Kaine KO’s Himself

You have to wonder whose idea it was for Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine to continually interrupt Republican VP nominee Mike Pence during their one and only debate Tuesday night.

Whoever gave Kaine that idea should be let go immediately, because Kaine’s interruptions looked boorish and desperate and usually backfired. He tried to load so many attacks against Donald Trump into every answer — and every interruption — that it was almost impossible to understand exactly what he was saying.

Kaine kept pounding, pounding, pounding at Trump on his failure to release his tax returns — on Trump’s praise for Russian leader Vladimir Putin — on Trump’s criticism of a former Miss Universe winner — and on Trump’s temperament to be president.

And too many times, Kaine interrupted Pence — talked right over him — when Pence was trying to give an answer. It looked as if Kaine had loaded up on way too much caffeine prior to the debate — and that he could never relax.

For his part, Pence seemed much more comfortable — much more vice presidential — heck, much more presidential — than Kaine or, for that matter, than Trump or Hillary Clinton. Throughout the 90-minute debate, he stayed cool and calm — and especially looked effective when Kaine attacked him and Trump. During those times, Pence often just appeared bemused and shook his head. That made for good television.

On the issues, Pence got the better of Kaine on foreign policy. Both men scored on the issue of police-community relations. And both looked and sounded sincere on issues of faith.

But Pence did especially well for himself and for Trump on Tuesday night. Should Trump go down to defeat next month, Pence may well be in good position for a presidential run himself in 2020.

As for Kaine, he was far too aggressive — far too disrespectful, if you will, of both Pence and the debate moderator and the debate process. In fact, he acted a whole lot like Trump. That doesn’t help Hillary, but the question is, will it hurt her? Vice presidential debates are rarely determining factors in how people vote because VP candidates are, as NBC’s Tom Brokaw memorably described them, “the spare parts” of presidential campaigns.

But in this incredibly volatile, hate-filled presidential race, nothing is certain, and anyone who claims to know what’s going to happen is either a fool or a liar.