280 Comments

Walz was the dad taking you to buy your first car.

Vance was the slimy salesman trying to sell you a lemon.

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I thought Vance was SMARMY - maybe a snake-oil salesman. Smile and nod and take your money (vote) before you know what he is really selling!

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My take exactly! Comments are saying Vence was polished and poised are partially correct, except for the fact that he gave polished LIES in a poised manner.

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Bingo: "poised" is it.

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The problem is that 90% of voters don’t read political article, so they don’t know that Vance is lying

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I know.....

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Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery so I hope you don't mind if I pass around /use your spot on metaphor going forward!

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Blue RootsRadio - exactly! Perfect!

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Bluerootsradio - May I repost your analogy? (With or without attribution?)😊

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That is the best comparison of them I have seen yet.

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My comments on the “Debate” (sanitized version)

Women MUST have the RIGHT to control their healthcare choices! THAT is a basic human right and “government” has no ____ing place in that, no matter WHERE one lives in the USA!

Fraud Trump’s tax cuts for the rich and his inept incompetent (stupid ____ing) handling of Covid ballooned our country’s deficit. Those tax cuts and Trump’s denial and incompetence led to staggering inflation.

The economy is now booming thanks to President Joe Biden and VP Harris.

Crime is down in the USA, thank you President Biden and VP Harris.

Congress was set to pass a strong bipartisan Border Security bill and ____ing scumbag traitor pieceOF____ Trump demanded that his Republican MAGAts in Congress block the bill. Trump is America’s Disgrace.

Fake MAGAt Vance must live in MAGAt Fantasyland, making __it up as he goes. In his make- believe world, Kamala Harris has been President for since January 2021.

No mention during the debate that Scum Trump is a ____ing TRAITOR, would hand Ukraine to Putin. Shades of Neville Chamberlain handing the Sudetenland to Hitler.

Vance totally lied about Trump’s actions (lack of actions) on healthcare and healthcare insurance.

Vance again in MAGAt Fantasyland when he said that Bobby Kennedy Jr and Tulsi Gabbard were (former) “leaders” of the Democratic Party! LOL!

The “most interesting” moment of the last night’s debate was when Vance, caught lying by the moderators, was fact-checked by the moderators and said, “the rules said that you would not fact-check me.” Reporting THAT would be responsible accurate reporting.

The second most interesting moment was when Vance was asked if U.S.-citizen children of illegal immigrants would, under Trump’s mass deportation plan, would be separated from their parents or be forced to leave the country with their parents. Vance TWICE refused to answer that question.

The debates are a joke. If debate moderators won’t press participants to ANSWER the questions they ask, there is no reason, at all, to have debates.

When MAGAts storm the Capitol on Jan 6, 2025, my prayer is that every ____ing MAGAt gets the Ashli Babbitt treatment! Take NO prisoners!

JD Vance isn't just weird — he's deeply dangerous.

“Vance — like many Republicans up and down the ballot — has spent his vice presidential run trying to downplay his extremist anti-choice views. But we know the truth. In fact, the organization that helped author the Trump campaign's outrageous policy playbook, (disgusting, Christo-Fascist) Project 2025, called Vance "one of the leaders — if not the leader — of our movement."

Wrapping it up…….

F____ Liar Fraud Con Scumbag Racist Fascist Traitor Felon Putin’s Puppet Trump, America’s Disgrace Donald Trump. May he rot in ____ing hell after suffering a massive debilitating stroke or heart attack.

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Joel, I’m in total agreement on this: “JD Vance isn't just weird — he's deeply dangerous.” That is why the possibility of putting him one heart-beat, or one 25th Amendment, away from the Oval office is the most frightening thing to me.

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For some reason, I kinda get the feeling that you don’t think much of Trump. Not to worry. I also wouldn’t vote for Trump for second assistant dog catcher in a small town. The man is great at self-promotion and ………. (Sorry, I’m still working on identifying at least one other positive thing I can say about Trump, but it’s just effing impossible to come up with anything.)

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Please don’t let him anywhere near the dogs, cats, or pets…

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He may start Eating them.

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Our only hope may be that someone will convince him that cats, dogs, and other pets are considered health foods. Then he won’t touch them.

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He’s supporting the cosmetic orange spray paint industry, except he probably stiffs the cosmetician doing their job.

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Con Trump is also a gifted GRIFTER

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Debilitating stroke and pls let him live a few years lying incapacitated in bed thinking about all his transgressions while realizing that the world forgot about him.

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He will die as a victim, he doesn’t have the insight into himself to ever think otherwise!

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This is perfect. Thank you for expressing, probably, every sane person's observations.

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Joel, you don’t have to sugar coat it--tell us what you really think!!

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I agree on the debates and the moderators. Waste of time. Of all things to ask Walz was about his time in China. Yes, Walz should have been prepared with a better answer, but he taught there and he took U.S. students on trips there. That was his answer.

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It's a measure of how honest Walz is, that the worst fact-check the CBS staff could find on him, was that he once said he was in Hong Kong "at the time of" the Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing, when he was actually there a month later. His response was honest and relevant: yes, I misspoke, it was later that summer. and here is my history with China.

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My two little (feline) girls made exactly the same point. They worry that because Trump is only concerned about people who can serve his needs and wants in some way (which they refuse to do), he would have no use for them. I think they’ve got his number.

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Tell me how you really feel. (Just my sarcastic self agreeing with you.) Thanks for saying what I would have.

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Thank you!❤️

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I wish I could repost this

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author

Apologies for anyone having trouble leaving a comment. We am working to resolve now. Feel free to email your thoughts to judd@popular.info if it’s not working for you.

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Judd, the work you do is absolutely awesome. It helps keep me sane!

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Thanks Judd for your input on our country’s very real problems. Your views are very much appreciated!

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I agree with your analysis. The lack of real time fact checking allows both sides to lie and Vance, in particular, took advantage of this, even calling out the moderators for checking his facts like that was a bad thing. If any low information voters were watching/listening, I doubt they would get much useful information from a debate like this except for an impression that Vance is a smooth operator and Walz was nervous.

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The problem with the absence of fact checking isn't just the disinformation, being peddled, it allows the purveyor of the lie to bully and ingratiate himself to the MAGA thugs.

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Peter, Walz is my Governor and his expressions went far beyond nervousness. I have never seen him look so angry; I thought his head would explode. If looks could kill….(I wish they could!). I’m sure his answers would have been better if he hadn’t been so incensed by Vance’s lies.

I wish he would have responded to the executing babies jab. The truth. Some babies are born who are known in advance to have only minutes or hours to live. The doctors don’t “execute” them. But they decide not to offer full lifesaving intervention, as it is hopeless. That’s the origin of the story (often repeated by TFFG) of the child being born and “the doctors deciding what to do about the baby.”

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Our daughter had anencephaly (no brain development). We only found out a week before she was born (35 years ago). She was not given supports to stay alive. She died 10 hours later surrounded by her extended family. She was buried, has a plaque, and is visited on the anniversary of her birthday. She was not aborted, executed, killed. There were no charges for Murder.

This is the lie that the Trump MAGA’s are trotting out.

This is the level the current Republican Party has descended to.

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God bless your family and your precious daughter, and thank you for your clear-eyed telling of this painful event. I fear that in today's world your story would have become much more complicated.

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unfortunately, I think you're right.

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I was astonished by a statement Vance made which wasn’t challenged sufficiently by Walz, that we should be guided by Trump’s “common sense” and ignore science and “experts.” So we make Trump a “king” in all areas of knowledge. Insane.

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Exactly. There is nothing... nothing... "common" or rational about Trump's "sense." To disregard science and experts and make your own stuff up is unconscionable.

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Oct 2·edited Oct 2

He repeatedly tried to sell Trump as the only one with the truth (Messiah complex much) and scientists and other experts are not to be trusted. As usual, amid the flood of lies such things almost escape notice.

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Yes!

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Terrifying

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Vance is an Uber-slick version of Trump and much smarter. That makes him very dangerous. Win or lose, Vance will be back, pushing his Christian nationalist agenda with well packaged lies.

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To amplify just a little, Trump has no ideology beyond personal enrichment, avoiding prison and celebrity.

In addition to the skills noted above, Vance, like many wealthy tech-bros has an ideological agenda with a strong “masters of the universe” vibe. They believe themselves to be superior and do not want to be hampered by quaint notions like individual rights, social responsibility, voting….. Among my major concerns if Trump wins is that he will delegate policy direction to Vance, Stephen Miller et al and go play golf. Trump really only wants the title, not the job.

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This is my nightmare scenario: 🍊🤡 wins and lets his henchmen run everything. 🛋️ 🍆 becomes de facto president

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Yes, this. I think this is exactly what Vance's (handler billionaire Peter Theil) plans to do. If Trump becomes a dictator on day one, and America becomes an authoritarian regime, what's to stop Vance from taking over from Trump? Absolutely nothing. Trump is the distraction.

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GhostoftheWhiteRose, I am certain trump is too dumb to realize that if he becomes president; he will only be an impediment to the more intelligent, crafty Vance becoming President. President Kennedy was assassinated because he wanted to end the Viet Nam War. His replacement LBJ went headlong into the war the CIA and military-industrial-complex wanted. Trump is too dumb to understand that this could happen to him.

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Eric and Donald Jr have their eyes on succession

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Walter - very well-said and my belief 100%. Trump only wants the power to punish, the access to graft, and freedom from prison.

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Yes, and if they win, the odds are high Vance will end up taking the helm. That is terrifying.

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Vance was good, slick and slippery at avoiding questions. He repeated convincing lies, and clearly is Trumps " boy ". Proving he can't be trusted.

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The debate was at least civil. But a shark dressed in a suit is still a shark I wish fact-checking live had been done. I recognized dozens of blatant lies by Vance, but they were presented in better wrapping than those same lies by trump. I wish the media would at least do it now, and quote Vance whining about "The rules said no fact-checking!"

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JD is a shapeshifter. A talent trump hasn’t mastered.

(The rules also said only the moderators could ask questions. JD couldn’t let the who won in 2020 question hang in the air so he pivoted to another lie.)

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Vance is a slicker, younger, inexperienced version of trump. He spouts what he is told and 99% of it is utter bullshit but his delivery isn’t the Rottweilerian suckness that orange shitstain has when his buttons are pushed. He tries to mimic Walz’s folksy delivery with fake stories about his concocted background about how he grew up as a poor black child. Basically he’s a good bullshitter, apparently a republicon requirement for admission to the club. He is about as phony as he can be shape shifting from religious zealot to sensible yalie at the flick of a switch and he is only rivaled in lying by his running mate. He is a fake plastic robot that serves donnies shit on a fancy plate and will lay down to do donnies bidding when told to do so. Peter Thiel built this frankenstein and should be held reponsible for his existence.

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Vance is scarier than Trump because if Trump is elected, Vance has a huge chance of becoming president via Trump’s assassination or natural death.

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Which will no doubt come shortly after he’s elected. Trump has the following but is too old, too erratic and too volatile to be there for long. Vance is young, polished (yalie elitist) and such a huge investment for Peter Thiel. He also regurgitates everything he’s told to say verbatim and doesnt need to think but toe the party line.

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Totally agree. I don't see Trump lasting past six months before he's replaced by Vance

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mth, see my reply to GhostoftheWhiteRose above.

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I would love to hear secrets from former classmates.

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CBC (Canadian) radio news had a phone interview yesterday, the 1st, with a Yale classmate of Vance's who used to be a good friend when he supposedly had some honesty and kindness. She was terrific. But it's not you and I who need to hear her. Can't remember which slot, but one can probably google it at cbc.ca

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He's Trump's personal Renfield, " Count Dracula's deranged, fanatically devoted servant and familiar, helping him in his plan to turn Mina Harker into a vampire in return for a continuous supply of insects to consume and the promise of immortality."

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Good ending for Walz. Minnesota nice missed many opportunities. Vance's ability to lie with such confidence is breathtaking and dangerous. Hopefully moves the needle for some.

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Vance was smooth and confident and lied with impunity. He is skilled at debate. The lack of fact checking was egregious. He seems to lack understanding of government and the role of the VP vs President. Walz was too nice and solicitous - he should have stated truths after each lie.

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I ended up turning it off because I couldn’t stand listening to Vance: what a hypocrite. Period. He is a great example of why people “hate” politicians. So he can smoothly lie—big whoop. If I could have just listened to Walz, I wouldn’t have turned it off.

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Mrs Tippit I had to turn it off too! But I would listen to Walz for hours!

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I'd love to live in the same neighborhood as Tim Walz! Kamala Harris too. I regret having to live on the same planet as Vance and Trump.

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Walz family is staying in the <well-guarded> former home of University of Minnesota presidents, on the road that runs beside the Mississippi River. I drive by often and smile every time. I love my Gov!

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I hope they remain safe and comfortable.🙏🏼

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Same - couldn't listen to Vance.

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I respectfully disagree with you, Mr. Legum. Vance did not stay on topic and did not ahow empathy towards anyone. He avoided answering questions by inserting other subjects onto his responses and he did not acknowledge the truth during the very few times Walz "confronted " him. Vance is still, and will always be, an ambitious and cruel monster. He is more than ready to take over as second-in-command, if Trump gets away with it. Please do not normalize Vance, just because he shook hands and smiled at his overly nice and solicitous rival.

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Every time Vance started his replies with “First of all..” I turned to my friend and said “That means he’s not going to answer the question.”

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Waltz missed several opportunities to reveal Vance’s lies. The few times he dis were good, but he does not have the “prosecutor” instinct of Harris

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founding
Oct 2·edited Oct 2

Vance convincingly lied a lot (why even have a debate without allowed fact checking?). Walz was a much nicer guy than he should have been and the two agreed a surprising amount. Walz didn't go in for the kill (i.e. January 6th and Vance not saying Trump lost). Much of swing state North Carolina couldn't watch because of power outages.

Not that it matters: nobody will remember anything in 48 hours.

My question: where was Vance's eye-liner?

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I noted the almost-natural eyeliner, which I believe he refreshed during the break.

I’ve never seen Walz look so angry - and I think that detracted from his usual snappy repartee.

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The Trump campaign insisted on no fact checking by CBS. I believe they would have canceled without this agreement

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Walz was a nice guy. Trance was slippery and couldn’t tell the truth about anything and then bristled when fact checked ONE time, because it was “against the rules”.

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I’m concerned that low-info voters will have seen Vance’s slickness and equated it with excellence. Vance is a talented speaker, but for those of us who know where they both stand, he was a conniving, supercilious, pompous liar; he’s the Ivy League equivalent of his running mate. Trump is so unhealthy and completely unhinged—if he drops dead after winning the election (please god, no! And I’m an atheist), then Vance is in the power seat. That’s a thoroughly frightening prospect; with his ability to sound smart, he can get away with almost anything. It’s very scary.

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