In the 2020 Vice Presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Mike Pence, we see examples of skillful ../../questions/evading. While looking at these examples, set aside the positions Pence and Harris are taking, and look closely at the outcomes as evidence of rhetorical skill.

Moderator Susan Page (SP): ….President Trump says that he’s going to protect people with preexisting conditions, but he has not explained how he would do that….how would your administration protect Americans with preexisting conditions to have access to affordable insurance if the Affordable Care Act is struck down?

Incumbent Vice President Mike Pence (MP): Well, thank you, Susan, but let me just say…I couldn’t be more proud to serve as vice president to a president who stands without apology for the sanctity of human life. I’m pro-life. I don’t apologize for it, and this is another one of those cases where there’s such a dramatic contrast.

Pence begins by thanking the moderator for the question despite already being well into the debate timeframe already. This sets a gracious tone for the response while establishing some distance. Pence pivots with "let me just say" to imply he'll come back to the heart of the question after a brief aside. In fact, the pivot is permanent and effective.

MP: [My opponent's] support taxpayer funding of abortion all the way up to the moment of birth. Late term abortion. They want to increase funding to Planned Parenthood of America. For our part, I would never presume how Judge Amy Coney Barrett would rule on the Supreme Court of the United States, but we’ll continue to stand strong for the right to life. When you speak about the Supreme Court, though, I think the American people really deserve an answer, Senator Harris. Are you and Joe Biden going to pack the court if Judge Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed? I mean, there’ve been 29 vacancies on the Supreme Court during presidential election years from George Washington to Barack Obama.

Pence moves from pivoting to reframing by repeating talking points that are in no way related to the original question.

"…without apology for the sanctity of human life…"

"I’m pro-life"

"…taxpayer funding of abortion…"

"Late term abortion"

"increase funding to Planned Parenthood"

Harris knows what Pence is doing here, but she also knows where the chess pieces are. Pence has created a huge burden of rejoinder. She probably realized that simply calling out Pence on not answering the original question, "how would your administration protect Americans with preexisting conditions to have access to affordable insurance if the Affordable Care Act is struck down?" would implicitly confirm what Pence is saying. Finally, Pence doesn't just ask a new question, he embeds an accusation, "the American people really deserve an answer." What answer? It was an unrelated question to him! Before Harris responds, he repeats this a few times more saying both Harris and Biden have refused to answer the question. This further turns up the heat on risk for not accepting Pence's pivot.

Unfortunately, Harris's response was, in her own words, a "history lesson" to recall a moment during Lincoln's presidency when Supreme Court judges were being nominated. The history lesson was logically useful but boring. Pence jumped back in at several points just to re-establish his framing of Harris having something to hide.

MP: People…are voting right now. They’d like to know if you and Joe Biden are going to pack the Supreme Court if you don’t get your way in this nomination.

MP: You, once again, gave a non-answer. Joe Biden gave a non-answer.

MP: …the people deserve a straight answer…

At no point did the debate return to the topic of The Affordable Care act or how the administration would reconcile striking this down while protecting Americans. Whether you prefer Harris or Pence as the next vice presidential nominee, just take a minute to appreciate what just happened: Pence completely evaded the question in a way that made Harris look like an evader of a different question nobody asked. Because Pence calculated this carefully knowing Harris would not answer this definitively, Harris played right into his hands and the following day, news outlets spanning the political spectrum began covering the topic of court packing.