Have I Mentioned I Like Tim Kaine?

[Content Note: Misogyny.]

Yesterday, Tim Kaine did an interview with PBS' Gwen Ifill, during which she asked him about Donald Trump's comments about Hillary Clinton not "looking presidential." And his response was awesome.

Ifill: Let me ask you another question about something Donald Trump had to say over the weekend. He said that Hillary Clinton didn't look presidential. And then he was asked about that, and he didn't quite answer what he meant. What do you think he meant?

Kaine: Well, Gwen, I'll quote it precisely. He said: "Hillary Clinton doesn't look presidential, does she, fellas?" Does she fellas. And, ah, to me, I didn't have a hard time figuring out what that meant. He was basically saying that, because she's a woman, ah, that she somehow didn't meet his standard of what a president looks like. And I think that is very, very easily understood by the vast majority of people who heard him make that comment, and they find it offensive.

Ifill: Does it help or hurt you when there are veiled, or unveiled, comments referring to your running mate's gender?

Kaine: Um, well, you know, whether it helps or hurts us, it's bad for our country, um, because we live in a country where we put our North Star out there in 1776, and we said that North Star was going to be equality; took us 144 years to make the decision that that meant women could even vote. And now we're 96 years after that and, thank goodness, we've broken a glass ceiling, and a major party has nominated a woman for president.

But for Donald Trump to suggest—and he's suggested it before—that for some reason Hillary Clinton couldn't cross over the hurdle because of her gender, when we've stated that our principle is the equality principle, and nations around the world have been able to elect women as heads of state, I think that shows that he's living in a different time—a time that is not a match for what Americans now believe about who our leaders should be.

A+

I love that Kaine is willing to bluntly call out this "doesn't look presidential" garbage as the straight-up misogyny that it is. LOVE.

I also deeply appreciate the matter-of-fact construction he uses here. It's "very, very easily understood" what Trump means. And anyone who doesn't understand it is making a real goddamn effort not to.

I'll tell ya what: If Tim Kaine gives me a reason to write a happy post about him every day, I won't be mad.