I didn't see the debate but it here is one article about it from BBC. Did BBC "nerf" as well?
>>>JD Vance has refused to say whether he thinks Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, and whether he would contest the 2024 vote if Democrats win next month.
The Republican vice-presidential candidate - who has previously said he would have challenged the 2020 result if given the chance - avoided giving answers on both issues during Tuesday night's debate.
In a head-to-head that was largely civilised in tone, he was accused by his Democratic opponent Tim Walz of "a damning non-answer" after sidestepping a question about that result and the Capitol riot on 6 January 2021. ...<<<
Vance refuses to answer whether Trump lost 2020 election
Another less charitable article about Vance's debate with Walz from center-right The Bulkwark:
>>>...Check out some of the positions Vance took during the course of the debate:
- That because Trump is crazy and unpredictable, other countries fear him—which is why Trump is good for foreign policy.
- That climate change is real and protectionism is the best way to combat it.
- That when he said mean things about Trump in the past, it was because the media had lied to him about Trump.
- That Trump governed in a bipartisan manner and “got things done.”
- That Trump saved Obamacare.
- That America has an “epidemic of gun violence.”
- That Republicans need to “earn people’s trust back” on abortion.
- That Trump isn’t a threat to democracy because he did voluntarily leave the White House on January 20, 2021.
- That America needs (1) change and (2) a president who’s done this all before.
I know how that reads on the page, but you’ll have to trust me: He made it all sound reasonable.3