Vice Presidential Debates are stupid
That said, they are wildly entertaining. Bring popcorn.
Were I to advise J.D. Vance on Tuesday Night’s debate, it would be the words of Chicago Cubs manager Joe Madden:
“Try not to do anything stupid.”
Stupid?
In 1976, Senator Bob Dole (R-KS) lashed out about “Democrat wars” and quickly got schooled by Senator Walter Mondale (DFL-MN).1
In 1988, Senator Dan Quayle (R-IN) compared his political experience to John F. Kennedy’s only to get ripped by Senator LLoyd Bentsen.
Dan Quayle became Vice President but never recovered politically from that moment.
In 1992, Quayle faced off against an old House and Senate colleague, Al Gore of Tennessee. Both had reputations in the Senate for knowing all the details of every bill being debated on the Senate floor. I almost fell asleep 3 times watching the two of them.
The real snooze-fests, though, were 1984, 1996, 2000, and 2004 VP debates; when trying for the perfectly packaged presidential tickets, the Democratic and Republican Parties gave the American public basically a conference room in Corporate America for the Vice-Presidency.
By the way JD Vance, who has remarkably thin experience in government (I think he, Sarah Palin, and Spiro Agnew are the top three in this regard), might want to pass on the whole attack your opponenent’s record ploy.
Sarah Palin got chewed up for this by then-Senator Joe Biden in 2008.
And it’s not worth it to push the young guy versus the old man routine either. Vice President Biden chewed up Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) for this line of attack pretty handily.
If you need guidance on not being weird, watch the 1996 debate with Jack Kemp (a lot of flat tax, gold standard, libertarian economic rubbish talk) or the 2020 debate with Vice President Pence (Seriously dude, there’s a fly on your head — act like a pest matters).
The job of the Vice-President is to preside over the Senate and break tie votes if needed. Not an especially tough job.
The interview process, though, is brutal.
I worked on Mondale’s 1984 campaign and had a chance to meet him and chat with him. The Dole comment pissed him off and rankled a lot of veterans. Dole was a genuine WWII hero and Mondale spent the Korean War in Fort Knox, KY mostly and that one comment hurt Ford’s chances immensely.
Liked your article yet the Vice President position duties have changed drastically since Cheney. My friend Pat just retired from White House she was in charge of communications she was placed by President Johnson worked with several presidents she quit for Trump and was brought back by Biden. Here’s what she says about Vice Presidents. When she arrived with Johnson Vice Presidents were to be seen but not heard. They were schooled daily on Presidential duties almost like an apprentice because what happened to President Kennedy.Bush era but a whole new twist with Cheney.Regardless what your political party is this was actually a good idea. I know for a fact that Kamala Harris put the metal to the pedal the last three and half years. She traveled and has met on several occasions with foreign key players . They say that she is an extremely hard worker and burns the midnight oil. Regardless what people think about her I believe that there really is no one that’s better qualified to be President than VP Harris.