Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/736521
Now that was a debate. The Mike Pence-Tim Kaine bout Tuesday night wasn't the main event of 2016. It was what they call in box- ing an "undercard" match. It was a contest between two natural lightweights — the VP candidates. There was no exciting 12th round knock out. But Pence andKaineen- gaged in a good, spirited po- litical fight that provided much more substance and entertainment value than the Trump-Clinton debate. Pence easily won on points, both for what he said and what he didn't say. In their post-debate analysis every- one from Rachel Maddow to Sean Hannity agreed on that. Poor Tim Kaine. Every- one — even his wife — also agreed that he made himself look like a rude jerk by inter- rupting the moderator and Pence way too many times. Kaine was wound up so tight in the opening rounds that the presidential debate commission probably should have ordered a drug test to see if Kaine was on some sort of performance drug. Seriously, though, I hope Trump was watching Pence's debating style closely. I hope he has been studying the video over and over to see how Pence deflected or ducked his opponent's punches and pivoted to offense. Pence not only showed Trump how to win a political debate, he was an absolute gentleman while doing it. He didn't have to say de- rogatory things about women or Latinos or Muslims. He didn't suggest using nuclear weapons to fight crime in Chicago. And when Kaine tried to drag him down a rat hole by making him defend some- thing dumb or insulting Trump had said, Pence kept his cool and flicked the exam- ple away as silly or untrue. The major criticism from some Republicans and Trumpsters was that Pence didn't do more to defend Donald Trump. But the reality is, you can't defend half of what Trump has said and Pence could have wasted two weeks of air time trying. Pence was perfect Tues- day night. What he did won't move the needle for Trump's chances to win next month, but it moved the needle on his future. Twenty minutes into the debate lots of people, includ- ing those I watched it with, were saying, "Gosh, I wish Mike Pence was on the top of the ticket." It's obviously way too late for the GOP to make that happen, but Pence might be the top choice of Republi- cans in 2020 if Trump loses to the Clinton Crime Family a month from now. The only thing that con- cerns me about Pence's pum- meling of Kaine is that Trump was so quick to take credit for it. The next day at his rallies Donald was doing his usual "Look at me" routine, prais- ing Pence and boasting he was his first hire. Sorry, Don- ald. As I tweeted, your first hire was actually campaign consultant Paul Manafort. How did that work out? Trump's the clear un- derdog, a raw amateur up against a political heavy- weight. He has to win his de- bate with Hillary Sunday night or at least fight her to a draw. Pence has shown him how the professionals do it. Whether he can learn to box with Hillary without trip- ping over his huge ego may determine whether Trump ends up the 2016 champ or the 2016 chump. MichaelReaganisthesonof President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant, and the author of "The New Reagan Revolution" (St. Martin's Press). Send comments to Reagan@ caglecartoons.com. Follow @ reaganworld on Twitter. MichaelReagan ThePence-Kaine debate offered more substance Cartoonist's take When a Trump supporter was informed that his favorite candi- date had apparently paid no taxes for many years and was asked what he thought about that, the supporter replied, "I think he is a genius." When Trump addressed a cheering crowd, he pronounced his ability to avoid paying taxes as "brilliant." That is not the response I am hearing. Apparently the Tuesday col- umnist agrees with this convo- luted thinking. It is an exam- ple of two things: Mr. Polson is wedded to the Republican Con- servative cause and will follow the party line regardless of the reckless horse they are backing, and by applauding a millionaire that admittedly avoided pay- ing taxes he, the columnist, pro- claims it admirable and Trump is the proper role model for a presidential candidate. As the oft quoted John McEnroe put it, "You can't be serious." It is no wonder that Trump has refused to surrender his tax returns, which might re- veal additional breaches of trust in the government that he proposes to lead. ••• The breathless tabloid reports of the Jolie and Brad Pitt break up include speculation that their 6 children might suffer from lack of visitation and so forth. What the reports do not delve into is the naming of said chil- dren by their clever and thought- ful parents. They are named Maddox Chivan, Pax Thien, Shi- loh Nouvel, Knox Leon, Vivienne Marcheline and Zahara Marley. Should be fun for them as they matriculate through vari- ous venues. ••• More reality laws to live by: When accidently dropped, the chances of an open-faced pea- nut butter and jelly sandwich landing face down on the floor are directly correlated to the newness and cost of the carpet. ••• One of my astute sons-in-law asks "What is the difference between Lady Gaga and Colin Kaepernick?" And the answer is that only one is going to the Super Bowl. ••• Something else I did not know department: I assumed that most presi- dential conventions were cut and dried in that winners of the primaries automatically be- came the party standard bear- ers. However, sources say that since the 1930s, public opin- ion polls were read to gauge the prospects of their candidates. In 1952, Estes Kefauver en- tered and won 12-15 primaries, but it did not matter. The same year Robert Taft won 6 prima- ries to Dwight Eisenhower's 5. It did not matter. The Repub- lican Party went for Ike, who was leading in the polls. Barry Goldwater bypassed the prima- ries but won the nomination be- cause the delegates to the 1964 Convention fell for him. That said, check that, that written, Trump's primary wins might have been ignored and we all could have been spared the ig- nominy of the man. In conclusion, as H. L. Mencken once put it, "Going to a convention was something be- tween attending a revival and watching a hanging." ••• Last Saturday's Daily News headlined "Truck drivers appre- ciated" told of the strange event held at the California Highway Patrol Cottonwood Inspection Facility. In brief, free lunches were provided by Walmart and served by CHP volunteers, and free soda distributed by Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. But what caught my eye in the article written by Julie Zeeb was the line "Gina Norred, a licensed registration examiner, manned a booth to answer questions and hand out DMV booklets of rules. She said the event was a great opportunity to talk to drivers, but 'wished there were more stopping.'" I read this as code meaning that the event was not as well attended as anticipated. I at- tempted to locate Ms. Norred, but waiting time at DMV in Redding was an hour and a half for response. In the event the lady examiner would read this I hope she would contact me and report how many lunches were served, not to everyone, but just to the truck drivers themselves. I sense that most bypassed the event and stayed on the road in order to arrive at their sched- uled destination on time. ••• Professional baseball for the missus and me is a mixed emo- tion event. On the one hand we look forward to the season end- ing and our return to the usual TV offerings, which we can ac- cept or avoid as opposed to the nightly baseball games. On the other hand, we expect the S.F. Giants to win the World Series every even year, and so we as- sume we will be required to watch their progress well into October. However, Wednes- day's wild card game versus the New York Mets was a test of our endurance. We had to be in Marin for a checkup regarding my hip re- placement 6 months ago. The favorable checkup was delayed a few hours and by the time we left for home, the rush hour traffic was upon us, and we re- signed ourselves to listening to the game on our car radio. But, the KNBR station is an AM sta- tion and the reception is often poor, especially as we drive fur- ther away from San Francisco. We were able to hear the first 4 innings. The score was noth- ing to nothing with both ace pitchers shutting out the oppo- sition. Then the static became so bad we had to click off the radio and wait until we arrived home to view the recorded game on the telly. We did and, beyond our wildest expecta- tions, a late inning home run with two runners on sealed the Mets' fate. It was exhilarating after a long day on the road, but now the season is extended and so is our attention span. Sorry, long time Mets fan L. Merry. ••• In a pitch black night, a navy captain saw a light dead ahead and immediately sent a message:"Change your course 10 degrees east." The light signaled back, "Change your course 10 degrees west." The captain was angry. "I'm a navy captain. Change your course immediately." The signal came back, "I'm a seaman, second class. Change your course, sir." The captain was furious. "I'm a battleship. Change your course." The reply came back, "And I'm a lighthouse." Robert Minch is a lifelong resident of Red Bluff, former columnist for the Corning Daily Observer and Meat Industry magazine and author of the "The Knocking Pen." He can be reached at rminchandmurray@ hotmail.com. I say Failure to pay taxes a breach of trust Pence not only showed Trump how to win a political debate, he was an absolute gentleman while doing it. He didn't have to say derogatory things about women or Latinos or Muslims. He didn't suggest using nuclear weapons to fight crime in Chicago. Sounding off Alookatwhatreadersaresayingincommentsonourwebsiteandonsocialmedia. Prayersforthepersonsinvolved. Bianca Williams: On a traffic collision Monday involving a TRAX bwus and a car We loved what we got to see of it. Is it something they will do in Red Bluff every year? Or do they move it around? Jennifer Stetson: On coverage of the Festival of Gypsies horse show at the fairgrounds Greg Stevens, Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIAL BOARD How to have your say: Letters must be signed and provide the writer's home street address and home phone number. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and no more than two double-spaced pages or 500words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. 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Box 220, 728Main St., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS StateandNational Assemblyman James Galla- gher, 2060 Talbert Drive, Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 895-4217, http://ad03.asmrc.org/ Senator Jim Nielsen, 2634 Forest Ave., Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 879-7424, senator. nielsen@senate.ca.gov Governor Jerry Brown, State Capital Building, Sacramento 95814, 916 445-2841, fax 916 558-3160, governor@governor. ca.gov U.S. Representative Doug La- Malfa, 507 Cannon House Of- fice Building, Washington D.C. 20515, 202 225-3076 U.S. Senator Dianne Fein- stein, One Post St., Ste. 2450, San Francisco 94104, 415 393- 0707, fax 415 393-0710 U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, 1700 Montgomery St., San Fran- cisco 94111, 510 286-8537, fax 202 224-0454 Local Tehama County Supervisors, 527-4655 District 1, Steve Chamblin, Ext. 3015 District 2, Candy Carlson, Ext. 3014 District 3, Dennis Garton, Ext. 3017 District 4, Bob Williams, Ext. 3018 District 5, Burt Bundy, Ext. 3016 Red Bluff City Manager, Rich- ard Crabtree, 527-2605, Ext. 3061 Corning City Manager, Kristina Miller, 824-7033 Your officials By Michael Reagan Robert Minch OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, October 7, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6