Blue pen: lipstick on a pig

Gov. Walz is not a good debater. He made this clear to Vice President Harris during the selection process. Many good leaders are not great orators. Senator Vance, with his Yale law background, is much more polished. The man who compared Trump to Hitler and accused him of failing to deliver on his economic plans, falsely accused legal Haitian immigrants of barbecuing their neighbors’ pets, and attacked women without children as “cat ladies” who shouldn’t have done so the suffrage presented a much milder new version of himself and his boss. To echo Sarah Palin, who I’m not used to quoting: “You can’t put lipstick on a pig.”

Mr. Vance was polished. He’s clearly comfortable with lying. Every politician exaggerates, distorts the truth and sometimes ignores inconvenient facts. Mr. Vance expertly takes lying to new heights.

He claimed that 20 to 25 million illegal immigrants in this country are responsible for high housing costs. Even conservative immigrant estimates put the number at 11 million, and housing is expensive because we haven’t built enough since the 2007 housing crisis.

He blamed Mexico for our illegal gun problem, “Border Czar Harris” for the immigration crisis, and both for the fentanyl epidemic. Our gun problem is self-made. Vice President Harris was never the “border czar.” It wasn’t her job to secure the border. Most fentanyl arrives in the US through ports and legal entry points. Immigrants don’t wear it because drug cartels rely on safer methods. Senator Vance had a better chance than the vice president to do something about the border. He could have voted for the most comprehensive border security bill in decades, which would provide millions of dollars for enhanced fentanyl bans. He didn’t do this because his boss wanted a campaign problem and not a solution. And blaming drug cartels, immigrants or Mexico for our fentanyl crisis misses the point. It is our crisis. Fentanyl is being imported because epidemic numbers of Americans are using it. Its distribution depends on Americans. The solution lies in treatment and economic development.

He claimed that violent crime has risen to its highest level ever under Biden and Harris.

According to FBI statistics, this is lower than when Trump left office.

He claimed Trump was trying to save the Affordable Care Act. All Trump has ever done is try to destroy it. In his own debate he said: “I have concepts for a plan”… after nine years?

And Mr. Vance went on to describe how he would undermine the plan if given the chance.

As I write this, the Southwest is experiencing its highest temperatures on record. North Carolina and Georgia are reeling from the strongest hurricane ever to hit them. Mr. Vance refused to acknowledge that climate change is real. Refused to admit that carbon is warming our planet at an alarming rate. He showed a huge lack of understanding about climate change, claiming instead that he and his boss wanted “clean water” and “clean air” while ignoring that as President Trump did his best to push clean water and air regulations into to feed.

And he couldn’t bring himself to admit that President Biden won the last election.

Vice presidential debates generally don’t matter, and neither does this.

Mr. Vance sought to paint an image of Mr. Trump as strong, capable, compassionate and responsible. I could quote Ms. Palin again.

The next day at a press conference in Milwaukee, Trump was asked whether he should have taken tougher action against Iran after their ballistic missile attack on U.S. troops injured more than a hundred soldiers. He replied, “What does wounded mean? You mean because they had a headache…no one was tougher on Iraq…’, once again demonstrating his contempt for our military and confusing Iraq and Iran.

As the press conference progressed, at one point he became increasingly confused, claiming that Kim Jong Un was the president of Iran who is “trying to kill me.” This is the same Jong Un he claims as a close friend. He’s clearly confused.

I encourage you to go online, watch the entire press conference, and ask if this man is qualified to be president. He looks tired, as if even his scaled-back campaigns are taking a toll on his 78 years. As it progresses, he becomes more and more confused and disoriented.