During CNN’s vice presidential debate coverage on Tuesday, CNN Senior Political Commentator and former Obama adviser David Axelrod stated that 2024 Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s (D) answer about his false claim about where he was during the Tiananmen Square protests was so garbled it “would have been best delivered in Chinese for as understandable as it wasn’t.”
Axelrod said that Walz did have a strong moment while talking about the 2020 election and democracy, “And it was made more powerful when he turned to Vance and said, did he lose the election? And Vance wouldn’t answer the question. I thought that was damning.”
He added, “[T]he Tiananmen Square answer would have been best delivered in Chinese for as understandable as it wasn’t. The first answer on the Middle East was, he was nervous and it showed.”
Axelrod continued, “But on this, on health care, on abortion rights, we can all — all of us old debaters can pick apart his technique. But I think he got the message across and people heard it. So, I think that this — I think Vance was, by, far the more polished performer, but, in some ways, maybe being too polished is a problem as well. I think Walz came across as very genuine.”
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