The American Politics Thread

I was telling my friend they should put on one of those electric shock training collars around his neck.

Edited by mathman0806 - September 30 2020 at 13:20

Apparently someone likes my mic cutoff idea:

Hours after the nation endured perhaps the most chaotic presidential debate in U.S. history, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced that it would impose “additional structure” in an effort to “maintain order” at the two remaining forums before Election Day.

“Last night’s debate made clear that additional structure should be added to the format of the remaining debates to ensure a more orderly discussion of the issues,” said Wednesday’s statement by the Commission on Presidential Debates, the nonprofit corporation that oversees debate rules. “The CPD will be carefully considering the changes it will adopt and will announce those measures shortly.”

Citing “an informed source,” CBS News correspondent Norah O’Donnell reported Wednesday that the changes under consideration included cutting off a candidate’s microphone should new debate rules not be followed.

Edited by Easy Money - September 30 2020 at 14:08

SteveG wrote: Everyone has different views of weakness. To me, it was Trump who was on the ropes and desperate because he's losing in the polls, not Biden. Biden only had to show that he could go the rounds with Trump. And he answered everything that Trump threw out him without going off script and getting lost or confused. He nailed Trump on all his failings with facts where Trump only had lies to cast out of desperation. Trump did come off as the aggressor, but only out weakness and fear.   Now, lets bring on Harris/Pence.

Essentially, by badly misunderestimating Biden, the Right could not convincingly claim victory after the debate. Because they had set the bar so low that Biden easily cleared it. Biden was supposed to collapse in a mess being incapable of saying a word without a teleprompter. So when instead he managed to land a few folksy punches, it put Trump on the defensive. This was a 'new' side of Trump and his ugliest. He was downright patronizing and condescending to Biden, particularly in the beginning, and Biden didn't fail to exploit it by saying people like Trump have always looked down their nose on working class Irish Catholics like him. I felt Biden had smart arguments and some decent one liners but the delivery lacked punch. But it does appear to have been enough to deny Trump the debate win he thought was certain to be his.

Edited by rogerthat - October 01 2020 at 01:32

SteveG wrote: It helps to note that Trump threw his whole arsenal at Biden. His son's Ukraine dealings and even bringing up his son's drug use, along with Biden's supposed manipulation by the radical socialist left and being an enemy of law and order. He couldn't argue that Biden was full of gaffs and mentally duff because he clearly wasn't, as Biden's attacks proved.

SteveG wrote: Aye, but all of your logic and reasoning only works for those that think like you and are incomprehensible to the mind of the Trump supporter. And this is the problem that we have to accept. From now on, I'm afaid.

The best that can be hoped for is the debate persuades those who held their nose and voted for Trump because they didn't like Clinton (but had misgivings about Trump). Then again, the likes of those have probably already moved to the Biden camp or third party/no vote. There is indeed no way through to the die hard Trump supporter.

SteveG wrote: Even some of those on the fence will be a hard sell. CNN asked one undecided voter after the debate if he made his mind up on either Biden or Trump and why. The man said he was going with Trump because he felt that Biden slamming Trump for the covid deaths was morally objectionable. Image that? Biden was immoral!

rogerthat wrote: SteveG wrote: Even some of those on the fence will be a hard sell. CNN asked one undecided voter after the debate if he made his mind up on either Biden or Trump and why. The man said he was going with Trump because he felt that Biden slamming Trump for the covid deaths was morally objectionable. Image that? Biden was immoral! There was another who said Biden calling Trump a clown/liar/asking him to shut up was unpresidential so he couldn't decide.  And here we are thinking Biden could have gone after him harder. Yeah, like Frank Luntz asked his focus group, what could you possibly be undecided/on the fence about at this stage in the race?

Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - October 01 2020 at 11:58