Kaine Just Tried To Mansplain To Elaine Quijano

It's a moment that women are all too familiar with — a cis dude interrupting with a particular tone and a condescending throw-away line. It's really a shame that it was Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine who pulled this particular punk move during Tuesday night's debate in Farmville, Virginia.

Moderator Elaine Quijano proved herself to be a tough time-keeper, ready to firmly encourage the two men vying for the second highest political office in the United States to quit screaming over one another, and it was during one of these moments, as Kaine was describing the different roles both candidates played during the turmoil surrounding the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, that the mansplaining attempt went down. As he was making his point, he went over his allotted time and couldn't keep himself from sniping back at Quijano when she mentioned his time was up. Kaine also couldn't resist snipping at her as if she wasn't aware that the topic he was currently discussing, mattered.

Per Vox's transcript of the debate (emphasis added):

On 9/11, Hillary Clinton's and Donald Trump's hometown was attacked. Young men and women signed up to fight terrorism. Hillary Clinton went to Washington to get funds to rebuild her city and protect first responders, but Donald Trump was fighting a different fight, a fight to avoid paying taxes so he would not support the fight against terror, he would not support troops. This is important, Elaine.

When a guy running for president will not support the troops, not support veterans, not support teachers, that is really important. And I said about Aleppo, we do agree to a humanitarian zone in northern Syria.

Unfortunately, despite attempts at making a good point, there's a tactful and more effective way to get your thoughts out on the table without turning your frustration on the only woman around — who is just trying to do her damn job.

Fox News and the Republican National Committee attempted to count the number of times Kaine interrupted Pence, coming to different numbers (39 and 70-plus respectively). However, there wasn't any mention by either party of the number of times Quijano had to deal with either candidate ignoring her directions and authority as moderator.

While most of America is used to debates filled with yelling and candidates talking over one another, it's certainly important during this election to examine the ways gender changes the game.