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Al’s Afternoon Tea: Setting the Stage for the Vice Presidential Debate

By Al Perrotta Published on October 1, 2024 •

Al Perrotta

Welcome back in for Al’s Afternoon Tea. Today, we’re stocking up the goodies for tonight’s debate between the men vying for the nation’s #2 spot — Tim Walz and J.D. Vance.

Vance vs. Walz and CBS News

At 9 p.m. Eastern time, Vance will square off against  Tim Walz, with CBS News on hand to help the Minnesota governor out. The network says the moderators — CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell and Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan — won’t be fact-checking either candidate, but when CBS News itself gives Walz and running mate Kamala Harris 85% positive coverage versus 81% negative coverage for Vance and running mate Donald Trump (according to Newsbusters), it’s no stretch to predict how this is likely to go.

Plus, as the Washington Examiner noted, both O’Donnell and Brennan suggested Trump’s rhetoric was the reason two wannabe assassins took shots at him in less than eight weeks, so we know where their thinking is. Brennan in particular was miffed that in a statement he gave right after a bullet came within millimeters of killing him in July, Trump didn’t call for his supporters to tone down their rhetoric. She did not make a peep about the actual rhetoric from the left that actually played a strong role in both attempts on Trump’s life.

So we have an idea how the questions might go tonight:

For Vance: “Why did you lie about Haitian migrants eating dogs and cats in Springfield, Ohio? Do you wish to apologize for inspiring a series of bomb threats?”

For Walz: “How does it feel to have your critics question your decades of military service?”

For Vance: “Why would you wish to abandon Ukraine to Vladimir Putin?”

For Walz: “How important is it to reach a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Gaza?”

For Vance: “How can you criticize Kamala Harris’s border policy when your running mate killed the bipartisan bill that would have ensured border security?”

For Walz: “You called Senator Vance ‘weird.’ In what ways is he more abnormal than the average American?”

It’s possible that I am exaggerating. However, watch for the questions to be heavily weighted in the direction of Democratic issues. A question involving Hurricane Helene won’t be about why Harris has remained camped out among the wealthy elites in San Francisco while North Carolina is flooding; it’ll be about climate change. Questions about abortion won’t be about Walz and Harris advocating for unlimited abortion through all nine months of pregnancy, but about Republican assaults on “women’s reproductive care” and the “national ban on abortion” Trump allegedly wants to pass if he’s re-elected.

You won’t hear them ask about the wholesale murder of American citizens by illegal immigrants, or Harris wanting taxpayers to foot the bill for the sex-change surgeries of those illegal immigrants who actually do wind up incarcerated. You won’t see anything about men playing in women’s sports leagues, porn being shoved onto our children in public schools, or Walz’s mishandling of the 2020 riots throughout Minnesota after the death of George Floyd.

However, it is a good bet you will see them lob Walz a softball question about his connections to the Chinese Communist Party that will allow him to dismiss the new allegations (which we highlight below) in the same manner that Joe Biden was able to dismiss the news about Hunter’s laptop without pushback in 2020.

Promising not to fact check the candidates is not the same as promising not to cut Vance off when he responds.

How’s It Going to Go? Not Well for Walz.

So how will the two candidates actually do?

Vance has been smacking gotcha questions from reporters off the outfield wall since receiving the vice presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention in July, as well as hitting scorchers right up the middle. (Can you tell the Major League Baseball playoffs also begin today?) Meanwhile, Walz has been avoiding questions the way a vampire avoids sunlight. There will be no confrontational back-and-forths for Walz; he enters the debate with no game experience.

That’s why Team Harris has been desperately trying to lower expectations for Walz, with tales of him being nervous, admitting he’s a bad debater, and saying that his training as a teacher means he is used to asking questions rather than answering them.

However, I believe Walz will not meet even those low expectations. Vance is a cool customer; Walz is not. While he comes across as affable, he is known to be thin-skinned, with a bad temper. I suspect that under the heat of debate pressure, feeling the fate of the election on his shoulders, and with Vance blasting at him and Harris every which way, Walz will crumble.

Vance will turn anything Walz throws at him to his own advantage, to withering effect. Anything the moderators throw at Vance, he will turn into an attack on both Harris and Walz and their policies.

Unlike Donald Trump, who often gets sidetracked and leaves clear and obvious shots untaken, Vance will take every advantage and pounce on any errors.

Walz also will also be forced to defend Harris’s indefensible positions and atrocious record. He’ll have enough difficulty carrying his own baggage, let alone hers.

Will the Debate Have an Impact?

Usually, vice presidential debates don’t move the needle in elections. Remember in 1988, Sen. Lloyd Benson absolutely ended Sen. Dan Quayle with his response to just one statement. There was no debate about who won the debate — and yet Quayle still ended up as the vice president, carried into office on the strength of George H.W. Bush.

 

However, in this case, we’re not going to be talking about one exchange, or even a handful of exchanges that will make Walz look bad. We’re talking about 90 minutes of Vance, unfiltered, dropping bombs on Harris and Walz’s records while defending Trump’s.

Benson hit Quayle, but left George H.W. Bush unscathed in the process. Tonight, Vance will knock Walz out of the way and blast Kamala Harris.

Plus, nowadays, it’s not so much the debate itself that matters, but the memorable moments that go viral on social media afterward. Spin rooms are nothing compared to X.

Vance will craft soundbite after soundbite. The bestselling author is a catchy quote machine. Meanwhile, Walz will make all sorts of weird gestures and facial expressions that will make for viral memes — leading some undecided voters thinking, “He shouldn’t be in the Situation Room, he should be in a rubber room.”

While he made a big deal of calling Vance “weird,” the potential exists for Walz to come across as equal parts creepy, unstable, and (to borrow a description from CNN’s Scott Jennings) buffoonish.

Certainly, with minds on edge with wars, rumors of wars, paralyzing port shutdowns, and devastating natural disasters dominating all other parts of the news, that simply will not fly. Serious and substantive will carry the day.

In a race this tight, tonight’s debate could make the difference.

Whistleblower Shows Links Between Tim Walz and CCP

Tim Walz often boasts about going to China dozens of times, and even choosing his wedding date to fall on the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. (Actually, we should say did boast. Now the Harris campaign says he visited China “closer to 15” times.) His former students talk about Walz’s fanboy obsession with Chairman Mao and the Chinese Communist system.

Is he just a fan of the murderous regime and America’s nemesis? Or is Walz actually a Chinese asset?  

Yesterday, the House Oversight Committee revealed that a whistleblower has come forward with evidence tying Walz directly to the Chinese Communist Party.  As in, Walz is the CCP’s boy in the state house … and potentially the White House.  

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Fox News reports the whistleblower “notified the committee of the existence of a non-classified, Microsoft Teams group chat among [Department of Homeland Security] employees, as well as additional intelligence reports, that allegedly contain information regarding Walz’s alleged connections to the CCP.” Chairman James Comer is subpoenaing DHS for records related to Walz’s Chinese ties.  

This is a big deal. In addition to being governor and on deck for the number two spot in the nation, Walz was a top leader in the Minnesota National Guard — meaning, the question must be raised whether he was compromised at that time, including whether he handed any military secrets over to the Chinese. One of Walz’s former National Guard colleagues recently wondered if Walz was behind the mysterious disappearance of a Standard Operating Procedure manual for a howitzer with nuclear capabilities.

The CCP is known to put great emphasis on recruiting subnational government leaders. Just a few weeks back, a top aide to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was arrested for being a Chinese asset.

GOP strategist Dustin Grage has a nice thread on X laying out Walz’s love affair with the CCP.

Trump Will Conduct Play-By-Play Analysis

It’s not enough for Trump to be the star quarterback on the Republican team; he also has to be the color commentator. Trump says he’ll be live posting on Truth Social during the debate.

The Stream, of course, will be covering the debate, and John Zmirak will be writing a post-debate analysis that will run tomorrow.

MSNBC Fact-Checks Vance’s Joke About Eggs

The other day, when J.D. Vance made a campaign stop at a grocery store to talk grocery prices, his two young sons reached for a carton of eggs. “Yes, buddy. Want some eggs?” Vance said. “Let’s talk about eggs. Because these guys actually eat about 14 eggs every single morning. Is that right?”

Clearly, that was a joke. But not to MSNBC reporter/Harris apologist Stephanie Ruhle. She actually fact-checked Vance.

Vance offered a mocking reply.

Ruhle must have been a real delight as a child.

Momma Ruhle: “This room is a pig sty!”

Young Stephanie: “Mother, this is a 12’ x 10’ bedroom in a suburban rambler.”

 

On the Stream Menu

Stream Publisher James Robison has an urgent message for the Body. If you haven’t already, please watch “James Robison: Hurricane Helene Is a Picture of Satan’s Work Today.”

Meanwhile, frequent contributor Wanda Alger offers “Prophetic Dream: They Want to Erase God’s Fingerprint from Creation” in which she offers some salient prayer points that are in keeping with our 40-day fast for the nation. Today marks Day 6.

Also, John Zmirak concludes his short series on “Why the Left Has Teflon” with Part 4.

 

Al Perrotta is The Stream’s Washington bureau chief, coauthor with John Zmirak of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration, and coauthor of the counterterrorism memoir Hostile Intent: Protecting Yourself Against Terrorism.

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