I’m not prematurely celebrating and 99% sure this election will come down to nervously counting ballots in Pittsburgh but I think that a lot of previous data might not apply well to this election due to the circumstances. A day or two ago, I saw polling that some 30% of respondents felt they didn’t know Harris well enough to make a decision, for instance. By the time previous debates rolled around, we had spent the year hearing about the candidates. So I think this debate may have more potential for a lasting change but, again, don’t read that as me thinking it’s in the bag.
Yeah unfortunately I am one who thinks Trump did better. Especially in the beginning. Examples: when VP Harris was too close to the mic or had dry mouth or something because I heard audible clicking. Not a fan of Harris’s hand gestures which I found distracting (likewise with Trump’s funny faces). I don’t appreciate Trump attacking Harris personally but the flipside is that I don’t like when Harris baits Trump, which was most of her debate. I don’t want Trump, but I also don’t want a President who thinks her job is to troll Republicans. Most of Trump’s attacks on Harris’s record and policy carried weight in my opinion. etc.
~Max
I grade her at an A, or even an A+, mostly because I see her answer to that first question differently. That first question was the most difficult one she faced all night, or at least the one most fraught with danger had she answered differently. Other than COVID, we weren’t in bad shape in 2020 (at least not as far as I can remember). Had she taken the tactic of saying that things were bad back then, it could have backfired. It would also have given Trump the opportunity to toot his own horn rather than go off on the tangent on immigration like he actually did. Instead she answered it as best as she could have given the facts. Trump did all the heavy lifting after that, with all his rants unrelated to the questions being asked.
I do not understand this line of thinking at all.
You don’t have to know her-- you just have to know HIM! A department store mannequin would make a better president than trump.
Seriously, that’s ALL you got from last night’s debate? 
Oh my God, so this.
The moderators could have set the record straight at least 33 times – but they only did it four times! I wanted to scream.
Not that they should have done it all 33 times – they were right to, more often than not, give Harris the chance to do this. Something like 10 times would have been about right.
(Which she did do…only about half the time, to my dismay. But I guess doing a lot more of this would have taken time away from the other points and impressions she had to make – fair enough. Still, again, I wish she had clearly called Trump out on the “criminal immigrants”** crap, the first time he spouted that shit – and maybe also the fifth time, and the tenth time. Yeah, about once every five times would have done nicely.)
**I.e., the bunkum that immigrants are more likely to commit crimes – and that one’s immigration status has anything to do with any specific crime (other than certain ones like certain drug smuggling crimes – but not some random hit-and-run driver in Omaha or whatever, as a thousand GOP campaign ads are screaming day and night).
Probably right. She did say that Putin would eat him for breakfast. Truer words never spake.
It’s much more than trolling. It’s laying bare Trump has no free will. If I do this, he WILL, 100%, do that. He is so easily manipulated. That is something Harris said several times (Putin would eat your lunch, etc.) and something Harris actually did several times during the debate (the baiting, or trolling, whatever you want to call it - it’s manipulation).
I definitely want a President who can manipulate other people, and who is not manipulated herself.
She isn’t. She’s a candidate who thinks her job is to become president and baiting the opponent into showing off what a raving nutball he is on public display is part of that.
She gave us a bit of her plans and hopes for what she’d do in her presidency. A little better than saying after 8 years you might have a few concepts of ideas of health care. She went fishing last night and the big orange fish bit on every fly she laid on the water. I didn’t get that she thinks that her job is solely trolling Republicans any more than I think my duties around the house are taking out the garbage. It’s just a dirty job that someone needs to do. You can’t do a thing as president unless you win the election and to win the election you have to make your opponent less electable. Politics ain’t beanbag.
She’s said for some time, I believe, that she’d discuss additional debates after/if Trump showed up for this one.
??
It definitely was mentioned. Trump made that claim twice. Moderator called them on it once.
[I still haven’t read most of the intervening thread. Work to be done and lovely weather to do it in. Will read a bit more when I get to belated lunch.]
Yes, and the Harris campaign said they want more immediately after last night’s debate. They’ve been very consistent.
Love it.
Washington Post did the standard “undecided” swing state voter focus group thing. (gift link). Some of the responses do remind me of the SNL skit, but if the before/after poll accurately translates to a change in voting it Trump is in trouble.
Who would you vote for (pre-debate)
Definitely Harris: 0
Probably Harris: 12
Neither: 3
Probably Trump: 10
Definitely Trump: 0
Who performed better at the debate:
Harris: 23
Trump: 2
Who would you vote for (post-debate)
Definitely Harris: 5
Probably Harris: 10
Neither: 3
Probably Trump: 6
Definitely Trump: 0
No Response: 1
I’m alway left with the feeling that some of these undecided voters are undecided as to whether they will vote for Trump or storm the Capitol to install him by force.
Paywalled. What does it say?
For those that like the numbers.
MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle reported that he spoke 39 times for a total of 41.9 minutes, to her 23 times for a total of 37.1 minutes. But the extra time did him no favors.
Was I the only one who thought trump might go full cannibal when he kept repeating “ they’re eating! They’re eating!”. I was waiting for him to just shout “YOU”. At the end of that rant.
I was hoping there would be a fly…
Or whether they will vote for trump or make a peanut butter sandwich and take a nap. Some decisions are hard.
Harris kept mouthing something toward the mike. I asked my roommates what she said almost rhythmically when Trump talked. He said she’s saying “Bullshit” over and over. It was just subtle enough to stay within the rules
Sorry, I just remembered that I canceled my NYT subscription so I don’t even have the “gift link” option. And I can’t get the screenshot to post as a jpg here.
This is a link to where they posted it on Facebook, if that does any good at all?
Here’s the jist :
Total Time Talking:
KH 37:41
DT 43:03
Time Attacking Opponent :
KH 17:25
DT 12:54
There’s more detail by topic, but nothing too notable. Maybe someone will come along who still has a NYT subscription who can share the gift link.
Okay, Harris’s new campaign ad is too good not to share: