On Wednesday evening, Senator Kamala Harris and Vice President Mike Pence squared off for the only vice presidential debate of this election. This debate marked important issues such as the coronavirus, the economy, abortion, taxes, and… a fly? Today, we point out the winner and loser of last night’s debate.
Winner: The Fly
In what can only be described as a symbol of 2020, a fly awkwardly landed on Vice President Mike Pence about an hour into the debate. His silver hair made the fly all that more noticeable for the 4 minute duration, during which time the internet went absolutely rife with comments; with some saying the fly was attracted to Pence because he was decomposing, and others saying this was a sign from Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Heck the fly even got it’s own twitter account. The fly seemed to encapsulate the debate as a whole, emphasizing the candidates having mediocre performances, and the moderators inability to moderate (more on that later). The debate was certainly strange enough already, having plexiglass barriers placed between the two candidates, but the fly was 100% the cherry on top of the melting sunday that was supposed to be the saving grace of this debate trail.
Loser: The Moderator
To put it bluntly, the moderating during these two debates has been horrific. Last night’s moderating job however was unbearably worse and way more biased than the first one. Candidates going over their time limits, interrupting each other, redirecting questions, all of which the moderator did nothing to quell. Part of this can be attributed to lack of power. The moderators don’t have any way of controlling the debate besides their voices, having to rely on common decency and an endless arsonal of “thank you candidates.” Even after stating this fact it doesn’t excuse the moderators performance, she didn’t seem to have any desire to interrupt, opting instead to let the candidates walk all over her as time limits came and were gone over multiple times. Many people have been recommending installing a mute button on each candidate’s microphone that can be turned off at the moderator’s request, such as when they talk over the time limit or interrupt other candidates. In all honesty that would probably be the only way to control these debates, considering we can’t seem to rely on common decency in politics anymore.
Overall the Vice Presidential debate was remembered for a seemingly prophetic fly, and a disgruntled moderating performance. With only 26 days until the election, it only goes to show you that time flies (pun intended).