Vance calls Senate hopeful 'very, very evil,' warns him to keep his wife's name out of his mouth.

As it ran on the front

Let's be clear about what actually happened here, because the coverage has gotten away from the facts. The Vice President was asked about a Senate candidate in Michigan, and he answered honestly. He called Abdul El-Sayed 'very, very evil.' Twice, according to NBC and The Hill, which independently confirmed the quote, which — and I want to be precise about this — means it wasn't a slip. It was a considered characterization, repeated for emphasis. That's called conviction. That's called not being mealy-mouthed. That's called — actually, hold on, let me back up.

The word 'evil' applied to a sitting candidate for federal office is, on its face, a serious escalation in political rhetoric, and I understand why that reads as inflammatory to some. But context matters. The context is that Mr. El-Sayed apparently said something that upset the Vice President enough that he then separately told him to keep his wife's name out of his mouth, publicly, in the Washington Examiner. Two separate confrontations, same week, same target. I'm told that's a coincidence of scheduling and not, as some have suggested, a pattern of escalating personal attacks against a Senate candidate roughly six weeks before voters start paying attention to this race. I don't write the calendar.…