Leading up to the vice presidential debate last night, one question was on the minds of America’s Twitterers: should I watch this thing?
Poll: Are you watching tonight's VP debate?
— Heather Wilhelm (@heatherwilhelm) October 4, 2016
Probably the only thing I have in common with Trump is that we both won't be watching the VP debate tonight.
— Jim Gaffigan (@JimGaffigan) October 4, 2016
Wow NBA preseason basketball while also watching Luke Cage ep 2 OR the VP debate.
Gee that's a tough one….
— Dread Pirate Cates (@drawandstrike) October 5, 2016
#VPDebate pic.twitter.com/TS3C82KBUt
— jon gabriel (@exjon) October 5, 2016
But, in the end, most of you couldn’t stay away, could you?
I am oddly excited about tonight’s debate.
— Farhad Manjoo (@fmanjoo) October 5, 2016
And so we began the Farmville, Virginia, showdown between Tim Kaine and Mike Pence. Excitement abounded!
The political Yule Log of the C-SPAN vice presidential debate pre-show was interrupted by a loud sneeze. pic.twitter.com/8caUG8qcli
— Dan McQuade (@dhm) October 5, 2016
Although the candidates had been on their respective tickets for months, for many viewers this was their first introduction to Kaine and Pence.
Eminem looks terrible pic.twitter.com/DJCCCfA6TU
— Lindsay Goldwert (@lindsaygoldwert) October 4, 2016
Wow! @timkaine gets ready in the Green Room bef the debate. pic.twitter.com/Bx7eqT5QHN
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) October 5, 2016
tfw when you learn from your sister that your grandmother said Mike Pence is good-looking pic.twitter.com/SnukXDLQPu
— Jonathan Cohn (@JonathanCohn) October 5, 2016
Kaine opened by talking about just how much Hillary Clinton liked him.
Kaine's opening statement is mainly him quoting Hillary talking about him. Yeah this is going to be exciting.
— Caleb Howe (@CalebHowe) October 5, 2016
I'm beginning to think Tim Kaine wrote "Stronger Together" by himself. #VPDebate #fdrlst
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) October 5, 2016
Pence introduced himself to the crowd by forgetting where he was.
Mike Pence just thanked Norwood University. The debate is at Longwood University. #oops #VPDebate
— Corey Cohen (@CoreyECohen) October 5, 2016
Expectation:
"Longwood will finally be put on the map because of this debate!"
Reality:
Norwood University is one of the top Twitter trends.— Kreeper Lirette (@KeiferLirette) October 5, 2016
Moderator Elaine Quijano got down to the substantive questions. Kaine declined to answer them, preferring to recite zingers about Donald Trump.
Maybe Kaine could as least PRETEND to answer a question before hitting the PLAY button.
— Jeff Greenfield (@greenfield64) October 5, 2016
Moderator asks why voters don't trust HRC. Kaine doesn't answer, promptly pivots to Trump
— Betsy Woodruff (@woodruffbets) October 5, 2016
Pence disagreed.
pence shaking his head so manfully
— Josh Fruhlinger (@jfruh) October 5, 2016
On a foreign policy question, Pence turned his answer…back to Clinton.
Pence: Know you asked about Trump, but… Libya. pic.twitter.com/sqWe9ELlIh
— Michael B Dougherty (@michaelbd) October 5, 2016
Kaine quickly countered the strategy by interrupting. Constantly.
The #VPDebate is great so far pic.twitter.com/pwJXkKlXEA
— Ellie Hall (@ellievhall) October 5, 2016
Kaine is as obnoxious tonight as Trump was last week.
— Rod Dreher (@roddreher) October 5, 2016
How can something be both irritating and boring at the same time?
— Felix Salmon (@felixsalmon) October 5, 2016
As with Trump in the presidential debate, the constant interjections did not win Kaine any points with viewers.
Tim Kaine is that guy at dinner nobody had the heart not to invite but all now regret their generosity of spirit.
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) October 5, 2016
Kaine isn't even believably obnoxious
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) October 5, 2016
Moderator: Knock knock?
Pence: Who's there?
Moderator: Interrupting Tim Kaine
Pence: Interrupting Tim Kaine wh..
Kaine: asdghkf!#VPDebate— Madison M. K. (@4evrmalone) October 5, 2016
Pence sounds like an adult. Kaine sounds like he just sucked helium out of a birthday balloon.
— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) October 5, 2016
The debate got lively and, contrary to expectations, stayed lively for the 90-minute duration.
This debate bizarrely sounds like a Republican running against a Democrat
— Rich Lowry (@RichLowry) October 5, 2016
I'm enjoying hearing Pence talk about actual conservative beliefs. But then Trump comes up and I'm like
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) October 5, 2016
They talked about some issues, including Social Security…
Pence and Trump have a plan to use magic beans to fund social security. Hooray! #Cato2016 #VPDebate
— Trevor Thrall (@trevor_thrall) October 5, 2016
…crime and policing…
Kaine talked too much on crime, wound up saying nothing. Pence keeps it understandable scoring a few key points #vpdebate #veepdebate
— Mark Q. Cunningham (@Mqcunningham) October 5, 2016
Mike Pence on the nature of American policing. pic.twitter.com/q48lT6F1lc
— Jeff Spross (@jeffspross) October 5, 2016
…and immigration.
That was a hanging curve to @mike_pence on immigration reform.
— Hugh Hewitt (@hughhewitt) October 5, 2016
By continuing to say "criminal alien", Pence is inching closer to the coveted, all-important Fox Mulder endorsement
— Berny Belvedere (@bernybelvedere) October 5, 2016
Kaine’s canned zingers and hyper-aggressive interjections contrasted with Pence’s calm, quiet demeanor.
Kaine isn't even believably obnoxious
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) October 5, 2016
angry tomato or tim kaine pic.twitter.com/4wOWtjQ6FN
— rudy mustang (@roostermustache) October 5, 2016
Tim Kaine has zero chill.
— Lizzie O'Leary (@lizzieohreally) October 5, 2016
Kaine: "Trump can't start a twitter war with Miss Universe w/out shooting himself in the foot"
Everyone at debate prep: HILARIOUS! USE THAT!— McKay Coppins (@mckaycoppins) October 5, 2016
Oh man. Pence: "Did you work on that one a long time? Lotta great lines in there."
— Elaina Plott (@elainaplott) October 5, 2016
Kaine had a lot of material, and he was going to get it in whether the question called for it or not.
Kaine childishly interrupting Pence during his reflective 9-11 answer to declare where HE was that day shows who is truly rattled/nervous.
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) October 5, 2016
Staff: Here's oppo on Trump
Kaine: Got it
Staff: Make it seem natural when you say it, don't just drop random oppo whenever
Kaine: Got it— Shoshana Weissmann (@senatorshoshana) October 5, 2016
Tim Kaine is like the word “actually” in human form
— Will Rahn (@willrahn) October 5, 2016
Kaine’s strategy was to turn every answer to some outrageous utterance of Trump’s, and then ask Pence to defend it. Pence had an effective counterattack: pretend none of that ever happened.
Bold strategy from Pence to simply deny Trump said things he definitely said.
— T. Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) October 5, 2016
Oh god what if Pence is right and none of those things happened? What if I've dreamed the whole last year of this campaign?
— Molly Ball (@mollyesque) October 5, 2016
KAINE: Mr. Trump is a man
PENCE: Nonsense
KAINE: Who lives
PENCE: Everyone knows he's dead
KAINE: In New York
PENCE: Doesn't even exist
— Michael Schaub (@michaelschaub) October 5, 2016
KAINE, MOUTH OPEN: "Gov. Pence, why won't you defend Trump?"
PENCE, SMILING AT THE AUDIENCE: "Donald Trump isn't real. You made him up."
— Jamelle Bouie (@jbouie) October 5, 2016
Quijano asked a question about North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, which naturally led both candidates to discuss the Clinton Foundation.
Foreign donors to Clinton Foundation make them uniquely badly positioned to critique Trump about Putin.
— (((Megan McArdle))) (@asymmetricinfo) October 5, 2016
Tim Kaine now explaining how the Clinton Foundation is the kindest, warmest, bravest human being he's ever known.
— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) October 5, 2016
Elaine: "Gentlemen, I want to remind you this is about North Korea."
*good natured chuckles*
Pence: "Well, the Clinton foundation…"— Heather Wilhelm (@heatherwilhelm) October 5, 2016
They closed with a question about the interaction between religious faith and serving in public office. Kaine talked about his doctrine-free form of Catholicism.
"I believe in following my church's teaching except any time it actually matters"
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) October 5, 2016
Kaine: "For me the greatest struggle as a Catholic is not believing in most vital Catholic doctrines. It's a real bear sometimes."
— Eric Metaxas (@ericmetaxas) October 5, 2016
Tim Kaine's story about faith is about him bravely executing people despite his personal convictions that it would send him to Hell
— Proven Content Maker (@Bro_Pair) October 5, 2016
By the end, things were looking good for Pence.
Hillary right now trying to storm in to get Kaine out of there at the #VPDebate pic.twitter.com/JQIQOHUefV
— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) October 5, 2016
By the end, though, both vice-presidential candidates had proven their point fairly well.
Both these guys are right. The other guy's running mate is terrible. #VPDebate
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) October 5, 2016
