Trump's illness puts more focus on Pence, Harris showdown in VP debate

[webfact]

Trump's illness puts more focus on Pence, Harris showdown in VP debate

By Michael Martina and Joseph Ax

 

FILE PHOTO: A combination picture shows democratic U.S. vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris delivering a campaign speech in Washington, U.S., August 27, 2020, and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence looking on while delivering his acceptance speech as the 2020 Republican vice presidential nominee during an event of the 2020 Republican National Convention held at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S., August 26, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

 

SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's battle with COVID-19, his age and the age of his Democratic challenger Joe Biden provide an unusual backdrop to Wednesday's debate between Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

 

Pence and Harris are set to take the stage at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City separated by plastic barriers for a 90-minute debate, a reminder of how the coronavirus pandemic has affected the race ahead of the Nov. 3 election.

 

The Republican president announced last Friday that he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus amid a White House outbreak and was hospitalized in Maryland for three days receiving a variety of treatments. His doctor said on Wednesday Trump had no COVID-19 symptoms in the past 24 hours.

 

Either Pence, 61, or Harris, 55, would be a heartbeat away from assuming the presidency, depending on the election's outcome. How they handle themselves during the debate may be scrutinized even more closely than usual given Trump's health and the age of both presidential candidates.

 

Now 77, Biden would be 78 upon taking office in January, which would make him the oldest U.S. president in history. Trump is 74, making his COVID-19 particularly dangerous considering his age and underlying health issues. Trump already is the oldest president to seek re-election.

 

Biden is leading Trump in national polls, including an advantage of 12 percentage points in the latest Reuters/Ipsos survey of likely voters. Polls show the race to be closer in some of the election battleground states that could determine the winner, although a Reuters/Ipsos poll on Wednesday showed Biden leading Trump in pivotal Florida.

 

Harris, who will be on the biggest stage of her political career, is a U.S. senator from California picked by Biden in August as his running mate. The daughter of immigrants - her father from Jamaica and her mother from India - Harris is the first Black woman nominated by a major party for vice president as well as the first person of Asian descent.

 

Pence, who debated then-Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine in 2016, is a former U.S. congressman and Indiana governor who has steadfastly defended Trump during his tumultuous presidency.

 

Their debate is unlikely to match the chaos of the first presidential debate last week in which Trump repeatedly interrupted Biden and the two traded insults. Pence, more even-tempered than Trump, and Harris, a former prosecutor known for sharp questioning during Senate hearings, are seen as polished communicators.

 

'A FORTRESS'

The two campaigns have squabbled over installing barriers on stage between Pence and Harris to guard against coronavirus infection. On Wednesday, television images of the debate stage showed two plexiglass barriers, one adjoining each lectern. Pence and Harris also will be placed more than 12 feet (3.6 meters) apart on stage.

 

Harris had requested plexiglass shielding. Pence spokeswoman Katie Miller on Monday mocked Harris, saying if she "wants to use a fortress around herself, have at it." An aide to the vice president on Wednesday said Pence had agreed to the barriers to facilitate the debate.

 

Both Pence and Harris tested negative for the coronavirus on Tuesday. Current U.S. government guidelines call for anyone exposed to a person with COVID-19 to quarantine for 14 days regardless of test results.

 

In a statement, Harris spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said, "If the Trump administration's war on masks has now become a war on safety shields, that tells you everything you need to know about why their COVID response is a failure."

 

The pandemic is likely to dominate the debate. Biden and Harris have made Trump's handling of the public health crisis a central theme of their campaign, blaming Trump for downplaying the health risks and failing to endorse mask-wearing to combat the spread of the pathogen.

 

Pence, who has headed the administration's coronavirus task force, can be expected to defend Trump's response to the pandemic, which has killed more than 210,000 Americans and battered the U.S. economy even as other wealthy nations have managed to get it under better control.

 

A Biden campaign official said Harris has prepared for Pence to attack her as too liberal, which would echo Trump's assertion that the moderate Biden would advance a "radical left-wing" agenda if elected president.

 

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Additional reporting by Jason Lange and Alexandra Alper; Editing by Ross Colvin and Will Dunham)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-10-08

 

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[MaxYakov]

Good! I hope Pence devastates her. He's probably very capable of doing so given her past activities and her obvious opportunism and current refusal to answer very important position questions (pun unintended ????).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 7, 2020 by MaxYakov

[Boon Mee]

Harris is a terrible debater. Pence will expose her far left agenda with ease. ???? 

[blazes]

Weird that this awful woman who was rejected by her very own Democratic voters in the Primaries (to such an extent that she had to withdraw) has suddenly become worthy presidential material.....

 

Those Democrats who voted her out of the Primaries were smart. They saw that her solidly upper-middle class background made her attempt to appear a "victim" (when she accused Biden of being responsible for the sad life of "that little girl in the back of the bus") was utterly ludicrous.

 

They were right to boot her out....

 

 

[PatOngo]

2 hours ago, Boon Mee said:

Harris is a terrible debater. Pence will expose her far left agenda with ease. ???? 

She's whooping Mikey boys butt!

[alex8912]

The highlight of the debate was the fly that was living on Pence’s head for awhile. 

[Chomper Higgot]

1 minute ago, alex8912 said:

The highlight of the debate was the fly that was living on Pence’s head for awhile. 

Well we all know what flies are attracted to.

[Eric Loh]

Pence looks like a sorry puppy and defeated in the debated. Hard for him to defend the defensible.

[Chomper Higgot]

1 minute ago, Eric Loh said:

Pence looks like a sorry puppy and defeated in the debated. Hard for him to defend the defensible.

He’s not yet answered a question.

[MaxYakov]

24 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

2 hours ago, Boon Mee said:

Harris is a terrible debater. Pence will expose her far left agenda with ease. ???? 

She's whooping Mikey boys butt!

Ya think? I wonder how many people watching would just love to wipe that stupid smirk off her face. IMHO, her body language is horrible and she has producing nothing new - just the same old worn-out Leftist narrative. I made the mistake of postponing breakfast for this?!

 

 

 

Edited October 8, 2020 by MaxYakov

[J Town]

Results of the vp debate:

 

45 supporters: Pence won! Biden and his supporters suck.

Biden supporters: Kamala won! 45 and his supporters suck.

 

Over all a resounding "meh." No one really won, no one really lost, and above all, no minds were changed.

[Chomper Higgot]

Trending in Twitter:

 

’Black Flies Matter’

[J Town]

31 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Trending in Twitter:

 

’Black Flies Matter’

That fly is Pence's only black friend.

[J Town]

Just as Bernie's little bird made an "image 'round the world," so did Pence's little fly.

[Isaan sailor]

We never worried about our supply of toilet paper here in Thailand, Kamala.

[Stargeezr]

A Trump relapse would put the spot light back on him, meanwhile he is still

fodder for SNL, and Alec Baldwin and Jim Carey.  I just hope that Pence and Harris

actually debate, not just sling mud and act stupid.

Geezer

[blazes]

To quote Harris's favourite phrase: "let's speak Truth".

 

The truth is, little Kamala, you are a fraud through and through.

[stevenl]

1 minute ago, blazes said:

To quote Harris's favourite phrase: "let's speak Truth".

 

The truth is, little Kamala, you are a fraud through and through.

Apparently some men still have an issue with powerful women.

[RoadWarrior371]

10 minutes ago, blazes said:

To quote Harris's favourite phrase: "let's speak Truth".

 

The truth is, little Kamala, you are a fraud through and through.

Harris has a history of lying, the 'truth phrase' she adopted is a marketing attempt to counter that.  Watch out for the white-knights coming to her rescue.  LOL

[billd766]

15 minutes ago, blazes said:

To quote Harris's favourite phrase: "let's speak Truth".

 

The truth is, little Kamala, you are a fraud through and through.

Perhaps she is, in your opinion, and perhaps she isn't in other peoples opinion.

 

PS your bias for Trump is showing.

[billd766]

5 minutes ago, RoadWarrior371 said:

Harris has a history of lying, the 'truth phrase' she adopted is a marketing attempt to counter that.  Watch out for the white-knights coming to her rescue.  LOL

If she is lying and you are unhappy about that, where would you put Trump on the same scale?

 

Trump is such a paragon of truth?   ???? ???? ????

 

2x,xxx lies already, and he still lies every day.

[Odysseus123]

34 minutes ago, billd766 said:

PS your bias for Trump is showing.

"They asked me how I knew

That my heroic Prez was true?

I,of course,replied..

That when you tell too many lies..

Smoke gets in your eyes."

Edited October 8, 2020 by Odysseus123

[Ireland32]

9 hours ago, MaxYakov said:

Good! I hope Pence devastates her. He's probably very capable of doing so given her past activities and her obvious opportunism and current refusal to answer very important position questions (pun unintended ????).

 

She killed it , the fly on pense head was the star of show 

[Dumbastheycome]

IMO inept  Moderator. But no decisive  winner.

 

[Kelsall]

8 hours ago, Boon Mee said:

Harris is a terrible debater. Pence will expose her far left agenda with ease. ???? 

Yes, and he did just that.  The leftists' plan to add Supreme Court Justices was laid bare by Pence when he asked her if she and Biden would pack SCOTUS with more justices.  She did the only thing she could, not answer. 

[Sujo]

3 minutes ago, Kelsall said:

Yes, and he did just that.  The leftists' plan to add Supreme Court Justices was laid bare by Pence when he asked her if she and Biden would pack SCOTUS with more justices.  She did the only thing she could, not answer. 

Which doesnt mean they will do it.

[J Town]

3 hours ago, blazes said:

To quote Harris's favorite phrase: "let's speak Truth".

 

The truth is, little Kamala, you are a fraud through and through.

 

‘You’re entitled to your own opinion, you’re not entitled to your own facts.’

 

There were black and white LIES and misleading spins hissing through Pence's teeth.

 

Pence: 45 'always' truthful on Covid. False, 45 is the world leader in spreading misinformation and has been repeatedly censored by FB and Twitter.

 

Pence: Amy Coney Barrett nomination event held outdoors. Misleading, part was outdoors, a significant portion indoors which has not been identified as the source for so many more cases of Covid.

 

Pence:  45 banned all travel from China.  False. While Trump did restrict travel from China, his policy was not an actual "ban": It made exemptions for travel by US citizens, permanent residents, many of the family members of both groups and some others.

 

Pence: US lost 200,000 manufacturing jobs under Obama. Misleading by omission. While manufacturing jobs fell in the early part of the Obama administration, employment in the sector expanded significantly after that.

 

It goes on, and on, and on, and . . .

 

Side note: Immediately following the debate, Fox commentators were asking why 45 couldn't debate like that. 5555!!

[J Town]

5 minutes ago, Kelsall said:

Yes, and he did just that.  The leftists' plan to add Supreme Court Justices was laid bare by Pence when he asked her if she and Biden would pack SCOTUS with more justices.  She did the only thing she could, not answer. 

Still waiting for that health care plan that was gonna be released in two weeks, and that was back in July.

[J Town]

2 minutes ago, Sujo said:

Which doesn't mean they will do it.

I understand why he evades that answer. He most likely WILL, but to announce that would lose some voters. Joe's job is just to tread water, 45 is his best campaign tool, and I mean TOOL!

[Isaan sailor]

Smirks, eye rolls and a cavalier attitude didn’t help Kamala’s cause.  Optics matter.