Mike Pence acts like he’s never met Donald Trump during VP debate

The Vice Presidential debate between Mike Pence and Tim Kaine was not quite the explosive encounter of last week, but there was an elephant in the room that kept things entertaining. An elephant that was tweeting his observations from afar.

As Trump retweeted all and sundry during the evening, Kaine was busy firing off attacks about the Republican presidential candidate to his running mate Mike Pence.

Pence's strategy seemed to be to pretend nothing Kaine said about Trump was true. As Kaine's constant references to Trump's tweets, quotes and gaffes continued it became more and more uncomfortable viewing.

Here's an example from later on in the debate, when Kaine reminded the audience that Trump once said women who seek abortion should face "some sort of punishment."

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And another, when Kaine was reminding the audience of Trump's comments on Alicia Machado's weight, his comments on African-Americans and his birtherism attacks on Obama.

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Pence's head shaking, bemused approach did not go unnoticed on Twitter.

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"If Donald Trump had said all of the things you said he said ... he wouldn't have a fraction of the insults that Hillary Clinton leveled," Pence said at one point, around about the time Trump retweeted someone who said Kaine looks like a Batman villain.

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Some observers noted that Pence's consistent dismissal of Kaine's Trump attacks might play into the hands of his opposition when it comes to future attack ads.

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Others, meanwhile, thought that Pence's strategy would be well used by Republicans if (or when) Trump is defeated in November.

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