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Criticism of Trump, Clinton Dominate Contentious VP Debate | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Republican vice-presidential nominee Gov. Mike Pence and Democratic vice-presidential nominee Sen. Tim Kaine stand after the vice-presidential debate at Longwood University in Farmville, Va., Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2016. (Joe Raedle/Pool via AP)


The two candidates for U.S. vice president launched bitter attacks on the reputations and policies of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump Tuesday during a fiery debate and a proxy war for their running mates five weeks from Election Day.

Democrat Tim Kaine and Republican Mike Pence sought to highlight their capabilities as they engaged in a surprisingly contentious back-and-forth on the debate stage at Longwood University, a 90-minute exchange that introduced two little-known politicians to the national stage.

Polls show Clinton gaining in the wake of a punishing week for her Republican rival Trump, who has been hammered by controversies over his taxes and his treatment of women.

Kaine, a senator from Virginia, took aim at Trump from the beginning, saying the idea of the brash Republican as commander-in-chief “scares us to death.”

“I can’t imagine how Governor Pence can defend the insult-driven, selfish, me-first style of Donald Trump,” Kaine said.

Kaine sought to portray himself as a deeply experienced local, state and national politician who would be the “right-hand person” for Clinton, whom he described as trustworthy and more than capable in the role of commander in chief.

An imperturbable Pence, governor of Indiana and a Christian conservative, calmly shot back.

“You would know a lot about an insult-driven campaign,” he said, highlighting Clinton’s relentless criticism of Trump and how she painted half of her Republican rival’s supporters as “deplorables.”

“We see entire portions of the world, particularly the wider Middle East, spinning out of control. The situation we’re watching hour-by-hour in Syria today is the result of the weak foreign policy that Hillary Clinton helped lead in this administration and create.”

For many Americans, the debate was their first prolonged exposure to the men who would be next in line for the presidency if their side wins on November 8.

Pence is as modest and polite in style as Trump is brash and insulting, while Kaine, who also has a calm style on Capitol Hill, appeared to take a more aggressive stance than Pence in attacking the rival camp.

He sought to drill down on issues that appeared to have given Clinton a bump in the polls demanding Trump release his tax returns and mocking the White House hopeful for some of his impulsive Twitter missteps during the campaign.

The two men repeatedly talked over each over as they clashed about Trump’s failure to release his tax records, social security, how to handle an aggressive Russia, and the prospect of mounting debt, forcing moderator Elaine Quijano to intervene.

Kaine, 58, and Pence, 57, are about 10 years younger than the presidential nominees. They each have sons serving in the U.S. military, and they are seen as more religious than Clinton and Trump.

Trump has suffered from what has been seen as a mediocre performance in his first debate with Clinton.

Pence, who spent a dozen years in Congress, is known for his discipline. He prepared intensively for the debate, unlike Trump, who did little to practice for his September 26 encounter with Clinton.

Trump, who live tweeted throughout the political showdown, posted that “Mike Pence won big. We should all be proud of Mike!”

Clinton countered on Twitter that she was “Lucky to have a partner like @timkaine who stood up for our shared vision tonight — instead of trying to deny it.”

Pence stressed that a Trump administration would want the United States to “use military force to strike the targets of the Assad regime” if Russia continues its involvement in “this barbaric attack on Aleppo.”

But the Republican clearly distanced himself from Trump’s praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin, hailing the U.S. system as “superior to the crony corrupt cabal system in Russia in every way.”

He called Putin a “small and bullying leader.”

Kaine hammered away though, insisting that “Donald Trump, again and again, has praised Vladimir Putin and it’s clear that he has business dealings with Russian oligarchs.”

Since the first presidential debate, support for Clinton has risen to 44.3 percent against 40.6 percent for Trump, according to an average of recent national polls compiled by RealClearPolitics.

A CNN/ORC snap poll declared Pence the winner with 48 percent support, compared with Kaine’s 42 percent.

It set the table for a second presidential debate looming on Sunday in St. Louis between Clinton and Trump. The format will be a bit different, with candidates fielding questions put to them by people in the audience.