Biden had one job in this debate. To convince undecided voters that he’s not too old for the job. He failed.
I think Trump lost the last round in the debate where he had covid. He looked weak. His whole schtick is about being strong, and he failed. I’m afraid Biden just lost this election.
I have - the design is not to convince undecideds to vote for him or switch horses, but to send Democrats around the country into an effing panic so they’ll vote this time and not sit home. Democrats have the numbers, we just need them to vote. This is 3D chess!
Trump has looked like that all along, and yet it was a tie game going in to last night.
That movie quote highlights that we want our presidents to be presidential. Not the milquetoast person we saw last night.
This.
I couldn’t watch and came in here to see the comments. We’re doomed.
The view in the UK is that both candidates did terribly. Trump did his usual thing where he tried to break the world record for speed-lying while acting like the biggest asshole imaginable, while Biden looked like he’d just been revived by a fucking necromancer.
Unfortunately, I think Biden came off worst. In my opinion, Presidential debates are basically just charisma tests. Nobody cares what you actually say. You win by projecting a more ‘leader-like’ image than the other guy. Nobody could’ve been less leader-like than Biden was last night. I was horrified.
Frankly, the fact that the only two candidates for the most important job in the world are a pathological liar and a half-dead geriatric is a fucking disgrace. I moved to the UK about a year and a half back, but I still consider the USA ‘home’. This debate was basically a 90 minute long advert for the fact that we’re no longer a serious country. I’ve been watching the UK Prime Ministerial debates as well. The contrast couldn’t possibly be more stark. Say what you like about Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer but you could dope them both up with enough Valium to stun an elephant and they could still talk rings around Trump and Biden.
If I were Biden’s advisor I would absolutely forbid him from doing another debate. One more performance like that could swing it for Trump. At this point, our best hope is to keep Biden out of the public eye and hope people remember just how catastrophic Trump was the first time.
One of the benefits of the Parliamentary system with Question Period. Every major politician has to be able to stand up and defend or attack the opposition on a regular basis. Getting good at that takes practice.
Yes, but that doesn’t hurt his chances any, because he’s been doing that for years. Anyone who might be driven away by that has already left.
And that’s a new look for Biden. He’s always stumbled with words. But I’ve never seen him look so feeble.
It was an incredible depressing show. And c-span filled the breaks with clips from past presidents and presidential candidates. They all looked so young. They all looked so vibrant. They all sounded so uplifting. It just drove home how awful our current candidates are.
I have to keep reminding myself that Biden has been a very good president, and Reagan was an effective president long after he sank into senility. But ouch.
If they have a plan like this, they have a person in mind, otherwise they’re inviting chaos with just months left in the election cycle.
So who is that person? Why haven’t they been putting that person out there to get some name recognition? Making it look like that person was capable of stepping in to take over for Biden?
And if they have that person, why didn’t Biden put them out front from the very beginning? If Biden really thought there was another person who could most likely defeat Trump, he’d never have run in the first place. Everyone knows that Biden himself is the biggest problem with this campaign, even if they think the attacks on him are largely without merit. Any other popular Democrat running with the record of this administration would mop the floor with Trump, but “popular Democrats” appear very thin on the ground these last few years.
Every Democratic politician in the country knew this exact fight was coming, and they knew it years ago. And yet, none of them even tried to grab the brass ring. This is a problem, and win or lose this election, it’s one the party as whole needs to start addressing now.
My take on that is he looked just like I look when I have a bad cold and am on some sort of cold med, breathing through my mouth and feeling like shit. I’m guessing there was a lot of talk about cancelling the debate, but he knew how that would look to the Trumpies and everyone else. So he chose to gut it out. A no-win situation, although he got in some good gut-shots. All the pundits have of course immediately jumped to dementia as the problem, when in fact it was obvious (to me) than he was ill.
As bad as this was it will still only matter to a small percentage of the electorate. People who were planning to vote for Biden are losing faith but they’re not going to jump on the Trump train. I’m not sure anyone except RFKJr. benefitted from this debate.
After the fact Gavin Newsome was on MSNBC defending Biden, and showing how much better a candidate he would have been against Trump last night. I’m not endorsing him, don’t know enough about him, but he looks and sounds more presidential than either of the stumbling geezer or lying ass clown we saw last night.
But the point is not that “they” are taking hotel rooms away from Americans, it’s that they are getting something fancy for free, when I (hypothetical Republican voter) am much more deserving and am getting bupkis!
Suzie’s present at Christmas time was bigger and more expensive than mine. And she’s adopted, ferchriscake! Not fair!!!
What undecideds?
The lesson from 2020 was not to convince these supposed “undecideds”. It was getting people to actually get out to the polls.
There was a marked jump in both R and D votes in 2020 compared to 2016 and earlier years and it came down to who was able to get a few more in the right swing states. Yes, there were shifts in how some demographics voted but those are still largely ‘decided’ voters.
As others have noted, the real job each candidate has is to convince non-voters to come out in support of them and to convince existing voters not to stay home this time.
Just so. Except it’s not even 3D chess. It’s plain old 2D chess but everybody acts like we’re playing a game of Backgammon.
I just got out my Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. On the cover it said “PANIC!”.
Exactly this.
And when you stop being good you are replaced by someone who has also been playing the game, and it’s not the end of the world.
Disagree.
Even if the turnout theory (as opposed to median voter theorem) is correct, people motivated to watch a debate are already motivated to vote.
Both candidates did try to appeal to swing voters. Based on just now reading the transcript, they did not do a good job.
That can’t be right. I’ve been told for twenty four years that politicians don’t have to do anything because they are owed votes no matter how unhappy the voters are.
That was possibly, in toto, the worst presidential debate in history, considering the performance of both individuals. Sadly, it was on point for both of them. Trump was the carnival barker, spewing half-truths at best and outright lies at worst. Biden looked like someone just needed to give him a warm glass of milk and put him to bed.
My honest question is who is running the country right now? If last night was an accurate indication of his mental state, it can’t be Biden. He had been ostensibly coached for a week at least on this debate and looked utterly lost for most of it. It just doesn’t seem possible that he has the mental capacity at this point to run the country, if last night was an accurate reflection of his mental condition. I know sitting Presidents have always had a cohort of advisors, and counselors, and staff, both official and unofficial, providing advice and feedback on decisions. But ultimately (and maybe I am wrong on this), it was the President who ultimately made the final decisions. I honestly feel like at this point though it might be more like me helping my mom with her finances. “Mom, can you please sign this check, it’s to cover your electric bill for last month”. Yes, she actually signs the check, but I opened the bill, drafted the check, and mailed it to the electric company. She understands what I’m doing on the conceptual level, but probably couldn’t do all those steps herself. Is Biden in a similar position, except when making presidential decisions?