Wednesday, October 5, 2016
Rather Than Responding, Pence Dodges Questions About Trump
In Tuesday night's vice presidential debate, Gov. Mike Pence and Sen. Tim Kaine went head to head for the first time to discuss their candidate's policies. This article focuses on how, rather than giving clear answers to questions about his running mate's, Donald Trump's, policies, Pence often deflected questions, choosing to change the topic and not answer questions directly. I found this interesting because Pence's behavior seems to be similar to Trump's when he was in the same position last week. (An interesting sidenote: I read that this year's VP debate had the lowest number of viewers since the one in 2000...)
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Thats actually really interesting that Pence's performance was so similar to Trump's. I didn't actually watch the VP debate but if Pence was avoiding certain questions and not going into enough detail then I'm sure the viewers were just as frustrated with Pence as they were with Trump in the first presidential debate, which probably doesn't look good for the Republican party so far in these debates. Im also not surprised that this VP debate had one of the lowest number of viewers because I think so many people have been focused on these unusual presidential candidates that their popularity has been clouding over the vice presidents campaign.
ReplyDeleteI think that the strong personalities of the presidential candidates have overshadowed their VPs. I'm also not surprised that Pence dodged questions; Trump doesn't give him many positive things that he can talk about. Keeping recent events especially in mind, even Pence is ashamed of Trump.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the campaign, there has been a noticeable rift between Mr. Trump and his running mate. They have starkly different views on many social issues, including LGBTQ+ rights. Governor Pence has avoided or been unable to defend his partner's comments many times, so I'm not surprised that he did this in the debate. In my opinion, Governor Pence is more concerned with maintaining his own political reputation than promoting Mr. Trump's presidential run.
ReplyDeleteI find it unsurprising but interesting nonetheless that Pence acted so similarly to Trump in this debate. While Pence and Trump have very different personalities, as stated by the article, their approaches to their respective debates were very similar. Each candidate frequently dodged or failed to answer questions posed by the opposing candidate. However, it must be very difficult for Pence to defend Trump, given his unpredictable nature.
ReplyDeleteWith Trump's actions to date, Pence isn't left with much room to defend his candidate. Furthermore, because they diverge on a number of issues, Pence tries to dance around certain things because defending them is difficult or might make his our political platform seem hypocritical.
ReplyDeleteWatching Pence's performance in the vice presidential debate was very similar to Trump's performance, with both of the members of the republican ticket refusing to respond to questions or changing the subject right away. Although I'm really not a fan of Pence, I do kind of feel bad for the position he's in; it must be really hard to be in that position where people are quoting things that Mr. Trump has said and expecting Pence to either defend or go against what Trump has said. I'm sure he doesn't want to do either of these things. Both of the vice presidential candidates are seen as "safe picks" by many. They're extremely overshadowed by the two controversial figures that are the presidential candidates, which probably is why so few people were interested in the vice presidential debate.
ReplyDeleteI would not go as far to compare Pence directly to Trump. While they both deflected questions, I would argue that they deflected the questions for different reasons and in a different manner. Trump would just blatantly ignore a question and use an insult as a response whereas I feel like Pence was just trying to do damage control and prevent further ground being lost due to Trump's comments. While I acknowledge that Pence's performance was not great and he did not really make any great points defending Trump, I can't blame him. Imagine being put in the position defend the comments Trump has made. It cannot be done.
ReplyDeleteI think that Pence was put on the ticket for Trump so that if Trump loses this election, they have some basis of a campaign in 2020. Though this may be my superstition, I think that Pence is playing defensively so that when he does run in 2020, he has a fairly clean slate and some form of deniability when it comes to supporting Trumps policies.
ReplyDeleteI think that Pence was put on the ticket for Trump so that if Trump loses this election, they have some basis of a campaign in 2020. Though this may be my superstition, I think that Pence is playing defensively so that when he does run in 2020, he has a fairly clean slate and some form of deniability when it comes to supporting Trumps policies.
ReplyDeleteWhile watching the vp debate, it was apparent that Pence dodged many questions just like Trump did. On the other hand, most questions asked that he dodged were about Donald Trump. In general though, it is hard I assume for Pence when asked certain questions about Donald Trump because he is Trump's Vice President but there are some things that Trump does that can be easily argued with. I think in general, Pence was trying not to make a scene during the first vp debate.
ReplyDeleteThis article is very interesting. I think that Pence was chosen as Trump's running mate to balance some of Trump's personality and to draw in some more conservatives. Because of Trump's insane and provocative claims it has made it hard for Pence to defend him, and if he does it might make him look bad to other conservative Republicans
ReplyDeleteThis article raises a few points. First, not even Trump's VP can stand by him and justify his words, showing how unbelievably awful Trump is. Second, the debate proved that Pence has more in common with Trump than most people notice. He behaved almost exactly as Trump did; he was disrespectful to Kaine and the moderator and refused to answer questions directed to him. Since Trump is such a controversial choice you'd think he would choice a running mate that can redeem him, but this debate proved that Pence isn't much better.
ReplyDeletePence acted similarly to Trump by dodging questions and being rather evasive. It is possible that he was attempting to offset Trump's explosive manner and habit of saying things that he should not. The debate was not particularly exciting or noteworthy, but still important. The main focus of this campaign is the two lresduentu candidates. With Trump and Hillary going head to head, it is no wonder not many people are paying as much attention to the VP candidates.
ReplyDeleteThis article really puts into perspective how the VP's on this ballot want to be seen and how they behave. It's difficult to watch Pence try to stand by Trump when it's evident he doesn't stand by the "billionaire's" words or actions. I liked how the article acknowledged that Pence was chosen as VP just to counterweight Trump, not because of their compatibility.
ReplyDeleteI'd also like to say that it makes sense that not many people watched the debate because all the action takes place in the presidential debates. Pence and Kaine seemed to do nothing extraordinary, in their own right, but just followed in suit with their respective candidates.
This article really puts into perspective how the VP's on this ballot want to be seen and how they behave. It's difficult to watch Pence try to stand by Trump when it's evident he doesn't stand by the "billionaire's" words or actions. I liked how the article acknowledged that Pence was chosen as VP just to counterweight Trump, not because of their compatibility.
ReplyDeleteI'd also like to say that it makes sense that not many people watched the debate because all the action takes place in the presidential debates. Pence and Kaine seemed to do nothing extraordinary, in their own right, but just followed in suit with their respective candidates.
I think Pence was definitely put on the ballot to balance Trump and bring in more Republican candidates. As the article discussed, they are very different people and it's ridiculous that the VP can't even back up or justify Trump's actions. I don't think that Pence and Trump are similar, & the only reason that Trump and Pence acted the same in the debate was because Pence can't defend him.
ReplyDeleteEven though Trump and Pence are very similar, it doesn't suprise me that Pence tried to sidestep questions about Trump's offensive remarks. Pence could have either agreed with him and have people dislike him just as much or disagree and make their ticket seem ununified. Instead of doing either one of these Pence said pretty much nothing instead. As for this vice presidential debate being the least watched since 2000, I don't find that suprising at all. Both of the presidential candidates are controversial and their vice presidential candidates are relatively normal and mellow compared to them, so it makes sense that people aren't that interested in following the Vice Presidents.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this article, I believe that Pence is in a very difficult situation; he has to attempt to defend a man like Trump. Pence was nominated for this position to bring in more conservatives to vote for Trump. Trying to defend a man like Trump is not easy, and being expected to apologize for it.. No wonder he avoided the questions and comments involving what Trump said. Pence lack of answering questions in the VP debate is a direct cause by Trump.
ReplyDeleteEven though Trump and Pence acted similarly, I believe it was for different reasons. Trump avoids questions because he genuinely doesn't know enough to give a proper answer. Pence avoids them because he knows the answer will not go over well with the crowd. Pence is using everything in his power to do damage control for Trump. He is in a very bad position at the moment because Trump is his biggest enemy and Pence can't do anything about that.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe that this debate had the lowest viewership since 2000. With all of the public intrigue regarding everything election-based this year, I would've thought that listening to their running mates would bring substantial interest. I find it interesting that Kaine was a former lawyer because, looking back at the debate, it truly did seem like a cross-examination in a courtroom. Kaine clinically dismantled every argument or claim Pence threw his way. Pence's only option was to deflect, sidestep, or admit defeat, and he certainly couldn't do the last one. I think this article ended perfectly - “You,” he told Mr. Pence, “are Donald Trump’s apprentice.” Pence got owned.
ReplyDeleteI am unsurprised that Pence acted in a similar matter to Trump, deflecting questions and avoiding answers. However, I think that Pence's reasons for doing this are different from Trump's. The two of them have very different views about many issues, and it seems as though Pence barely even wants to defend him. Trump's actions have been so out of control and unpredictable that Pence has been put in a very awkward position in having to defend him. Instead of doing this, he wants to focus on his less radical viewpoints in order to attract more traditional Republicans and balance out Trump's extremism.
ReplyDeleteI don't find it surprising that Pence acted similarly to Trump, which is by deflecting questions and avoiding answers. Trump makes it difficult for one to stand by and support him. Trump didn't give Pence many positive things to talk about and additionally, I believe Pence tried to avoid answering questions because he didn't want to make matters worse for his campaign
ReplyDeleteIn this case, you can't entirely blame Pence for his choices in this debate. Defending Trump without flat-out lying multiple times would be an extremely difficult task, one that could backfire very easily and make Trump's campaign much harder. While I don't support what Pence did, in only retorting and deflecting the conversation away from Trump, it was the safest course of action he could have took, and one that played off of making Kaine look somewhat immature for going on the complete offensive, even if that was a completely legitimate strategy that should have been recognized more favorably by the viewers. I just don't get how Trump played such a deceptive game on his own words and managed to appear like the "honest" candidate as a result of this, even when the facts were clearly laid out for us to see.
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