I've had people say it's a hardening, actually ~ US presidential election 2016 part 9/11 never forget

It's actually good that Pence laid out a boilerplate conservative agenda rather than make a case for trump's "america first" neofascism. Tbh i feel lucky that few have been making that case with any degree of eloquence or clarity

"I wanted to vote for Trump but, man, Pence, he...he doesn't tell it like it is"

did Kaine hammer that shitty INdiana religious freedom bill at all?

Like its not hard for me to envision a candidate with trump's basic early message without the nonsense being extremely dangerous. There is a basic appeal to Trump's plan to shut out the world to protect American interests, even though it would be unfeasible and dangerous in reality

Not to mention evil

Just saw Louis CK, what did I miss?

pence just as terrible and evil imo, he's a piece of shit

@JoshDorner John King reporting that someone from Trump inner sanctum says Pence for Pence (and not Trump) style not sitting well with Trump.

― alomar lines, Tuesday, October 4, 2016 10:56 PM (five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lmbo pence really is running in 2020, huh. thing is this is the most logical way to do it. pissing off trump while ostensibly going on television to support him allows him to play loyal soldier card while tacitly throwing the guy no one in the gop cares about under the bus.

kaine wasnt great in this, but he...stayed on message, i guess? lucky for him, hes not running for president

Pence is definitely playing a long game. Join a ticket where you look like a sane adult, distance yourself over time from a messy governorship, and play nice with DC establishment (where you've already got ties) for the next 4 years.

Pence will never be president. His hair isn't presidential enough.

that's what they said about obama.

Of course he won't. The electoral map is already hard enough for Republicans. In four years, it ain't gonna be any easier. And he's definitely not an inspirational figure on the level of an Obama who can reboot the system. But he's got to at least be the favorite for 2020's GOP nominee.

Keep in mind, we thought Jeb was a sure thing four years ago, so ¯\(ツ)/¯

I don't know if a VP debate has had a memorable moment since Admiral Stockdale was involved, and this definitely didn't deviate from the norm. Both sides achieved their goal of avoiding any major fuck-ups. Yeah, Pence kept avoiding a defense of Trump, but pointing this out is not really an effective line of attack.

Hurricane Matthew will likely deep six this debate pretty soon, so I don't think either campaign is really going to put a lot of effort into using it to their advantage.

Though it would be funny if Trump goes into a meltdown because Pence didn't suitably live up to his wingman duties in Trump's estimation.

man, that was pretty painful. i like kaine generally but he got off to a really bad start w/ the interruptions only a couple minutes in. looked even worse when he said "isn't this a discussion?" to justify it. otherwise i thought he did fine but that was a bad way to kick off a 90-minute debate. and yeah awesome answer on the clinton foundation stuff. pence exuded a sort of slimy confidence that kind of reminded me of cheney in his VP debates. found myself feeling like i'd be more worried if he were the guy at the top of the ticket. attempt to revive "there you go again" pretty weak though.

pence was slick and had weird skin that made him look like he was wearing a mask. measured and calm responses but did he ever answer a single question posed to him? he definitely never answered about North Korea and his answer to 'when has your personal faith been a challenge' didn't answer the 'challenge' part of that at all.

does mike pence look like strax off of dr. who? I've only seen bit here and there (of dr. who and of mike pence) but this just occurred to me

Yeah, Pence kept avoiding a defense of Trump, but pointing this out is not really an effective line of attack.

For any other candidate it would - this guy wants to make huge changes, but if he can't get his second-in-command remotely on the same page, how can he work with anyone to get this done? But yeah his remaining supporters are people who don't care and/or really really hate that Feminazi.

For reference, Strax:
https://gallifreyarchive.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/strax.jpg

that's not a v flattering photo

http://humourpro.com/images/Mike-Pence-As-VP-2.jpg

you can find anything on the internet

Pence did better in his debate than Trump did in his, so now Trump is pissed off at Pence.

Haaaaaaa. I KNEW that Trump would find something to petulantly manbaby about wrt Pence's VP debate performance. Because of course he would.

Seems like a fantasy but if not holy shit

I really, really hope that lots of 'Hmmm, maybe Pence should've been the nominee' thinkpieces get floated over the next couple of days. Trump will flip his effing wig.

A bunch of troop-supportin' patriots attacked Kaine over his Blue Star parent pin again last night on Twitter, btw.

Trump's gonna call the talk radio stations as "John Miller" to badmouth Pence

I really, really hope that lots of 'Hmmm, maybe Pence should've been the nominee' thinkpieces get floated over the next couple of days. Trump will flip his effing wig.

this seems plausible

IMO Trump made a mistake going with a 'traditional' Republican rather than someone who would gladly follow him off a cliff like Guiliani or Christie

kinda reminds me of how Trump didn't even want Pence in the first place

good times

A reminder that Kasich was basically offered the job of Actual President.

Also anything that would cause Trump to get more paranoid (you can be sure that Alex Jones has some theories about an 'accident' scheduled for Trump on Jan 21st) = long term good.

Hey, does anybody know what that thing is on Trump's face? I'm no doctor but I think he should have it looked at. And have you noticed that weird guy who's hovering in the background of all public Trump photos lately? He sure is creepy. Wonder what his deal is.

Nate Silver is saying the veep debate could have a wide range of impact from being forgotten in 24 hours to causing a huge green scaly monster to invade Huntsville, AL

https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/783645247247114240

i had no idea Pence looked like the cave critters in The Descent

lol Neanderthal

A preview of 2020, after Pence has had four more years of work done to his mug:

http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/cenobite/images/0/08/Chatterer-bust-.jpg

https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2016/10/04/bill-weld-says-will-use-libertarian-vice-presidential-platform-focus-fire-donald-trump/NQcxRVjXXeIY2mfhVXvyKP/story.html

lol this is great

I'd love to hear from Dan and my Massachusetts brethren about William Weld, for whom I've had polite respect for years until he hooked up with a rock climber who doesn't own a world atlas.

Weld was governor when I started college; he is genuinely a socially-liberal/fiscally-conservative type and willing to compromise in order to solve problems. I also sang with his niece in undergrad.

the northeastern US flavor of republican not as objectionable, imo

I mean, until they start marketing themselves to the whole country in a presidential campaign. I don't think Weld could market himself as a republican nationally, leading to where he is now

Yeah, he doesn't have the same disingenuous streak as Romney.

that pence ad is pretty great

I'd love to hear from Dan and my Massachusetts brethren about William Weld,

I was living but not voting in Massachusetts in the time, but I would have voted for him against noted asshole albeit Democrat John Silber

I only head about Silber after the fact since I got to the state shortly after the election; I would have voted against him, too.

Charles Pierce has a lot of respect for Weld:

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a45382/william-weld-libertarian-ticket/

I remember Weld's losing his Senate race against Kerry.

I also sang with his niece in undergrad.

isn't there a freshman dorm named after his family?

There is!

that pence ad was great...maybe that was kaine's marching orders huh?

ol'lunch

I really, really hope that lots of 'Hmmm, maybe Pence should've been the nominee' thinkpieces get floated over the next couple of days. Trump will flip his effing wig.

Dana Milbank is way ahead of you, he was already talking "buyer's remorse" shortly after midnight

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mike-pence-gives-republicans-buyers-remorse/2016/10/05/8be23d9c-8a72-11e6-bff0-d53f592f176e_story.html