Walz, Vance Keep Vice Presidential Debate Cordial Despite Strong Disagreements on Abortion, Foreign Policy, Democracy

Governor Walz and Senator Vance on Tuesday night had one of the most cordial debates in recent campaign history, despite strong disagreements about democracy, abortion, and foreign policy issues. Both Mr. Walz and Mr. Vance allowed the other to get away with slick answers about past stances on critical issues. While the two men said they agreed on issues about combating addiction, restricting illegal immigration, and bringing manufacturing jobs home, Mr. Walz couldn’t help himself from bragging about the broader coalition that he and Vice President Harris have built. “I’m as surprised as anybody of this coalition that Kamala Harris has built — from Bernie Sanders to Dick Cheney to Taylor Swift — and a whole bunch of folks in between there,” Mr. Walz said in his closing statement. It was a more lighthearted moment in a debate that was dominated by serious policy disagreements. Mr. Vance said at one point that he would have not certified the 2020 election results had he been vice president at the time, which prompted Mr. Walz to call him out for his “damning non-answer.”Mr. Walz had his own slip-ups, though, including his assertions — which was apparently a trip of the tongue — that he had been “friends” with “school shooters” during a discussion about protecting children from gun violence. He also refused to answer questions about his assertions — over the course of decades — that he had been in China during the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. The Minnesota governor wrote it off as misplaced “rhetoric” and being a “knucklehead.”During a questioning period about Haitian immigrants at Springfield, Ohio and Ms. Harris’s immigration priorities, the CBS News moderators — Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan — cut both men’s microphones off. Around that same time, President Trump decided to chime in on Truth Social about the moderators’ handling of the debate with a remark about the two experienced journalists. “Both young ladies have been extremely biased Anchors!” he wrote of Ms. O’Donnell and Ms. Brennan.After the debate ended, Trump posted Mr. Vance was “GREAT.”The policy discussions, while cordial, were sharp in contrast. On abortion, Mr. Walz went straight for Mr. Vance’s past comments and Trump’s role in overturning Roe v. Wade. “Their Project 2025 is gonna have a registry,” Mr. Walz said of the abortion issue, referring to a policy book that Trump has since denounced. Mr. Vance did the same, saying that they would take no action on abortion policy at the federal level. Mr. Walz insisted that, on the abortion issue, it’s “nobody else’s business” and “a basic human right.”“Just mind your own business,” the governor said to the senator during a back-and-forth.Mr. Vance said that while he previously supported a national abortion restriction, he no longer wants to see such a law passed. He referred to an unnamed woman with whom he is close who was in an abusive relationship and felt her best choice was to have an abortion. He said he wanted the Trump-Vance administration to push “pro-family” policies around housing and fertility treatments, but conceded that the people do not yet understand their goals. “The American people frankly don’t trust us,” Mr. Vance said of the Republican Party’s abortion policies. Before that back-and-forth, the two men discussed the brewing conflict in the Middle East. Mr. Walz opened the discussion, saying that the October 7 attack was horrifying, and that Israel had a responsibility to defend itself in the wake of that Hamas attack and in the wake of Iran’s bombing campaign at Tel Aviv. “Israel’s ability to defend itself is absolutely fundamental,” the Minnesota governor said, adding that “steady leadership is gonna matter.” He praised Ms. Harris for her level-headedness in the wake of the crises. The moderators did not ask any questions about the Russia-Ukraine war, which has been an issue Mr. Vance has strong opinions about.Mr. Walz criticized “a nearly 80-year-old Donald Trump” for “talking about crowd sizes” at the presidential debate between Ms. Harris and Trump earlier this month. He took a shot at Trump by listing the former national security officials who are now saying the 45th president should not return to the Oval Office, including Trump’s chief of staff, General John Kelly, two of Trump’s national security advisors, and his last secretary of defense.“Our allies understand” that Trump will do anything for those who “flatter” him, Mr. Walz said at the end of the Middle East questioning. Mr. Vance shot back, saying that no attacks on Israel by Iran had happened while Trump was in the White House. “Donald Trump actually delivered stability in the world,” the Ohio senator said. “People were afraid of stepping out of line.”Mr. Vance echoed President Reagan’s mantra of “peace through strength” with respect to the Middle East. “It is up to Israel what they think they need to do,” though America will “support” whatever they decide to do, Mr. Vance said when asked if America should support a retaliatory strike on Iran. The two men have kept it cordial thus far, though the campaign has been ugly between the two men during their respective campaign appearance. Just after Mr. Walz was nominated for the vice presidency, Mr. Vance attacked his policy decisions as governor, including signing a law that included no limits on abortion and his decision to mandate tampons being placed in boys’ school bathrooms. Mr. Walz was quick to criticize Mr. Vance when he became the Democratic vice presidential nominee, saying at his first joint rally with Vice President Harris that the Republican ticket was “creepy” and “just weird as hell.”

Walz, Vance Keep Vice Presidential Debate Cordial Despite Strong Disagreements on Abortion, Foreign Policy, Democracy

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