Sadly, we still judge women differently than men in debates. In trying to appeal to voters in the middle, Kamala tonight faces the challenge of aggressively taking Pence and the Trump admin to task while not looking too “mean” or “emotional.”
While I would love nothing more than to “let Kamala cook,” to repurpose the Russell Wilson phrase, I think we’ll see a more subdued version of Kamala tonight than the prosecutor version we see eviscerating folks in Senate hearings. She’s still held to a different standard.
And if the ticket was trailing by 9 points instead of leading by 9 points, maybe she’d come out throwing haymakers, but there’s little incentive to do anything other than just keep it between the lines and share what they’ll do for America vs litigating the case against Trump Co.
Following up on this thread post debate, I heard more discussion on the ABC about Kamala’s facial reactions in the split screens than I did of Pence steamrolling the moderator, and saw two female panelists go out of their way to absolve him of any suggestion of “mansplaining.”
Maybe talking over and ignoring the soft spoken female moderator isn’t technically “mansplaining,” but he damn sure didn’t show her any respect.
You can follow @JamesCurle.
Tip: mention @twtextapp on a Twitter thread with the keyword “unroll” to get a link to it.

Latest Threads Unrolled: