{"id":3923,"date":"2020-09-15T09:51:38","date_gmt":"2020-09-15T09:51:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/?p=3923"},"modified":"2023-03-27T15:52:49","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T15:52:49","slug":"senate-debate-surprise-cunningham-hesitant-on-vaccine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2020\/09\/15\/senate-debate-surprise-cunningham-hesitant-on-vaccine\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate debate surprise: Cunningham hesitant on vaccine"},"content":{"rendered":"

After his first question prompted a puzzling response from the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, the debate moderator asked a second time. Would Cal Cunningham take a coronavirus vaccine that was approved by the end of the year?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI would be hesitant,\u201d Cunningham said. \u201cI\u2019m going to ask a lot of questions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis pounced.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe just had a candidate for the U.S. Senate look into the camera and tell 10 million North Carolinians he would be hesitant to take a vaccine,\u201d he said, waving his hands up and down for emphasis.<\/span><\/p>\n

It felt like a role reversal for the two parties. It\u2019s typically the Republicans who are skeptical of scientific expertise and public health measures such as mask requirements.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But on Monday night, it was Cunningham who said it was \u201cincumbent on every American\u201d to question the government and Tillis who responded, \u201cI trust Dr. Fauci,\u201d referring to Anthony Fauci, the government\u2019s top infectious disease doctor.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you didn\u2019t see it live, you will surely see it and read about it again in ads and mailings. The exchange was the most memorable moment in the first televised debate between Tillis and Cunningham, two candidates in one of <\/span>the most competitive and costly Senate contests<\/span><\/a> in the country.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the hour-long debate, the candidates sparred on healthcare and systemic racism, while also repeating barbs from their campaign ads.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Cunningham quoted the Gospel of Matthew. Tillis called Biden Cunningham\u2019s \u201crunning mate\u201d and zinged Cunningham for using a tax incentive to renovate his butler\u2019s pantry.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI didn’t know what a butler’s pantry was because we didn’t have them in the trailers I grew up in,\u201d Tillis said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

From the outset, the pandemic dominated the debate.<\/span><\/p>\n

Before either candidate spoke, the debate moderator, WRAL anchor David Crabtree, explained that the candidates had been spaced 12 feet apart and had worn masks until reaching their podiums.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Asked to comment on the president\u2019s handling of the pandemic, Tillis sidestepped. He praised the administration\u2019s travel ban and then pivoted to boast about his efforts to increase testing and access to personal protective equipment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Cunningham put the blame on President Trump and the federal government.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think that we are exceeding and experiencing an unprecedented failure of leadership in this country,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have tens of thousands of Americans who have lost their lives, often without being able to be with their loved ones in their final hours. We’ve had millions of people out of the workforce, tons of jobs lost, but it’s also the lost moments. It’s missing high school graduations. It’s grandparents who can’t be there for birthdays, weddings, funerals.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Cunningham also accused Tillis of dilly-dallying after being briefed on the coronavirus in January.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt took him almost six months to come up with priorities,\u201d he said. \u201cInstead, I was listening to North Carolinians, talking about the priorities I hear.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Following the pattern of the president, who has called the coronavirus the \u201c<\/span>China virus<\/span><\/a>,\u201d Tillis shifted blame overseas.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMake no mistake about it. China\u2019s responsible for this crisis,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And then came the surprising exchange over the COVID-19 vaccine. Cunningham defended his position, describing skepticism of government as one of the \u201cfinest traditions of America.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think that’s incumbent on all of us right now in this environment with the way we’ve seen politics intervening in Washington,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCal\u2019s a trial lawyer. He’s not a doctor,\u201d Tillis replied. \u201cHe’s not a scientist. He’s not an epidemiologist. What he’s saying is what he thinks will get him elected. Because that\u2019s what (Kamala) Harris said.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Tillis and Cunningham are scheduled for two more debates on Sept. 22 and Oct. 1.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After his first question prompted a puzzling response from the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, the debate moderator asked a second time. Would Cal Cunningham…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3924,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[19,71,135,281],"class_list":["post-3923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-2020-election","tag-coronavirus","tag-election-2020","tag-u-s-senate","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nSenate debate surprise: Cunningham hesitant on vaccine - 9th Street Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2020\/09\/15\/senate-debate-surprise-cunningham-hesitant-on-vaccine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Senate debate surprise: Cunningham hesitant on vaccine - 9th Street Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After his first question prompted a puzzling response from the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, the debate moderator asked a second time. 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