By Aidan Bassett
Pro Procrastinator
1) MSNBC kicks off the hour with commentators saying Trump can’t earn a gentleman’s C even when being graded on a curve. Love it.
2) To conserve characters this evening, Governor Pence will be abbreviated “P” and Senator Kaine will be “K”. The moderator, Quijano, will be EQ.
3) EQ already shaping up to appear more competent than Mr. Holt. Sorry, Lester.
4) Not surprised that CBS would outperform NBC, but I hesitate to speak too soon.
5) Nice inverted tie colors, gentlemen.
6) It’d be nice if the focus tonight were actually on the gentlemen in the room. We’ll see.
7) Classic K, not bothering to actually address the question. Darn. I wish they wouldn’t do that.
8) Way to rattle off your resume via HRC’s explanation of why you’re here, K. Clever but meh.
9) I wonder if that furrowed brow is going to stick with you all night, P.
10) P’s response was less polished. Not sure if that matters. His talk radio history is clearly an asset.
11) I’ve heard all of K’s defense of HRC before nearly word for word. And he’s still not bothering to answer the question well.
12) K clearly thinks that answering the question will matter less tonight than will driving home his message.
13) How snide, P. What a PA opener…
14) P is so much more nuanced and reasonable than the top of his ticket.
15) They’re getting a little catty.
16) When ONE person is talking at a time, this is a decent debate.
17) P is harping on HRC’s apparent role in devastating Iraq and it’s unattractive and unproductive.
18) This debate merits fewer immediate reactions because you actually have to listen to their answers.
19) P is very clearly winning this debate so far even though K is more pleasant.
20) Wow. Haven’t heard someone imagine that Obama’s executive orders have stifled the economy before. What an active imagination you have, P.
21) K is veering dangerously close to mere rhetoric half the time.
22) K is definitely talking more policy and less ambiguous criticism.
23) K should talk into the camera more.
24) Slamming P on the minimum wage– very effective.
25) The Clinton camp needs to stop pretending that tax cuts can be directly linked to the Great Recession.
26) Ooh, Trump’s taxes. A fun new minefield for P to navigate.
27) P is doing a remarkable job of rephrasing K’s program instead of talking about Trump’s taxes.
28) P’s defense of T’s tax behaviors is adroit, but K’s snark is going well.
29) P should stop pretending T will release his tax returns.
30) K didn’t win the tax return issue so much as P lost it.
31) EQ has a real backbone. I like her.
32) K’s position on Social Security is coherent and effective.
33) P’s trying to pull HRC’s debate strategy of gaslighting her opponent and it’s failing.
34) This is as lethal as a Midwestern debate can get.
35) EQ changing tack like that is pretty jarring but does keep things moving.
36) K’s community policing response is bulletproof. I challenge P to undermine it.
37) Pence has the good taste not to interrupt Kaine’s best response so far. THat takes restraint and very much flatters him.
38) Personal testimony plays a much bigger role in this debate than I’d expected.
39) I pray to God that the two parties’ hesitant agreement about community policing can translate into policy. It is such a good idea.
40) A disgusting effort by P to inject racial discord into an otherwise civil debate that acknowledged the reality of implicit racial bias.
41) P is inventing a narrative that the Clinton camp bashes police. It is tasteless.
42) P is saving himself from choking on the Tim Scott prompt by completely avoiding it. Nice.
43) If P was the presidential candidate, Clinton would be fighting for her life.
44) Not sure why stop-and-frisk has become such a centerpiece of the year’s debate given what a poor policy it is.
45) Not sure how K got onto enumerating Trump’s comments but EQ bizarrely just skipped right past it. Perhaps it helped P that it got ignored.
46) P’s vile anti-immigrant case does him no favors.
47) Pence’s depiction of Kaine’s comments is willfully false but P does a great job invoking “basket of deplorables” to his rescue. How lame.
48) Pence has mastered the art of making comments that will enable false equivalency by the media.
49) I wonder why P cannot handle K’s phrasing of the policies he does in fact support regarding deportation.
50) K is relying too much on rhetoric. P is lying about Trump since that’s the only way to rescue him from K’s (hella repetitive) criticisms.
51) “Rebuild” (?) our military? The greatest military ever? What is this silly Republican rhetoric?
52) I wish I could commend Eq on her moderating. Though these two have been astonishingly rude to her, she has done little to truly focus things.
