"Would you . . . ?" Part Two: Scum and Stammerer. (Presidential Debate Thread)

[Narz]

Ah missed the fun, too late UK time (off tech around 9pm)

 

[Narz]

Watching it 10 hours later, Biden sounds really bad. So far 12min in he just lost it, I'm cringing for him. He's talking like he's afraid he'll forget what he's saying if he pauses even for a second.

Yeah I just can't watch, turned off around 15min in.

So absurd that Biden is supposed to be our great man. It's like a neighborhood bully beating up a disabled kid. You could get any number of people who could actually fight to pick apart the bully but nah, let's let the crippled kid defend us.

 

[Snowygerry]

It would be best if you elected someone else, these two seem entirely unfit to represent anyone.

 

[Farm Boy]

"regulatory capture"

 

[Narz]

It would be best if you elected someone else, these two seem entirely unfit to represent anyone.

Dems should've had the balls to run someone else.

What's so hard about saying "yeah our guy did alright but he's tired and we got someone better now"?

 

[Farm Boy]

What makes you think the emperors of regulation have anyone better?

 

[Snowygerry]

Dems should've had the balls to run someone else.

What's so hard about saying "yeah our guy did alright but he's tired and we got someone better now"?

I don't know, our America watchers tell me it has never been done this "late" in an election campaign.

I suspect the problem is agreeing on a single candidate, maybe they should just have an open congress and let the members decide ?

A dog with a hat can beat Trump, he's an idiot

 

[Cloud_Strife]

gerontocracy

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Questions you already know the answer to: "Would you accept the result of the election, whoever wins?"

edit: By the way, I also learned Tiger Woods would have been the best candidate.

 

[danjuno]

We did it guys, we nominated the Electable Democratᵗᵐ!

 

[Comrade Ceasefire]

Dems should've had the balls to run someone else.

What's so hard about saying "yeah our guy did alright but he's tired and we got someone better now"?

You just need the right pair and a good slogan. (Or a good pair and the right slogan.)

Don't let Donald Trump grab power with those tiny little hands!
Vote Mary Trump/Stormy Daniels 2024.

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

I love how America is the greatest country on earth and these two are the best they can muster for the top job. Truly Democracy manifest

 

[Narz]

I love how America is the greatest country on earth and these two are the best they can muster for the top job. Truly Democracy manifest

They're a reflection of American politics which is not the same as the American people.

I don't deny George Carlin's message that "the public sucks" but it's a bit more nuanced. The worst aspects of our nature are well watered from the top down and the board is tilted to allow these ridiculous marbles to roll into the place they are.

 

[Narz]

At least Biden is calling out Trump's lies.

Cause that's been an effective strategy so far!

Trump supporters : Our guy is the best since God, maybe better

Biden supporters: well our guy sucks but at least...

 

[EgonSpengler]

I didn't watch the debate, but it sounds like it was a cluster[fudge] for both men, and in ways that weren't just predicable, but predicted. Biden stumbled. Trump lied. There's two guys on the radio right now, each of them trying to defend their preferred candidate's performance. I'm looking again at the quote from Betty Gilpin I have in my sig.

 

[Kyriakos]

Cnn presents Biden's performance as "dismal", "causing panic to the party", "a sense of shock and disorientation", "maybe he shouldn't be the candidate".

 

[Comrade Ceasefire]

Cnn presents Biden's performance as "dismal", "causing panic to the party", "a sense of shock and disorientation", "maybe he shouldn't be the candidate".

About 5 minutes into the debate Biden bragged how he had created 15,000 jobs. It got worse from there.
It's time to bring in somebody younger, with a name that everyone can trust - Chelsea Clinton.

 

[amadeus]

Cnn presents Biden's performance as "dismal", "causing panic to the party", "a sense of shock and disorientation", "maybe he shouldn't be the candidate".

CNN is also third place in the cable news ratings. Maybe they are trying to shake it up a bit.

 

[EgonSpengler]

I continue to marvel at how far up their own [behinds] the Democratic Party have their heads, in the sense that defeating Donald Trump ought to be an open goal, and they're struggling with him for 3 campaign cycles in a row. It's almost unbelievable, except that I'm watching it happen in real time. In 2016, I remember a commentator saying that "somehow both parties have nominated someone that the other side can't lose to." This morning, someone on a podcast said that if you found a swing-voter who hadn't watched the debate and showed them only Donald Trump speaking, they'd think it was an unmitigated disaster for the Republicans. According to this commentator, Trump didn't answer a single question last night, lied with every other sentence, and became increasingly incoherent as the night wore on. And yet, this is being called a clear victory for him.

Another commentator on the same podcast suggested that some Republican strategists might be worrying about Biden's poor performance, because they don't want him to quit and be replaced by someone else, who would almost certainly be a tougher task for Trump. Forget for a moment what you think of Kamala Harris, overall: Can you imagine what she would have done to Trump last night? It would've almost been hard to watch. Anthony Joshua vs. Francis Ngannou. The Democrats should be thanking the Republican voter base for being so stupid as to nominate Donald Trump again instead of, say, Nikki Haley, who almost certainly would be whomping Biden in polls right now.* The Republicans are practically trying to throw this race by nominating Trump; they probably can't believe they're getting away with this again. That fact that this race is neck-and-neck is an embarrassment for both parties.

p.s. Something I didn't know until this morning: They only had this debate because Biden requested it. Talk about an own-goal.


* Now that I've thought of it, I'd love to see Harris and Hayley debate each other, even if it's outside this race. If somebody could get them on something like Intelligence², I would totally watch that.

 

[Gori the Grey]

They only had this debate because Biden requested it. Talk about an own-goal.

Not quite. Trump issued a "I'll debate you any time, any place" challenge, and Biden's team took him up on that.

I would quibble somewhat, too, with your characterization of what the Ds have done over three election cycles. Clinton wasn't picked to beat Trump; as Clinton was emerging, Trump was (unexpectedly to everyone) emerging also. And in 2020, Ds did pick the right candidate. Biden was right because his core trait is decency, and after four years of Trump's various indecencies (even just pushing other world leaders out of the way to be most prominent in a shot), people were hungry for someone decent. Biden got more votes than any presidential candidate ever has.

But decency cannot prevail on its own, if the candidate isn't a forceful communicator of his party's values. In 2020, Biden was. Now, he is not.

Regarding the bigger analysis you provide, I think, yes. no one who didn't already like Trump found a reason to like him from that debate. It's just that Biden's performance gives any voter who was hesitant about voting for him because of age absolute permission to feel and act on that hesitancy.

When it was time for Biden to decide whether to run in 2024, he felt capable of doing so; in the intervening year he has lost that capability.