This.
To all, No debating guns in this thread.
Moderating:
Possibly. But I think it likely that she’d do well enough to provide a needed boost to the wishy-washy-about-voting folks. It may well be a useful get-out-the-vote stimulus.
On the other hand, I have to hope that people who ARE determined to vote don’t hold off until they see the debate, because where early voting starts before October 23–which is pretty much everywhere–that could cut down on the numbers we’d otherwise see.
I disagree, this is a very close race and she needs to keep going at him. There’s no clearer way to contrast the two than in a debate. Besides, this is essentially zero risk to Harris. Even if he agreed to debate again, do you really think that Trump is going to buckle down and do debate prep? Admit that he had a poor performance last time and examine what he needs to do to improve? It is to laugh.
I agree he will not do it. CNN is fake news. She cheats by getting questions in advance.
All the same stuff.
And Trump agrees with you — publicly — today.
If he falls behind, in the models, by more than he was in 2016 and 2020, he will have to throw the dice, however weighted they are against him.
Cadet Shits-His-Pants shits his pants when asked to debate Harris again.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4892384-trump-rejects-harris-debate-cnn/
Makes sense. Paraphrased from someone who said it better:
She spanked him so badly in the last debate that he wrote a $130,000 check to keep it quiet.
I don’t think they’re quite lying. I think they believe what they’re told. The news media they consume all tells them the economy is bad. In their own personal finances, it pushes them to focus on the things that seem worse. And it cherry picks and just outright lies to them about the people doing worse.
Plus there’s just the fact that, the more often you hear something, the more likely you’ll believe it. It’s just an odd quirk of our psychology. It’s why I do not recommend spending much time listening to the propaganda of the other side, even just to learn what they think.
When I was going around refuting MAGA Twitter because Twitter was mostly showing me MAGA posts, I actually found myself starting to lean towards believing some of it. And this is from people I knew were lying.
Note: I’m only talking about the people specifically who clearly are doing better but say they aren’t. I am aware there people who genuinely are doing worse.
I do not agree with any of you guys on the gun remark. I think it was a very strong statement, in fact. I’ve seen some suggest it may have won her the election.
The way this would be a problem for her is if some fully anti-gun types were to decide not to vote for her, when they previously would have. But any anti-gun person already knows the Democrats are not “gun grabbers.” This isn’t new information for them.
But there are undecided voters who care about guns and even single-issue gun right voters. And it’s easy for them to believe the rhetoric that the Democrats are after their guns. Kamala made a nice soundbite that is going to be reported everywhere, making it more likely they’ll hear it.
And, of course, it sounded entirely natural and extemporaneous, which refutes another narrative about Kamala that she can’t speak quickly on her feet. (That is, in fact, the falsehood I actually started to believe a bit.)
I think it’s a great choice. And I do not think the anti-gun types are going to not vote for her because she’s not their ideal on this issue. In fact, here’s a video from a very anti-gun person saying they are still voting for Kamala:
From a story about tRump’s refusal of the second debate:
During a rally Saturday in North Carolina, Trump didn’t directly mention the CNN debate, but reiterated he is not open to another matchup.
I think I’ve been at this too long: I could have sworn it said that he will “not open another ketchup.” 
Agreed with your entire post. I think it was useful to calm the fears of those who might presume that a female president would have an aversion to weapons (or ‘being tough’), and it was a nice extemporaneous moment that comes across as very personable and sincere.
Sincerity. Fake that well and you have it made.
She of course continues to have by complete support. She will be a great president. But she has got to be careful not to do things that get the key voters doubting her sincerity as much as I do here.
What makes you doubt her sincerity here? She was a cop, of sorts. If she wants to take your guns, it is probably because you are unbalanced or otherwise dangerous. Which has to be conveyed as, not you, but that crazy person in 14E.
And let’s remember that Donald Trump himself advocated taking guns without due process.
Not to mention, it was his administration that made the “bump stock” illegal by administrative ruling, and SCOTUS said NO! So, Obama grabbed no guns, Biden grabbed no guns, but trump DID grab guns.
And yet people are pointing them at him so frequently.
It was precisely what she would say to pander to the gun rights concerned crowd. And reality of course is that she has secret service that would be doing the shooting. She is not in reality thinking about defending herself in her castle and highly likely has her gun very appropriately unloaded and locked up.
I don’t mind a calculated pander; but it is very easy to have the pandering become obvious and she skates close here, IMHO.
I don’t get why people are acting like it’s a shocker that she said this yesterday when she said the same thing at the debate and in 2020 and during the primaries.