VP Debate 2020 Displays Civility between Harris and Pence

No name-calling

After a raucous US presidential debate eight days ago between Trump and Biden, Pence and Harris took a more civil tone with no name-calling, but sharply disagreed on the reaction to the pandemic.

"I want the American people to know, from the very first day, President Donald Trump has put the health of America first," Mike Pence said, pointing to his ban on travel from China on January 31, a month after cases first emerged in Wuhan.

Referencing a controversy that tanked Joe Biden's first presidential campaign in 1988, Pence said the Democrats' Covid plan sounds "a little bit like plagiarism, which is something Joe Biden knows a little bit about".

In contrast to Donald Trump's firehose-like blasts on Biden and his family, Pence demonstrated calm and stability.

Read also: Mike Pence Warns US Republicans: “You Won’t Be Safe” under Joe Biden

Mike Pence also congratulated Kamala Harris on the historic nature of her candidacy symbolizing another moment of civility between the opponents. 

Harris, the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, would also be both the first African-American and Asian-American vice president.

But Pence tried to portray her as a radical, saying that Harris — generally considered close to the Democratic establishment — was further to the left than socialist Bernie Sanders.

"More taxes, more regulation, banning fracking, abolishing fossil fuel, crushing American energy, economic surrender to China is a prescription for American decline," Pence said, reciting a list Biden would be unlikely to describe as his platform.

Mike Pence, questioned by moderator Susan Page of USA Today, acknowledged that "the climate is changing" but insisted that market solutions were the best way to reduce carbon emissions.

Read also: In 2020, Earth Experienced Warmest September on Record

Even if they delved more into substance, the two candidates revealed little new about their policies and were notably evasive on hot-button issues such as abortion and the Supreme Court.

There was one moment during the VP debate that triggered an avalanche of social media commentary: a fly found its way onto Pence, spending a visibly long time on his white hair.

The Biden campaign quickly started selling fly-swatters online with the inscription, "Truth over flies".