Vocabulary from the Vice-Presidential Debate, October 4, 2016

The first and only Vice-Presidential debate was held on October 4, 2016 in Farmville, Virginia. Both Governor Mike Pence, Republican from Indiana, and Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat from Virginia, were seated around a table for the debate, and this may have contributed to the relatively polite nature of the proceedings. There were times when both candidates went into attack mode, but they also exchanged ideas on the issues facing the country -- including immigration and foreign threats to the nation. Here are 20 vocabulary words from the Vice- Presidential debate.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. feckless
    generally incompetent and ineffectual
    And the truth of the matter is, the weak and feckless foreign policy of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has awakened an aggression in Russia that first appeared a few years ago with their move in Georgia, now their move into Crimea, now their move into the wider Middle East.
    - Governor Mike Pence
  2. asymmetrical
    characterized by an imbalance in spatial arrangement
    We have got to bring together the best resources of this country to understand that cyber warfare is the new warfare of the asymmetrical enemies that we face in this country.
    - Gov. Pence
    An asymmetrical enemy is one that is not equal to you in terms of military strength, but one that can still do harm to your country. For example individuals who are not allied with a country or group can still commit acts of terrorism.
  3. antithetical
    sharply contrasted in character or purpose
    Hillary and I will do immigration enforcement and we'll vet refugees based on whether they're dangerous or not. We won't do it based on discriminating against you from the country you come from or the religion that you practice.That is completely antithetical to the Jeffersonian values of...[this country]
    - Senator Tim Kaine
  4. proliferation
    a rapid increase in number
    And when he was confronted with this, and told, wait a minute, terrorists could get those, proliferation could lead to nuclear war, here's what Donald Trump said, and I quote: "Go ahead, folks, enjoy yourselves."
    - Sen. Kaine
    -
  5. irredeemable
    not capable of or subject to reform or remedy
    I mean, to be honest with you, if Donald had said all of the things that you've said he said in the way you said he said them, he still wouldn't have a fraction of the insults that Hillary Clinton leveled when she said that half of our supporters were a basket of deplorables. It's -- she said they were irredeemable, they were not American.
    I mean, it's extraordinary.
    - Gov. Pence
  6. demean
    reduce in worth or character, usually verbally
    But, Senator, please, you know, enough of this seeking every opportunity to demean law enforcement broadly by making the accusation of implicit bias every time tragedy occurs.
    - Gov. Pence
  7. implicit
    suggested though not directly expressed
    But they also -- they also hear the bad mouthing, the bad mouthing that comes from people that seize upon tragedy in the wake of police action shootings as -- as a reason to -- to use a broad brush to accuse law enforcement of -- of implicit bias or institutional racism.
    - Gov. Pence
  8. amnesty
    a warrant granting release from punishment for an offense
    Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine want to continue the policies of open borders, amnesty, catch and release, sanctuary cities, all the things that are driving -- that are driving wages down in this country, Senator, and also too often with criminal aliens in the country, it's bringing heartbreak.
    -Gov. Pence
  9. solvent
    capable of meeting financial obligations
    And Social Security has enabled people to retire with dignity and overwhelmingly not be in poverty. We have to keep it solvent. And we will keep it solvent. And we'll look for strategies like adjusting the payroll tax cap upward in order to do that.
    - Sen. Kaine
  10. resilience
    an occurrence of rebounding or springing back
    It's been about -- it's going through hardship just like a businessperson does and finding a way through smarts and ingenuity and resilience to fight forward and -- when Donald Trump becomes president of the United States, we're going to have a stronger America.
    Gov. Pence
  11. bulwark
    an embankment built around a space for defensive purposes
    Mike Pence, when he was in Congress, voted against raising the minimum wage above $5.15. And he has been a one-man bulwark against minimum wage increases in Indiana.
    - Sen Kaine
  12. heinous
    extremely wicked or deeply criminal
    For me, the hardest struggle in my faith life was the Catholic Church is against the death penalty and so am I. But I was governor of a state, and the state law said that there was a death penalty for crimes if the jury determined them to be heinous. And so I had to grapple with that.
    - Sen. Kaine
  13. clemency
    leniency and compassion shown toward offenders
    It was very, very difficult to allow executions to go forward, but in circumstances where I didn't feel like there was a case for clemency, I told Virginia voters I would uphold the law, and I did.
    That was a real struggle.
    - Sen. Kaine
  14. anathema
    a detested person or thing
    I mean, to hold to the view -- and I know Senator Kaine, you hold pro-life views personally -- but the very idea that a child that is almost born into the world could still have their life taken from them is just anathema to me.
    - Gov. Pence
    Anathema can, as in this case, also refer to an idea that one detests or finds repulsive.
  15. stifled
    held in check or kept back with difficulty
    We've seen an economy stifled by more taxes, more regulation, a war on coal, and a failing health care reform come to be known as Obamacare, and the American people know that we need to make a change.
    - Gov. Pence
    Here stifled means " held down" or "held back," smothered and prevented from growing as fully as it might have.
  16. flout
    treat with contemptuous disregard
    And when Donald Trump is president of the United States, we're -- we're not going to have the -- the kind of posture in the world that has Russia invading Crimea and Ukraine, that has the Chinese building new islands in the South China Sea, that has literally the world, including North Korea, flouting American power. We're going to -- we're going to go back to the days of peace through strength.
    - Gov. Pence
  17. dormant
    inactive but capable of becoming active
    Under Secretary Clinton's leadership, she was part of the national team, public safety team that went after and revived the dormant hunt against bin Laden and wiped him off the face of the Earth.
    - Sen. Kaine
  18. imminent
    close in time; about to occur
    look, a president should take action to defend the United States against imminent threat. You have to. A president has to do that. Now exactly what action, you would have to determine what your intelligence was, how certain you were of that intelligence, but you would have to take action.
    -Sen Kaine
  19. relish
    derive or receive pleasure from
    But my primary role is to be Hillary Clinton's right-hand person and strong supporter as she puts together the most historic administration possible. And I relish that role. I'm so proud of her.
    - Sen. Kaine
  20. deplorable
    bringing or deserving severe rebuke or censure
    I mean, to be honest with you, if Donald had said all of the things that you've said he said in the way you said he said them, he still wouldn't have a fraction of the insults that Hillary Clinton leveled when she said that half of our supporters were a basket of deplorables. It's -- she said they were irredeemable, they were not American.
    I mean, it's extraordinary.
    -Gov. Pence
Created on Wed Oct 05 00:30:52 EDT 2016 (updated Wed Oct 05 09:36:55 EDT 2016)

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