tradition?
I agree: Why bother?
It will be a repeat of Clinton, because Biden will come armed with facts, poise and confidence. His talking points will generally fare well in fact checking.
And Trump will talk over the top of him every chance he gets.
Nobody will be persuaded, because conservatives seem to love shows of strength, and liberals seem to love seeing people put together and prepared for the task at hand.
The moderator is who gets to determine how the debate goes by keeping them in line–fact checking, or reining in the speakers who talk out of turn. Tonight’s moderator has already said he wanted to be “invisible”, so that is not going to happen.
Personally, I would be happy if we had a moderator with enough guts to cut off people’s mic’s when they talk out of turn. We will never get that, because it wouldn’t be as good of TV as candidates bickering.
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this is a lapse into binary thinking. There are plenty of other ways to pursue convincing disillusioned voters to vote, and other ways to try to persuade die-hard trump followers (not during one of his flamboyant public appearances).
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Lets be honest here. Nobody in the world is going to be watching the debates to compare the policies of the two candidates. Everyone knows that Biden has plans and policies, and that Trump couldn’t care less about either. The only reason people will be watching will be to look for “gotcha” moment’s. Liberals waiting to pounce on trump when he [inevitably] spews out obvious lies and contradictions, and just plain horrible inhuman statements. Trumpers waiting to cheer on trump every time he tries to talk over Biden, or refuses to follow the rules of the debate, or spews out obvious lies and contradictions, and just plain horrible inhuman statements.
What I’m saying is that the purported purpose of the debates (to compare the plans an policies of the two candidates) cannot happen. That was an old paradigm assuming that both candidates were serious about policies and were decent enough human beings to actually debate them. One of these candidates is not, so no debate about policies will occur.
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It’s like we’re having debates just because that’s what we do – not because there’s any real reason to have them. It seems like in the end it will just be completely masturbatory for each side and will be quickly forgotten. I’m kind of half looking forward to and half dreading what will happen tonight.
I’m not really sure what the Trump strategy is here – his own people have said he’s not doing any serious debate prep, and Trump has set the bar and expectations so low for Biden that basically all Biden has to do is not die on stage to put in what could be considered a good showing. But does it really matter? Trump will just do what he always does: say stupid things, say made up things, hurl insults, interrupt Biden, and then invariably declare himself the winner. For any good showing Biden has, Trump will just dust off the old “debate drugs” trope again.
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It’s Biden’s to lose. I really wish the debates were not happening this go around.
Biden is going to be trying really hard NOT say say stupid things and trump will turn it into an MAGA infomercial ala trump rally complete with all the lies, BS and conspiracy theories.
FoxNews will turn on the Deep Dream filter when Biden speaks.
i’ll be outside.
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There are people on the fence, who have heard from their Trumpist relatives and friends that Biden is senile and does terrible at debates. The debate is an opportunity for Biden to show such voters that he has his mental acuity and refusing to debate would be taken as a tacit admission that he is intellectually inferior.
If you are on the fence at this point you are too poorly informed and just should sit out the vote.
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Why bother debating Trump?
Because that would treat him cruelly. 
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Re-post:
“On Undecided Voters: "To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. “Can I interest you in the chicken?” she asks. “Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?”
To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked.”
― David Sedaris
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True but undecideds will make as much of an impact on the results of this election as turnout and hopefully more impact than shenanigans.
I doubt that.
A much better strat is to work to counter disenfranchisment and voter suppression among people who already are inclined to vote in a humane (rather than cruel) way.
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I suppose that the argument still works for people who are on the fence about whether they want to vote or not. Someone on the fence about voting for Biden, might hear that he is senile and figure it isn’t worth bothering but change their mind when they see he is not. Someone who is on the fence about Trump and has heard that Biden is senile, might see that Biden is not senile and decide that it is not worth voting.
To vote or not is a question that shouldn’t have to be asked.
Everybody fucking vote.
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“People on the fence are dumb and maybe shouldn’t vote.”
“Everybody should vote.”
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Biden should wheel in some dead bodies just for spite.
(Of course not but fuck them for trying to avoid a key mfing issue)
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Yeah. I agree with the OP, I don’t really see the point of holding these since Trump just lies, lies, lies about everything.
But am I going to be watching/listening? For as long as I can stomach it!
Not because I’m undecided or torn. Because we are living through a chapter of history that I hope will not be repeated in my lifetime, and I feel compelled to occasionally take a front row seat.
Do I wish I’d replenished my bourbon supply in preparation? Abso-fucking-lutely.
Am much disappoint in my lack of foresight.
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Yeah, I’m going old fashioned tonight.
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FWIW, Biden routed Bernie Sanders at the last dem debate and I’m a total Bernie Stan.
Biden and his team are not dumb, and anyone who has been paying attention could come up with some strategies to knock the President around verbally and intellectually.
I’m not going to watch though, my coin is already in the jukebox.
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