Admittedly, I only made it through the first 15 minutes and had to go read a book. At that point, I wouldn't have made a bet that Biden would make it much past 15 minutes. He looked like they dragged him out of the crypt, and he mumbled so badly I couldn't even catch everything he said. The looks on his face were like even he couldn't believe he was there. And Trump put on his mugshot face and just spouted lies, ranting random nonsense like the madman he is.
From other people's comments, I gather it went on that way the whole time.
Before the debate I heard justification for the moderators not fact-checking Trump in real time as the debate would devolve into Jake Tapper and Donald Trump. Good point. But that would have been so much better for the country.
Mehdi makes many good points in this video. But Democrats won't just offer another candidate at their convention. However, they should try to convince Joe to stand down on his own. What I expect, though, is for Joe to start apologizing for and excusing his bad performance and promise better. (Update: see below*)
No. We need to thank him for his service and name a bridge after him. This is serious.
Guardian headlines:
And THAT is the key note. One man would accept a loss. The other would lie, cheat, and steal, and call out an army of lunatics to the streets.
Unfortunately, Biden had a cold and came in with a hoarse voice and low energy. For the first 45 minutes, it was rough sledding for the President, who stumbled on answers and said outloud, “we finally beat Medicare.”
Oof!
[...]
[Biden's] performance reinforces the damaging story that he’s too old to run. Mind you, Trump is 78 years old and also didn’t come off looking great, but at least he was coherent during his absurd, ugly rants.
[...]
For the next debate, A.I. should simply ask questions and play the timekeeper. That’s what these two journalists did. Trump overwhelmed them with an avalanche of bullshit, lies and absurd statements but he was never once fact checked. There was never any pushback. A few times the moderators asked him to answer the question after he went on some rant or attack, but that’s about it. How does this type of “moderation” help inform Americans ahead of a Presidential election? What does this do except just help Trump mainstream lies? This man stood on the stage and said Democrats are executing babies after birth, and no moderator checked him.
The Left Hook
Don't blame the moderators. It wasn't their job to critique. It's a debate. The other guy is supposed to counter the bullshit. AI isn't a bad idea.
Democrats were trying to soothe each other out of the gate saying every incumbent president has had a horrible first debate (Oh, lord, there are going to be more!), and Joe had a cold. And, WHY ISN'T ANYONE FACT-CHECKING TRUMP??!!??!!
I'm not hopeful.Unfortunately, Biden had a cold and came in with a hoarse voice and low energy. For the first 45 minutes, it was rough sledding for the President, who stumbled on answers and said outloud, “we finally beat Medicare.”
Democrats were trying to soothe each other out of the gate saying every incumbent president has had a horrible first debate (Oh, lord, there are going to be more!), and Joe had a cold. And, WHY ISN'T ANYONE FACT-CHECKING TRUMP??!!??!!
But eventually, many settled in to accept reality.
David Plouffe, a Democratic strategist and former Obama campaign official, called the debate “kind of a Defcon 1 moment”.
“The biggest thing in this election is voters’ concerns – and it’s both swing voters and base voters – with his age, and those were compounded tonight,” Plouffe said.
[...]
Maria Shriver, the former first lady of California, said she loves Biden and knows he’s a good man, but the evening was “heartbreaking in many ways”.
“This is a big political moment. There’s panic in the Democratic party. It’s going to be a long night.”
Nicholas Kristof, the leftwing political columnist, said on social media that he hopes Biden reflects on the debate and decides to withdraw from the race, letting the convention decide who should be the nominee.
[...]
Former Missouri senator Claire McCaskill said on MSNBC that Biden had one job, and he didn’t do it: He needed to “reassure America that he was up to the job at his age, and he failed”.
[...]
On the liberal network MSNBC, anchor Nicole Wallace laid out how a candidate could release their delegates, while fellow journalist Joy Reid said someone sent her the rules for doing so.
“No one is saying it’s going to happen, it’s very unlikely,” Reid said, but added that the atmosphere among Democrats was “approaching panic”.
[...]
Some Democrats laid out ways the Biden camp could turn the moment back toward him and get his performance out of voters’ minds: send out his surrogates to support him, put strong speakers like Harris or Newsom on the morning shows, or announce an initiative or endorsement or big idea in order to change the narrative.
Guardian
Yeah, people aren't likely to forget this one. And the Republicans will be airing clips of Biden all day long until the election.
Sure. I'll stress how absolutely necessary it is that we hold back the MAGA/Christian Nationalist surge in this country. And I'll vote for Biden. (If he lives that long - and even if he's on his deathbed in the Oval, he'll have competent people in his cabinet trying to keep this country going, which Trump absolutely will not have.) But I'll be disgusted and depressed doing it. That might not be great, but it's rational.
If you missed the debacle and have a desire to ruin your day, you can watch it here. But, honestly, this captures it:
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
UPDATE 08:47 am:
You know it was bad when one of Biden's most supportive teams (three of whom worked with Obama) takes him down.
*UPDATE 01:37 pm: He's not stepping down. He IS doing just what I suggested above that he'd do.
Last night it was reported he said he thought he did fine. At least somebody convinced him he needs to clean that mess up.
UPDATE 06/29/2024:
No comments:
Post a Comment