I caught most of the debate on a plane. It went as expected: Tim Walz was exposed as an inveterate liar because of a misstatement about a 1989 visit to Hong Kong, thus disqualifying himself from the vice presidency, while JD Vance shone through as a veritable model of probity in this beatific age of Trumpian authenticity, thus wrapping himself in future presidential garb.
Other than that — and I'm so sorry for this whiplash — the following are my sincerest reactions to the debate, which I sent off first thing this morning to a friend who had commented to me via email this morning:
"I'm just hoping that JD's wonderful, beautiful little children got to bed on time. That worried the hell out of me throughout half the debate as those wonderful, beautiful children's father was on national TV lying like Joseph Goebbels, and with the same sentiments. I also hope the little lovelies don't meet the same fate as Joe G.'s did."
Post-debate I sat suffered through MSNBC's panel discussion. (Not my choice; a flight attendant switched it on for me and I saw no way to change channels.) The discussants represented the network's usual diversity of opinion; there was Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O'Donnell, Joy Reid, Nicolle Wallace and Chris Hayes.
Perhaps I'm a rare duck, in that I care very little about reading or hearing the same opinions I have, as were expressed by the panel members. From that I learn nothing. Nor did I prefer to hear a verbal fisticuffs between blue and red. What I did want to hear was how the latter would defend the 90 minutes of sheer humbuggery dished out by Trump's errand boy. Intel from the enemy is always more valuable than feel-good reinforcements of what's already known.
On the upside, the Harris-Walz campaign immediately cut this 30-second ad from the debate, which packs a pretty good punch.
Last night, what JD Vance didn’t say said everything. pic.twitter.com/0vmMwr0f37
— Tim Walz (@Tim_Walz) October 2, 2024