In perusing the reviews of the debate most are fairly consistent with my assessment last night with each side stating they won while spiking a football that doesn’t exist. But there was a clear moment that stood out in its importance and it was also highlighted in my  column. J.D. Vance’s non-answer as to who won the 2020 election became the defining moment for Democrats. Like his fellow senator Josh Hawley, Vance ran from January 6th and who won the election and attendant January 6th by saying that he was “focused on the future.”
In reality there are likely only two million independent voters left to persuade and far fewer in the true swing states – primarily Pennsylvania and North Carolina. By definition independent voters are moderate to a fault. But their center stance precludes the type of rabid partisanship that leads the far-right to believe that the violence on January 6th was justified. Moderate voters surely remember that date with shock and anger.
J.D. Vance’s didn’t have an option in setting the issue as to who won the election and the problem with January 6th. He would either infuriate Donald Trump or look diabolically fact-free. He had to take a “pass.” The Harris campaign blasted him by creating an ad just hours after.
VP Harris campaign promptly releases an advertisement that includes the "January 6" excerpt of last night's debate pic.twitter.com/bqDfPxXdoi
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) October 2, 2024
Yes, well – this is a uniquely effective ad (To the extent that anything matters to the few independent voters left in PA and NC), the video of the violence on January 6th stings at a visceral level. Again, voters remember. Twisting Vance’s fearful response in saying that he’s focused on the future tee’d up the warning that if Donald Trump were to be elected again it becomes the ever-present now and extending to the future.
But voters also realize that this ad is really directed at Trump. He is the one who forecloses Vance from truly addressing what is a known fact to everyone save the hardened Trump-supporters. It goes even deeper. Trump’s unique personality is such that Vance cannot contemplate independence from Trump’s position even in matters that are simply fact.
The ad and issue pins Trump must avoid, this is true even as he reiterates his denials. Meanwhile the dynamic compels the Harris campaign to continuously pound the point – Trump’s last days turned violent and it portends a new violent administration or violence in losing.
The horror is that the results will send the country reeling either way. If Harris wins, Trump will yell about another stolen election and his supporters will respond as they have in the past – believing Trump. If Trump is successful it will be on the back of some extreme rhetoric and the serious possibility of a violent future. It is exceedingly dangerous and voters should know.
As for January 6th and now January 2025, a quote from Eugene O’Neil comes to mind: “There is no present or future, only the past, happening over and over again now.”
God Bless:Â I can be reached at [email protected]
As a priest once said to me,’Sins of omission can be greater than sins of commission.’
Here is the perfect example.
It’s not what he said, it’s what he didn’t (or couldn’t ?) say.
To paraphrase that old Coke ad, ‘It was the pause that refreshes’.
When questioned, he, at first, couldn’t say anything.
Then he lied.
With a vacuous non-answer.
I think the Harris campaign could also just use the old Merrie Melodies cartoon with Daffy Duck auditioning to become one of Robin Hood’s men trying to perfect his slick use of a quarterstaff. He knows the election question is coming, but he “sproings” the answer in debate prep. At the debate, Tim Walz/Friar Tuck (Porky Pig), doesn’t even let him get all the way to the “sproing!”
short version:
🤣🤣
You might want to rewatch the cartoon. Daffy’s NOT “auditioning to become one of Robin Hood’s men”; he’s trying to prove to Porky (playing the role of Friar Tuck) that he *IS* actually Robin Hood (that’s the whole setup for the cartoon–Daffy is Robin Hood and Porky is Friar Tuck).
OK, Joseph. I got it wrong, so shoot me…”I’m a fiddler crab, shoot me, it’s fiddler crab season!” 🦀
A gracious acknowledgement of your error, with a word of thanks to Joseph, would have looked much better on you. If you believe that either storyline, yours or Joseph’s, would work as effectively for a Harris campaign ad, you could deferentially, or at least politely, make that point.
Note: I have not watched the cartoon, Cleora. I am just taking your word for it that Joseph’s storyline is the correct one.