Once again, the winner of the debate was “Nobody,” and the loser was “Humanity at Large.”
And once again, the word “debate” loses all meaning.
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It’s hard to look like a Grandmaster when you’re playing chess with a pigeon. Agreeing to this debate was a mistake.
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The most dysfunctional yet likely scenario
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Australian analysis of the debate. In it they interview a Democratic senator, and a Republican strategist.
Both of them said, straight out, “oh my god, that whole thing was crap, that was awful in every direction, and neither of them came out looking functional.”
The Democrat, a personal friend of Biden, made a point of saying how badly he did, and the Republican made a point of saying how badly Trump did.
To quote the Republican: “But right now, my perspective on this: I am terrified for my country. This is bad.”
Everybody loses and nobody gets a prize.
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Number 1: Yes
Number 2: Yes again!
Number 3: I agree!
(Heh heh)
HCR agrees too, and she did an especially effective job afterward of pointing out that the worst candidate in that stage showed again throughout the “debate” why he’s by far the worst, no matter how much the pundits insist on ignoring that fact.
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Isn’t that the episode where Sisko leaves his baseball on the desk? There’s that hopeful symbolism that things will get better!
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And also, let’s not fall for Tromp’s and the corporate media’s framing of the two contrasting “debate” performances, and of the supposed effect on voters who watched it.
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A poll of 15 people? That’s completely meaningless.
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My poll of 1 person in my household showed that I’m even less likely to vote for Trump after the debate
If that were possible.
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I have polled 3 people, including myself, and our likelihood of voting for Trump remains at 0.0%.
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Man, the Pod Save America folks were pretty unsparing in their assessment of the debate.
One of their takeaways is that Biden has been an excellent President with a lot of accomplishments that he should be proud of, but that right now he’s a terrible candidate.
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Happy Cake Day!
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Thank you!
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Agree with several others here. Trump couldn’t speak 2 words without lying. If this were a contest of competency, that would disqualify him right there. It’s not, though. It’s a contest of “who looks more energetic.” Biden looked like an 81-year-old man who didn’t feel good. Trump looked like an egomaniac who can’t tell a lie from the truth to save his soul, but lies with great vigor. For some, apparently, that is preferable to someone who has the facts but doesn’t feel good. I doubt this changed any minds, but was a missed opportunity to swing some undecideds. Although after all this time, I cannot imagine any real “undecideds” still exist.
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And that’s true- but it’s also an indictment of us and how we do politics.
Although Fetterman had an awful debate after his stroke and people didn’t abandon him.
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Much has been said about the age of the candidates, but maybe it’s the corporate media whose senility is most dangerous to us. Their insistence on proceeding as though things are pretty much what they’ve always been, on normalizing the appalling and outrageous, on using false equivalencies and bothsiderism to make themselves look fair and reasonable, on turning politics into horseraces and personality contests, is aiding the destruction of the United States.
The major American newspapers have been unable or unwilling to convey to the voting public that the fate of the country and its constitution are at stake, that the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 is a game plan for authoritarian rule and the loss of long-protected rights for many kinds of Americans.
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They do, though. There are a surprising number of people who don’t really watch much of any news at all. Everyone here on BB is pretty well informed. We are unusual. We are not typical voters. People who are just mostly focused on getting through the day, every day, may still vote for President, especially if they see someone who strikes them as strong and confident. If people like that watched the first 10 minutes of the debate last night (and most probably didn’t, let’s be honest), they don’t know Trump is lying. And he looked the more confident, self-assured candidate. I don’t think this debate will swing the needle much, but if it does, it ain’t swinging it in Biden’s favor.
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I agree. It also happened nearly 5 months before the election. A lot is going to happen in those 5 months that will likely push immediate, knee-jerk impressions of this debate and reactions to it into the distant, largely forgotten past.
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And this is what is keeping me hopeful. Trump will continue to do outrageous things, it’s who he is. As these folks who don’t pay attention start to do so, they will either be attracted to that, in which case, they would never have voted for Biden anyway, or be horrified (of course, this is the hoped for response) and perhaps motivated to get out and vote. Regardless, our marching orders remain unchanged. Get out the vote and vote to dump trump.
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