Pence v.s. Kaine

I personally thought Tim Kaine won this vice presidential debate.

Mike Pence, much like Donald Trump, seemed unprepared and on edge during the debate. I thought that both Pence and Trump were having trouble in their debates controlling their anger/emotions, and seemed to be letting their opponent get the better of them. Kaine and Clinton seem to have found that sitting back and letting the other man talk is a solid strategy.

Furthermore, Pence and Trump did not seem to be on the same page. You could tell Pence was really struggling to justify Trump's actions, and he ended up hurting himself because he was not able to give a solid stance. Kaine was giving him a hard time, and he couldn't defend himself.

I think Donald Trump and Mike Pence will, themselves, be the ones responsible for losing the election, if they keep going like this.

Pence Trumps Kaine

Mike Pence seems to be Trump's knight in shining armor, who saved him from his spiraling campaign. With Trump's campaign on thin ice with some of the recent information released, such as the tape of his conversation with Billy Bush, Pence needed to get a win for team Trump. Although Tim Kaine still had a good debate, he seemed over prepared and his arguments sounded a little too scripted.  

During this debate, Pence acted more like Hillary. Remaining calm is always an advantage in any debate, and that is exactly what Pence did throughout the debate. Pence showed how he represented Trump and that he backed up most of his campaign choices. The argument that stood out the most to me was on Trump's view on taxes. Pence helped get Trump's message through by appealing to the lower and middle classes to shrink their taxes in order for them to strive in business. 

Another way Pence's debate went smoothly was that he did not give in to Kaine's negative remarks. Kaine brought up the "You're Hired, You're Fired" saying, Pence responds with "Thank you for that". His ability to avoid confrontation is something that he needs to teach Donald Trump. Pence stayed in his path to win the debate by avoiding Kaine's attempts for confrontation and pushing through to explain how he can solve issues in the United States. 

All in all, Pence kept his cool and unlike Kaine, was not over prepared for this debate. A victory for team Trump may not be expected when Trump is on stage, but Pence is a confident speaker and a reliable win. Although more citizens are interested in the heat between the two presidential candidates, the Vice Presidential debate of 2016 was a very important debate. This amplified Trump's beliefs and ideas in a positive light and may help Trump in the long run.

Welcome to the "Live Blog" for Tonight's Presidential Debate!

Looking forward to everyone's take on the rhetoric in tonight's debate. If you want to see another live blog in action, check out The New York Times, who streams the debate while some of its top reporters give their quick bits of analysis.

I also thought you might want to connect with a new, technologically advanced way to watch the debates. Go to watchthedebates.org -- register for Microsoft Pulse -- and you'll be counted as part of the audience giving instant feedback on the debate. Pretty cool stuff.

But, of course, I want to hear everyone's thoughts here analyzing how the candidates use the rhetorical situation, the rhetorical appeals, and rhetorical language to make their critical argument about why they should be our next president.

Let's get blogging ...

Personal Faith vs. Public Politics

On the topic of separating faith from politics, Kaine uses ethos to attract all audiences by saying he does not believe that any one religion should be raised above another one. He reiterates this idea that one religion's doctrines are not superior to those of another. However, his beliefs cannot be substituted in order to gain votes, which is why he sometimes has extreme beliefs such as the death penalty.

Following Kaine, Pence appeals to Christian voters when he talks about the pro-life portion of the Republican campaign. He uses his faith for pathos appeal when he says that God knew us before we were born, therefore an unborn child is a person being killed. Pence then slams Clinton by saying she has crossed the line by trying to implement using tax payer dollars to help fund abortion programs. 

Corrupt Foundations

Pence accuses Clinton of illegally accepting donations from foreign donors. However, foreign governments cannot financially participate in American politics. Kaine rejects the accusation and uses ethos to attract the audience to Clinton's character by saying she created this NONPROFIT organization to solely benefit American citizens by providing to the people things such as AIDS drugs and relief for drug addiction. Kaine then turns the argument on Pence by shaming Trump's organization, saying that his foundation is corrupt because it puts money into his own pocket and the pockets of his children while illegally contributing money to people Trump has to buy off.

Kaine vs. Pence

The 2016 Vice Presidential debate is off to a strong start. Tim Kaine, VP candidate to Hillary Clinton is up against Donald Trump's pick, Mike Pence. Both men seem to have a good idea of what they're talking about, and have already established themselves as much more mature and respectful to one another than their presidential counter parts. I like the pathos that both of the men used when talking about police and race relations in America. Both Pence and Kaine agreed with each other with certain aspects of the problem, and by using emotion to connect with the audience and voters, they were able to find common ground.