Examining and fact checking the Vice Presidential debate

In the wake of Tuesday’s presidential debate between Sen. JD Vance and Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota all who viewed it agreed it was more civil than was expected, as many felt that it was going to be a "throw down” between the two very different candidates, especially since the many volatile, and even vile attacks by the former, and would probably include attacks on the military records of the latter in the National Guard, while some expected Walz to attack the more egregious attacks by Vance on Haitian immigrants living in Springfield Ohio that he accused of kidnapping and eating pets and ducks in local waters.

Walz was also expected to contest Vance’s statements of women without children as “childless cat ladies” who, bereft of being a mother, lacked the necessary intelligence to function in American life.

That would be a lot to unpack what has been expected to be a very close election between their bosses, former president Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Walz came out of the gate visibly nervous but soon relaxed and was able to gain hold on the debate stage, despite his earlier warnings to Harris that he was no debater. Vance, who has scored the lowest favorability of any vice presidential candidate,(a negative 11 according to a CNN poll) in recent history must have been keenly aware of the fact and decided to rival the fabled “Minnesota Nice” aspect of his Democratic rival.

Vance as is well known has given scores of interviews and comments on a variety of media platforms extolling the virtues of Trump and his record, albeit weak, and demonizing Harris as a “Flip Flopper” despite his own record of likening Trump to Hitler and some embarrassing gaffs, most recently, in a store, in front of a display of eggs with a sign stating $2.99 a dozen, while blaming Harris for increasing them to $4.00 a dozen while holding a carton of 24 eggs, while his 7 year old son tried to point out his mistake by pointing at the sign.

Walz, on the other hand has gained a plus four net favorability, due in no small measure to his “everyman” image, and what has seemed apparent, a genuinely nice guy persona, evident on the campaign trail.

The expectation that Vance would outshine Walz, and attack him. on his misstating his title and record in the Guard, and his recollection of when he was in China and if so, was it during the uprising in Tiananmen Square, was low hanging fruit that the senator did not pounce on.

Vance to his credit, often referring to the governor as Tim and expressed empathy when he learned that Walz’s son had witnessed a shooting and said, “Christ have mercy.” A penitential response from the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Mass, or a heartfelt response from the senator, We like to think of the latter.

He is also a chameleon to some, an opportunist to others, a scion of Silicon Valley under the tutelage and mentorship of billionaire Peter Thiel, and who when pressed upon learning of Walz as Harris’ running mate was asked if they had anything in common by reporters, stated, “Well, look, I mean, yeah, we’re white guys from the Midwest.” and “I guess there are similarities there.”

That aside what Vance excelled at on Tuesday, and was often overlooked by some observers was that he lied continuously for nearly 90 minutes on almost every topic, even with a glaring falsehood that Trump did all he could to save the Affordable Care Act, that he and other Republicans have given the derisive label of “Obamacare,” when in fact Trump did everything he could to weaken and destroy President Obama’s signature piece of legislation, and key to his legacy, and even filed a lawsuit, that was later thrown out.

Blaming the nation’s lack of affordable housing on immigration, all illegal, and overlooking the fact that Haitian immigrants, especially in Ohio, a state he represents, are legally in this country under the Temporary Protected Status program..

Migrants were in fact, in Vance’s opinion, responsible for all of the ills of American society, and Walz’s truth telling did no good, as Vance was playing to his base, or to use a church held term, “preaching to the choir.”

In the scheme of things, vice presidential debates don’t count for much, save some memorable lines between Dan Quayle and Lloyd Bentsen, when the former claimed that he had a much experience as Jack Kennedy, and Bentsen famously quipped that he knew “Jack Kennedy, Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine and senator you're no Jack Kennedy.”

Walz, for the most part, was error free with the glaring exception of misrepresenting Trump’s stance on contraception, and one that he has changed his position over the decades, along with abortion and seeing that it is a winning issue for Democrats is now embracing contraception and IVF 

Of all the moments in the debate this showed Walz as his strongest and he categorically denied that doctors in Minnesota could end the life of a 9 month old baby after an abortion.

Before we cite the record from our friends at factcheck.org, let’s shake our collective heads in disbelief as Vance continuously pounded on Harris as if she was president, and ignoring the fact that vice presidents are not policy makers, don’t create executive actions, don’t create policy ,and don’t rule in a country where there is the rule of law, but that did not stop him from uttering such nonsensical lines as, “why didn’t Kamala Harris do. . . “ and :”Why not do them now?”

Of note, Harris never held the title of “Border Czar” and was only tasked by Biden to examine the root causes of immigration from the Southern Border; and, neither she, nor any president or vice president set grocery prices.

Was this another cudgel to beat the vice president, or was it a tactical admission that she might just win the presidency, and that he is rehearsing his stump speech in the future?

As promised, some fact checking of the debate from Factcheck.org:

“Vance claimed that housing “is totally unaffordable because we brought in millions of illegal immigrants to compete with Americans for scarce homes.” But economists and housing experts say that the primary reason for the tight housing market is the decline in new residential construction that followed the Great Recession.

Walz misleadingly linked former President Donald Trump’s tax cuts to “an $8 trillion increase in the national debt, the largest ever.” But trillions of that debt were due to bipartisan COVID-19 relief packages. And the debt increase so far under the Biden administration is nearly as high.

In describing an abortion law Walz signed in Minnesota, Vance said physicians were no longer required to provide life-saving care to infants “born alive.” But he neglected to say that the law still requires such infants to be given proper medical care and be “accorded immediate protection under the law.” Such cases pertain to situations involving induced labor for medical reasons such as fetal abnormalities.

Vance claimed that “we have 320,000 children that the Department of Homeland Security has effectively lost.” An August inspector general report said about that many unaccompanied minors who illegally entered the U.S. had not shown up for immigration court between fiscal years 2019 and 2023, or had not received a summons to appear in court. The report did not say they were “lost.”

Walz falsely claimed that “their” Project 2025 will establish a registry of pregnancies, referring to what might happen under a Trump-Vance administration. However, the Trump campaign has disavowed Project 2025. The conservative document advocates mandatory state reporting of abortions and miscarriages, but not the tracking of pregnancy in general.

Walz said that Project 2025 “is going to make it more difficult, if not impossible, to get contraception and limit access, if not eliminate access, to infertility treatments.” Some policies in the document could in effect limit contraception and infertility treatments, but Trump has said he does not want to restrict access to contraception and that he would expand access to in vitro fertilization.

Vance incorrectly claimed the U.S. has the “cleanest economy,” while falsely hinting that carbon emissions might not be driving climate change. 

Vance claimed that because of Vice President “Kamala Harris’ open border, we’ve seen a massive influx in the number of illegal guns run by the Mexican drug cartels.” But the concern of the U.S. and Mexican governments has been American-made guns trafficked from the U.S. to Mexico.

Walz said “less than 2%” of the border wall that Trump promised “got built.” That undersells the amount of wall built during the Trump administration relative to what was promised.

Vance blamed Harris for “letting in … 25 million illegal aliens.” That’s a grossly exaggerated figure.

Walz countered that illegal border “crossings are down compared to when Donald Trump left office,” which is true when comparing the last two months to the last two months under Trump. But looking at Harris’ entire time as vice president, illegal border crossings are up substantially.

Vance claimed that Harris “let fentanyl into our communities at record levels.” That’s not clear. The amount of fentanyl seized by border officials has increased during the Biden administration, which may indicate that more fentanyl is crossing the border undetected.

Walz said that the “last 12 months saw the largest decrease in opioid deaths in our nation’s history.” Provisional data show that reported opioid deaths have declined significantly in the 12 months ending in April. But the figure is still higher than it was at the start of the Biden-Harris administration.

Vance claimed that Trump “could have destroyed” the Affordable Care Act, but instead “worked in a bipartisan way to ensure that Americans had access to affordable care.” Trump did try to destroy the ACA, including by backing a lawsuit that would have nullified it.

Walz said that if Trump had repealed the ACA “you lose your preexisting conditions,” adding that if you’ve “got asthma, too bad.” Ending the law would significantly reduce protections for those with preexisting conditions, but before the ACA, employer-based plans couldn’t deny issuing a policy.

Vance slightly overstated the inflation rate for groceries under Biden and ignored macroeconomic causes for rising prices when blaming Biden and Harris for food inflation.

Walz claimed that “Donald Trump hasn’t paid any federal tax in the last 15 years,” but that’s not quite right. The former president didn’t pay federal income taxes in 2020, but he did pay various amounts between 2015 and 2018. Trump also did not pay taxes in 10 of the 15 years before he became president.”

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Tim Walz gets praised and panned as VP nominee

The announcement by Kamala Harris that she selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her vice presidential running mate caused delight to many, although the choice was unexpected, with many political observers thinking that it was going to be Attorney General Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, seemed to hit all of the markers: a military veteran, a Midwesterner, and a progressive liberal whose legislative record is in sync with her established values.

From the cheering crowd in Pennsylvania, when it was announced, the choice was welcome and adds another layer of energy into the Harris campaign, and also increased fund raising to the tune of #36 million.

Much has been said about his “everyman” character and it does ring true, married, with a near adult child, one whose financial disclosures reveal an upper middle class income, bereft of stock, and a former high school teacher and athletic coach, and close in age to the vice president, and as has been reported that she feels a strong chemistry with.

The role of the vice president in the United States is to provide unqualified support for the president, and to preside over the Senate, and when needed be the tie breaker. It is also a role that Harris knows well, and has grown dramatically since she was first nominated nearly four years ago.

While ticket balancing has been the principal reason, let’s remember what Texan Lyndon Johnson did for John Kennedy and the state’s mother load of electoral votes, and whose later retention prompted that fateful trip to Dallas.

In Harris’ case capturing votes in swing states such as nearby Wisconsin, Michigan and other so called “rust belt” states will be crucial to winning the White House, and Walz is expected to be relatable to voters in those states.

The decision was met with delight by the Trump campaign who quickly branded Walz as another liberal intent on ruining the country. Supporters made much of his role in providing free feminine hygiene products in high schools, and decided to label him  “Tampon Tim,” but whose actions many praised to support young women; and, he has been a stalwart supporter of LGBT rights and helped found a gay and straight student alliance in the high school where he taught, another move that the radical right will soon pan as being “woke”.

Notably Walz also supported affordable housing, health care, paid leave and affordable child care, all progressive stances aligned with that of Hariis and the DNC.

The Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance has been tagging the Harris campaign on their travels, and in one amazing stunt, accompanied by his secret service agents, approached Air Force Two, the vice presidential plane, in direct violation of security protocols, and said, “I just wanted to check out my future plane.”

While this has been widely panned as schoolboy braggadocio, Vance has gone after Walz’s 24 year military career saying that he abandoned his Army National Guard Troops before they were deployed to Iraq, and that he has said was cowardly; when, in fact, Walz had no definitive notice that he would go to Iraq, and was carefully considering running for Congress, and worried that could he do both, and not be in violation of the Hatch Act, which limits political speech on the part of federal employees.

Critics point out that while Vance did serve in the Marines in Iraq, but as a “desk jockey” for communications and never saw combat. In his book, “Hillbilly Elegy,” he wrote, “I was lucky to escape any real fighting.”

Another claim was that Walz in support of limiting assault weapons to the military, said that he did not believe they should be what he “carried in war,” and while he did carry them in training modules and instruction, he did not carry them in war, but misspeaking often happens in unscripted public appearances, which the Harris campaign has amended, and Walz referred to himself as a retired command sergeant major in his run for Congress and governor. 

What’s in a title, say some, and one headlining statement was this: “This is a lie and stolen valor,” said Ashley Hayek, chief engagement officer, America First Policy Institute, an organization founded in 2021 to promote former U.S. President Donald Trump's public policy agenda,” according to Wikipedia quoting an Axios article.

The kerfuffle centered on this: when Walz decided to retire to devote full attention to running for Congress, he did so before taking the training necessary to receive that title; and the Harris campaign has now clarified, Walz’s title upon retirement was “Command Sergeant Major.

There is irony in this discussion of military titles and combatant roles since Trump between 1964 and 1972 received four student deferments and one medical disqualification, for bone spurs on one or both heels, and it has been reported that a Queens podiatrist did this at the request of his father Fred.

Meanwhile Trump has criticized Haris for not holding press conferences, or interviews, and claiming that she does not have the intellect for it, and at a recent press meeting of his own rambled on; worrying those gathered that he was aging fast, just as obviously as he said President Biden did..

In what is now a continued litany of lies, he claimed, in that press conference, that he was on a helicopter ride, with former Speaker of the California State Assembly Willie Brown (who previously dated Harris) and they were forced to make an emergency landing, and all that Brown discussed was Kamala; but, in fact, that ride never occurred and was with the former Gov. Jerry Brown, in 2018, as he and Trump toured California to survey wildfires.

Brown with characteristic candor told the San Francisco Chronicle as reported by CBS News: "Hell, no," Brown said. "I wouldn't say anything bad about any woman to him." Brown also told the Chronicle he hasn't spoken with Harris in three or four years.”

“California Gov. Gavin Newsom was also on the aircraft. A spokesperson for Newsom, Izzy Gardon, said Friday there was no problem with the flight, no emergency landing and no conversation about Harris,” added the report.

What is becoming increasingly obvious to political observers, the media, and others, is that Trump and his campaign are becoming desperate, increasingly so, over his standing in the polls as Harris has cut his once sustained lead in half.

The DNC has sent recent emails to supporters showing that she is taking the lead in swing states, Arizona: Harris 49%and Trump 47%, tied in Georgia, Nevada: Harris 47% to Trump 45%, and close to Trump at 46% to Trump % at 48, and also in Pennsylvania she is at 46% to Trump at 50%.

For Trump, and Vance, as the “honeymoon” for Harris has extended is that her numbers may provoke them to even more attacks, lies, and shenanigans as we get closer to the November election date.