Kaine and Jindal Debated on "Meet the Press"

Transcript can be found here.

Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine (D) and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) debated on NBC’s “Meet the Press” this past Sunday, August 17, 2008. Moderator David Gregory asked each of them a series of questions about the likely Democratic and Republican nominees, Sens. Barack Hussein Obama and John McCain, respectively. The Kaine/Jindal debate starts about 16 minutes into the program.

While both were clearly articulate spokemen for their respective party’s causes, Gov. Jindal clearly landed some damaging blows to Obama’s tax plan when he pointed out how Obama would raise taxes on people who make at least $42,000 per year. Kaine also made a fool of himself when he said that McCain was “the last remaining cheerleader” of our victorious efforts in Iraq. I guess Tim Kaine doesn’t respect the troops that much, which is odd given the number of military personnel and contractors who live and work in Virginia. Kaine did come out in support of abstinence education programs, which I am not sure is consistent with his previous positions on the subject.

Overall, it was a good discussion, though it seemed to me that Kaine got more speaking and response time than Jindal did. Maybe someone has timed the program and can give an accurate figure. According to my word count, Kaine had 1,438 words (minus the hellos, goodbyes, and a mumble or two), while Jindal had 1,002 words.

UPDATE: I decided to delete the previous post based on my glaring error. Title is now changed to Kaine, rather than Obama and Jindal. Here I thought I was too young for senior moments (or this is what I get for posting late at night when children are creating distractions)! If Obama does win this year, we may very well have Obama/Jindal debates in 2012.

I apologize to all my readers for this mistake. Thanks, Vivian!