Today's political climate in the USA is a pretty upsetting one.  When we have a debate it would be nice if there could be a calm exchange of ideas and statements that leads to the public having a greater understanding of what it is that our leaders, or potential leaders are actually thinking and doing (or thinking of doing,) but unfortunately it just becomes a very juvenile series of jabs from one side to the other and then both sides' press that are in their corner declaring their guy the victor - which is what they were almost certainly going to do no matter what happened at these things.

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I watched the debate, errr, ok, i watched most of the debate... and while I thought that it was far more civilized than the Trump v. Biden debate it was still a bit of a shitshow as the two of them kept interrupting one another although to a much lower degree than the Presidential debate.  

While it was going on Pence pointed out some obvious "flip-flopping" on the part of Kamala Harris and this is especially true in two key areas:  

* The nasty things she said about Joe Biden during the primaries
* The direct conflicting information that is a part of public record, most notably in the arena of energy such as fracking
* How she and Biden both refuse to directly answer questions about "stacking the court" should they be elected

The Biden team must have figured out that the massive number of people employed in the energy sector in swing states such as Pennsylvania are not so keen in the complete transition to green energy and the subsequent elimination of their livelihoods so now they are doing a total "about-face" on their stance as far as that is concerned.  When Harris claims that neither her nor Biden ever said they wanted to do away with fracking you are only a short internet search away from finding out that precisely the opposite is the case.  

Also, Harris behaved erratically and dare I say at the risk of sounding a bit misogynistic, "bitchy" during the debate as she smirked, raised her eyebrows as if a child were telling her off, and swung her arms around erratically when she heard things come from Pence that she didn't like.  

Stills don't do it justice so maybe have a look at this short video for an glimpse in case you missed the live action.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFHePSIV5gA

Now I realize that this is produced by the New York Post, which is a conservative publication but the footage doesn't lie, even if they would.  Unfortunately for Harris, she is being critiqued for this lack of composure even by liberal outlets as well.

But anything can happen this election year and honestly, Pence is probably the only "normal" person we have seen during a debate at all in 2020.  He certainly carries himself a lot better than even his own running mate and boss does.

However, the thing that gets to me is that social media, the late night comedy pundits who preach mostly to the choir, are not focusing on the content of the debate almost at all.  Instead they are referring almost exclusively to the fact that a fly landed on Pence's head for a couple of minutes during the night.  Seriously, if you look online about this debate this is the prevailing article and to me I think it is very convenient for their side that this happened because if they were forced to focus on the substance of the debate itself, I think they would have a difficult time trying to create a situation of victory towards Kamala Harris at all. 

There are also the usual feminist accusations of Pence "mansplaining"  or being condescending towards Harris because she is a woman.  If Pence was condescending towards Harris it isn't because she is a woman, it is because she is his political opponent.  At the conclusion of the debate Pence had to try for quite some time to get her attention just to have him look at her in order to give her a polite "nod of thanks."  

I am conservative, so I realize that my own bias is playing a part in me thinking that Pence was the clear winner in this debate.  The losers are Harris' apparent inability to maintain her composure and also the US press who decided that an insect is more important that the topics that were discussed that night.