WASHINGTON (BLOOMBERG, REUTERS) - Senator Kamala Harris tore into the Trump administration's handling of the coronavirus pandemic as her debate with Vice-President Mike Pence opened on Wednesday (Oct 7), calling it the greatest failure in the history of the US government.
"The American people have witnessed what is the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country," the California Democrat said. "This administration has forfeited their right to re-election."
Pence responded, at first, with grace, saying that it was a "privilege" to share the stage with Harris. But he endorsed the whole of President Donald Trump's response to the virus.
Since February, more than 7 million Americans have been infected, more than 212,000 have died and last week, the president himself contracted Covid-19.
"From the very first day, President Donald Trump has put the health of America first," Pence said.
Biden, he said, opposed Trump's early decision to limit flights from China - an ultimately unsuccessful effort to keep the virus out of the country. Pence said it bought time to gear up a more robust US response.
He said that Biden's plan to combat the virus "reads an awful lot like" what the Trump administration has already done.
Harris responded: "Whatever the vice-president is claiming the administration has done, it clearly hasn't worked."
Pence called that remark "a great disservice" to sacrifices Americans have made to combat the virus.
Asked by the moderator, USA Today's Susan Page, how the White House can expect Americans to engage in sound public health practices like wearing masks when Trump has not, Pence said that "President Trump and I trust the American people to make choices in the best interest of their health".
He accused Harris of "playing politics with people's lives" by saying she would only take a vaccine approved under the Trump administration if medical professionals advise it.
"If Donald Trump tells us to take it, I'm not taking it," she said.
The matchup, in Salt Lake City, will be the only debate between Pence and the Democratic nominee to replace him.
Pence and Harris sat about 4m apart with a pair of plexiglass partitions between them as an extra precaution against coronavirus infection following Trump's diagnosis of Covid-19.
ON THE OFFENSIVE
Harris went on the offensive on several fronts, attacking the Trump administration’s effort to invalidate the Affordable Care Act healthcare law and assailing Trump for reportedly paying US$750 a year in federal income taxes as president.
“When I first heard about it, I literally said, ‘You mean US$750,000?’” Harris said, referring to a New York Times investigation.
“And it was like, ‘No – US$750.’”
Pence sought to counter her attacks by turning the focus to the economy and tax policy, saying: “On Day One, Joe Biden’s going to raise your taxes.”
The vice president also asserted that Biden would ban fracking and embrace the Green New Deal, a massive environmental proposal backed by liberal Democrats.
Biden, however, has disavowed both of those positions.
READY TO ASSUME THE OFFICE
The age of the two presidential candidates – either Trump, 74, or Biden, 77, would be the oldest president in US history - added weight to the debate, with both Pence, 61, and Harris, 55, seeking to show they were capable of assuming the office.
Trump’s recent Covid-19 diagnosis has only made that issue more salient.
The two candidates also jockeyed for position in their respective parties; both are widely seen as future presidential candidates, whatever the outcome of November’s contest.
Biden leads Trump in national opinion polls and has an advantage of 12 percentage points in the latest Reuters/Ipsos survey of likely voters.
Polls show the race to be closer in some of the election battleground states that could determine the winner, although a Reuters/Ipsos poll on Wednesday showed Biden leading Trump in pivotal Florida.
Harris, who was on the biggest stage of her political career, is a US senator from California picked by Biden in August as his running mate.
The daughter of immigrants – her father from Jamaica and her mother from India – Harris is the first Black woman nominated by a major party for vice president as well as the first person of Asian descent.
Pence, a former conservative radio host who debated then-Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine in 2016, is a former US congressman and Indiana governor who has steadfastly defended Trump during his tumultuous presidency.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiamh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnN0cmFpdHN0aW1lcy5jb20vd29ybGQvdW5pdGVkLXN0YXRlcy9oYXJyaXMtc2F5cy10cnVtcC1tYWRlLWdyZWF0ZXN0LWZhaWx1cmUtaW4tdmlydXMtcmVzcG9uc2XSAQA?oc=5
2020-10-08 01:38:39Z
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