ABC’s Martha Raddatz Pushes Back Against Claim Pence was ‘Mansplaining’ at Debate

ABC News Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz dismissed the claim that Vice President Mike Pence was “mansplaining” during Wednesday evening’s debate against Democrat vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA).

A partial transcript is as follows:

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: As I said at the top, Susan Page had some very well-crafted questions, but what good is that if you don’t follow up to get the answer?

MARTHA RADDATZ: I think one of the things is you really do have to listen to what they’re saying and then follow up. We seemed to move pretty quickly onto the next question. There were very few answers to questions Susan Page asked and they were well-crafted questions.

[…]

When I hear people say — talk about mansplaining and talk about these things with Kamala Harris and a man shouldn’t interrupt her and it’s going to look bad, Kamala Harris is a vice presidential candidate, she should be able to stand up for herself. Yes, it’s history-making, yes, you can talk about her history and who she is and she’s a woman of color there, but a man can interrupt another vice presidential candidate. It is up to that candidate to talk back, to interrupt themselves, or to hold on to that debate in any way they could.