How worried were Democrats that Ohio Senator J.D. Vance (R) was going to mop the floor with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) in the vice presidential debate Tuesday night? Well, in the run up to the event, CNN’s Democrats were seriously arguing that a Vance win would actually be a bad thing because he would come off as “predatory,” while Walz would be “constrained by his desire to be a unifier.”
Former Obama adviser turned CNN talking head, David Axelrod admitted that former President Trump picked Vance to be his “designated hitter” and that Vance was good a moments like this. “Donald Trump is a casting director, and he was convinced he would be good on TV for him, and this debate is obviously the most important television appearance there is,” he said.
But according to Axelrod, Vance would come off looking “predatory” like a vicious coyote ripping at an innocent Labrador:
But, you know, they have very different personalities. Vance is, you know, he is a bit predatory on that debate platform and Walz, his strength is his warmth and is his everydayness. It's kind of like a Labrador versus a coyote. And the question is, people root for the Labrador, but can he get enough swipes him to keep the coyote off him?
Far-left political activist Van Jones warned that “J.D. Vance is dangerous to debate” because he’s a “phony” person:
Look, I think J.D. Vance is dangerous to debate. First of all, you don't know which J.D. Vance you're going to get. He's such a phony that he could either be the phony Appalachia guy or he could be the kind of suck up that he was to get a job with Donald Trump.
Of course, he omitted that Walz has been credibly accused of stolen valor for lying about going off to war while he abandoned his unit before they deployed.
Jones went on claim that Walz would be debating “somebody who has high IQ-low integrity, high IQ-low empathy, high IQ but really no – willing to hurt Haitian children to get ahead, willing to changed his whole personality to get a position with Donald Trump.”
“That is a dangerous person for a good man to debate,” he lamented for Walz, “somebody who actually is going to be constrained by facts, who’s going to be constrained by his desire to be a unifier. So, I think it's going to be a tough night for a coach Walz to show that good guys can win even against low integrity people like [Vance].”
CNN’s host Anderson Cooper called him out. “Are just trying to lower expectations? Because a lot of – cause some Democrats are; in the Harris campaign,” he said.
“Look, I went to school with people like J.D. Vance who just want to get ahead, no matter what; who will say anything, do anything. Those people are tough to debate. I used to lose debates to them all the time at Yale,” he proclaimed.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
CNN’s Debate Night in America
October 1, 2024
7:08:14 p.m. Eastern(…)
DAVID AXELROD: Yeah. Look, I think that he was hired basically as Donald Trump's designated hitter. Donald Trump is a casting director, and he was convinced he would be good on TV for him, and this debate is obviously the most important television appearance there is.
And, you know, he comes in, we all know having worked with Van Jones, how these Yale-educated lawyers, very slick –
SCOT JENNINGS: Easy, easy! You’re going to trigger Walz, you keep talking about Yale. He hates that Yale.
[Laughter]
AXELROD: But, you know, they have very different personalities. Vance is, you know, he is a bit predatory on that debate platform and Walz, his strength is his warmth and is his everydayness. It's kind of like a Labrador versus a coyote. And the question is, people root for the Labrador, but can he get enough swipes him to keep the coyote off him?
VAN JONES: Look, I think J.D. Vance is dangerous to debate. First of all, you don't know which J.D. Vance you're going to get. He's such a phony that he could either be the phony Appalachia guy or he could be the kind of suck up that he was to get a job with Donald Trump.
When you’re dealing with somebody who has high IQ-low integrity, high IQ-low empathy, high IQ but really no – willing to hurt Haitian children to get ahead, willing to changed his whole personality to get a position with Donald Trump, that is a dangerous person for a good man to debate; somebody who actually is going to be constrained by facts, who’s going to be constrained by his desire to be a unifier.
So, I think it's going to be a tough night for a coach Walz to show that good guys can win even against low integrity people like him.
ANDERSON COOPER: Are just trying to lower expectations? Because a lot of – cause some Democrats are; in the Harris campaign.
JONES: No, no, no. Look, I wouldn't want it to be somebody – Look, first of all—
AXELROD: That Yale lawyer training.
JONES: I look – I – Look, I went to school with people like J.D. Vance who just want to get ahead, no matter what; who will say anything, do anything. Those people are tough to debate. I used to lose debates to them all the time at Yale.
(…)
