The showdown between Walz and Vance remained notably cordial throughout the evening, despite their ideological differences. Sanders-Townsend, who previously served as chief spokesperson and senior adviser for Vice President Kamala Harris before joining MSNBC in 2022, remarked that if Walz and Vance share so much in common, it\u2019s puzzling why voters wouldn\u2019t support the Republican ticket, Fox News noted.<\/p>\n
\u201cDebates are about performance, and they are about policy. And why this debate was very important is that there are many Americans out there, not just moderate Republicans, there are base Democratic voters that are saying they want to and need to hear more,\u201d Sanders-Townsend said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, I think it is very fair for people to want to criticize those base Democratic voters who say, \u2018Well, what more do you need?\u2019 You can do that. But that is their lived reality, and so if you are trying to win their votes, you have to meet them where they are,\u201d she added. \u201cThere were so many niceties on that debate stage tonight, I am just kind of like, well, if you agree so much with J.D. Vance, why should they vote for you?\u201d<\/p>\n
She then claimed that both candidates were strategically being dishonest with viewers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI fully believe that\u00a0Gov. Walz went out there tonight\u00a0and did what was practiced in debate prep, did what the strategy was that the team put together. That was not the Gov. Walz that we \u2014 that I had seen out on the campaign trail. That\u2019s not the Gov.Walz that I had seen during the veepstakes, right?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was not the J.D. Vance that I know to be true. I mean, goodness! J.D. Vance was on that stage, he was sorry about Amber Thurman, he was \u2014 he was sorry about \u2014a lot of stuff. He said, \u2018We get things wrong.\u2019 But do you agree with the policy?\u201d the far-left host added.<\/p>\n
Sanders-Townsend, who also hosts a weekend show on MSNBC, ripped CBS moderators Norah O\u2019Donnell and Margret Brennan.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not the Margaret and Norah that I know! Margaret don\u2019t do that on Sunday morning,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Following the debate, Walz was roundly critiqued for appearing nervous.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think JD Vance strategically went in to do \u2018Midwestern nice\u2019 to disarm Tim Walz. And Tim Walz kind of took the bait so he wasn\u2019t in fighting mode. There were some fact checks he could have done that he dropped the ball on,\u201d \u201cThe View\u201d host Alyssa Farrah Griffin, a former Trump administration official, said, Fox noted.<\/p>\n
\u201cVance was far nimbler than the nervous\u00a0Tim Walz, especially in the first half of the debate. But as the debate went on, Vance stumbled on two issues \u2014 abortion and the 2020 election \u2014 where his rhetorical skill could not salvage the very unappealing material he was working with,\u201d Josh Barro, author of the newsletter Very Serious, observed.<\/p>\n
CNN dropped a bombshell report about Walz just hours before his highly anticipated debate against Vance on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Walz is under renewed scrutiny for repeatedly and inaccurately claiming that he was in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square massacre on June 4, 1989, according to the outlet. CNN\u2019s K-File investigative team, led by Andy Kaczynski,\u00a0uncovered<\/a>\u00a0audio recordings and prior statements in which Walz referenced being in China during the protests\u2014a claim that has now been shown to be false.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The showdown between Walz and Vance remained notably cordial throughout the evening, despite their ideological differences. Sanders-Townsend, who previously served as chief spokesperson and senior adviser for Vice President Kamala Harris before joining MSNBC in 2022, remarked that if Walz and Vance share so much in common, it\u2019s puzzling why voters wouldn\u2019t support the Republican…<\/p>\n