5 Comments

On the debate between Walz and Vance, I strongly suspect Vance is going to go low. It's his MO. He'll bring up the protests in the Twin Cities, and who knows what else. Vance has shown himself to be utterly shameless, so anything goes. I hope Walz follows Kamala Harris's lead and uses Vance's lies to pivot to Harris-Walz policies.

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If I'm not mistaken, the last time there was a serious attempt at comprehensive immigration reform was under George W. Bush, but as you point out, it was a combined immigration/border security border bill - with bi-partisan support - but it failed because of senate cloture shenanigans.

I REALLY hope you're right about the possibility of finally dealing with immigration reform, including guest worker programs, if the Congress finally passes a border security bill. I'm SO ready for the end of demonizing immigrants for political gain. Hopefully, if Trump is no longer an electoral factor, we can dispense with some of the entrenched nonsense. On both sides.

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My hope for Walz in this debate to simply check the box of do no harm. Just present as good and not interfere with the momentum. In a perfect world I would love to see Walz really hammer in the policy differences between Harris/Walz and Trump/Vance. Vance has got some reps in though so I don’t think he’ll be an easy fight.

And selfishly, because I despise bullies and Trump/Vance are running a mean-spirited campaign that is terrorizing Haitian Americans. I’d love to see Walz put Vance in his place the way Harris did to Trump. I don’t know how realistic that is but it would be nice to see.

Honestly, sometimes I still struggle dealing with the reality of how low Trump and Vance act towards others. Their vision for America is just so dark and pessimistic. The Harris and Walz vision is so much more upbeat and optimistic. Their vision is pragmatism, sanity, and decency. I just hope Walz is able to convey that contrast tonight too.

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Peter - posting the day after - you called it fairly well, kudos! Yes Walz throwing some punches might have been a rush, but debate goal was mainly to appeal to any uncommitted voters, not thinking that's what they wanted to see. Competence, calm, some policy info, show them a reasonable, mature person knowledgeable about their needs & desires. I'd say Walz checked the boxes he needed to. Bonus for a couple moments for future commercials: pinning Vance on Jan. 6/2020 election, and for remarks about abortion rights.

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Thank you so much J! I was happy to see how policy heavy and respectful the debate was. I hope we can get to a place where that’s the norm again. I liked Walz’s answers on healthcare, abortion, and Jan 6 especially.

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