, I think she cleared the presidential hurdle for a majority of Americans.

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    Ian Fillmore

    I don't think I even watched the Pence-Kaine debate. But I definitely remember the Biden-Ryan debate, FWIW.

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    Adam Bridge

    If the debates actually talked about real issues in some sort of thoughtful manner I'd watch them. But they don't. It's pre-planned sound bites all the way down. I just just don't watch them. I'll read up on them, maybe.

    I regret missing The Fly's moment of fame - 2:03?? Egad. Did it get stuck?

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  8. Scott N.

    Pence's kinda smug "in the unlikely event you win the election" comment was somewhere between hubris-without-foundation and really scary. It'd have been a reasonable statement for say, Bill Clinton, to have said in 1996, but it's more than a little problematic when Biden's up by nearly 10 even on conservative-tending polls.

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  9. Avatar photo
    Logical

    LIBERATE Michigan tweet was misinterpreted by me. I thought it was just "Ditch the Mask." The Trump thugs took it literally to plot an actual kidnapping of the Gov?

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    1. Midge

      https://www.vox.com/2020/10/8/21507895/michigan-governor-whitmer-kidnapping-militia

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      Bada Bing

      I wonder if Trump will pay their legal fees.

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      1. Avatar photo
        Logical

        We are officially in the cuckoos land. RNC will be picking up the checks for Rittenhouse and the Mitchigan thugs.

        Are there still any Trumpers left on this board? Love to hear what they have to say about arresting Obama, Biden, and HRC per Trump's direction.

        Behold conservatives, we are officially in the tin pot land. Thank you for your anti-abortion obsession.

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  10. Avatar photo
    JohnF

    All that I remember from the Kaine/Pence debate was two men simultaneously talking non-stop. I think I turned it off after half an hour.

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