“As always, America’s ruling class wrote the checks, and communities like mine paid the price,” Vance says of the narcotics crisis that has taken the lives of his friends.
“My most important American dream was being a good husband and a good dad.” Great line.
So far, I’m finding Vance very polished — you can see those years of pitches and presentations in the venture capital world of Silicon Valley. But Vance is also showing some good improvision skills — “we’ve got to chill with the Ohio love here, we’ve got to win Michigan, too,” and declaring, “I agree!” when the chants of “Joe must go” died down.
J.D. Vance is passing the audition with flying colors in this speech; I am a skeptic of his preferred policies, but this is an introduction to his life story on a national stage that will play well with normal people tuning in.
Basically, Vance has decided to drop his personal attacks on Republicans who disagree with him on issues by attacking Joe Biden for things that a lot of his fellow Republicans believe.
Vance is talking about when he was in high school and a hawkish, pro-free-markets guy named Joe Biden wrecked America. Whereas I remember when I was in high school and a dovish, big-government presidential candidate named Joe Biden tried to stop the president from saving the country.
The Iraq War was not “disastrous.” It was not even a failure, which is great news for America and its national interests. Odd that so many who wear their patriotism on their sleeves seem to resent that happy fact.
Vance is trying to jiu jitsu some of the clear differences he has with other Republicans on foreign policy and economics by turning them into a reflection of a party that is unified but promotes the free and open exchange of ideas.
Vance seems to have been handed an intra-party big-tent unity speech off his usual message of factional discord and personal attacks on most of the party as for disagreeing with him.
“We have a big tent in this party, from everything from national security to economic policy,” Vance says after walking onto the stage to the tune of an anti-George W. Bush protest song.