1st debate

[Crackpot]

I’m about 20 minutes behind but as it started I think both started of well Joe being a little weaker than I thought and Trump being a little stronger as time goes on I think Biden is doing better but not to a point that it will change any minds. If Trump can avoid a meltdown I think he will be able to count it a win. (Tho Trump is full of shit)

[MajGenl.Meade]

I'm sick of these "debates". There's not a serous policy discussion involved. Merely invective and Trump's outlandish lies, one after another. Biden's having his usual speech difficulties which are falsely confused as incompetence and I'm very much afraid that Trump is indeed "winning" over dumbasses.

[Crackpot]

Sounds Like Tim Scott is getting the VP nod

[BoSoxGal]

VP Uncle Tom

[ex-khobar Andy]

Biden did falter and was at times incoherent but if you listened carefully he did make sense - Trump lied constantly. Trump certainly more active and there will be those who say that Trump won.

Watching the post-match analysis - they are saying that the Dems are panicking about Biden's performance. They are calling it a disaster - no it wasn't that but it was disappointing.

[Joe Guy]

.......Biden's having his usual speech difficulties which are falsely confused as incompetence and I'm very much afraid that Trump is indeed "winning" over dumbasses.

I don't see Trump as "winning" the debate unless we're giving extra points to him for the amount of lies he can squeak in. I believe now, as I did before the debate began, that people are only cheering for the candidate that they've already decided to vote for.

Face it. Trump is disgusting. The best thing about this debate was that they turned off Trump's microphone when it' wasn't his turn to speak.

Remember this my fellow Americans......

On election day, give your vote to Joe Biden. If you're leaning toward Trump, you should go into hiding

[ex-khobar Andy]

Very disheartening. Trump lied consistently but did it far more boldly than Biden speaking the truth. President Harris looks far more likely and she has worse approval numbers than Biden.

[Crackpot]

The thing is a lot of folks don’t really pay attention while that may sound foreign around here that is the case. Both candidates avoided a disaster on the face I think Joe did a little worse but I am unsure of how Trumps BS will be recieved. Given a couple of more questions I think both Joe would have successfully got under Trumps skin and Trumps rampant avoiding of questions would have been abundantly clear.

At this point I have no idea how it will be viewed tomorrow.

[ex-khobar Andy]

Yes - my head says let's take another look tomorrow when maybe there has been time for a little sober analysis. Do you prefer the confident forceful liar or the thoughtful guy who sometimes needs extra time to collect and analyze his ideas?

Maybe it needs a day or two. But my heart is panicking.

[liberty]

Biden said something stupid, but no one noticed; he said, "This is the United States we can do anything". That is bullshit we are not a nation of supermen we are limited in what we can do just like any other people.

[ex-khobar Andy]

They are talking to Kamala Harris now on CNN, She is looking more impressive to me than she has for a while.

A thought. Maybe Biden can make the point that his strength is taking information from a number of sources and assembling those thoughts and picking the best route from competing ideas, On his own is not his strength. We all know that Trump is incapable of listening to any ideas other than his own. Vote for Trump and you get one guy. Vote for Biden and you get an assemblage of experts and someone who is capable of listening and collating.

[BoSoxGal]

I'm at that stage of life where I look back and wonder, have I spent my time well in worthwhile pursuits?

When I think that we are actually contemplating re-electing such a dangerously unstable unfit narcissist with, as Joe said, "the morals of an alley cat" [apologies to alleycats], I wonder at everything I ever believed to be true about this country and the people in it. I was so, so naive.

[MajGenl.Meade]

I'm very much afraid that Trump is indeed "winning" over dumbasses.

I don't see Trump as "winning" the debate

There's a difference between winning a debate and "winning over" dumbasses. There are many people who don't like either man but that old thing about repeating a lie often enough . . . I have relatives who try to fact-check Trump on Fox or Tik-Tok. I know people who think that facts are dubious because people have motives for twisting facts. And they (dumbasses) will be won over to vote for Judas's Carrot

[Burning Petard]

I was very disappointed in the performance of CNN for this debate. They promised live fact checking and there was none. Trump's nearly constant calls of the horrible condition of the country was never fact checked. Trump said he wanted the states to do their own thing on abortion and also said the West Virginia governor and later he repeated the claim, but for the Virgiania governor--that they were advocating 'abortion' for live births. So Trump is in favor of the states doing their own thing, as long as it is his thing. Trump's repeated statement that 'everybody' says I was the greatest president ever, Biden is the worst all ever were never challenged by CNN

Maybe it is my feeble aged brain (I am older than Biden) but I remember the GOP convention in 2016 where the platform committee asked Trump what he wanted on the platform and he replied that he did not care what was on the platform, as long as it said nothing about Ukraine and Russia.

I am one of those Dems in a state of pure panic. My only gleam of even slight hope of Trump defeat is if the Dem convention becomes wide open and choses to nominate the Governor of Pennsylvania or Michigan.

snailgate.

[BoSoxGal]

The Morning Joe people are making it sound like somebody died because Joe's performance was so bad.

I didn't really watch - I turned it on for fewer than five minutes, I didn't need the stress. I saw Joe's declaration about Trump's alley cat morals.

At this point we have to hope against hope in the wisdom of the American people. God help us.

[Big RR]

Personally, I cannot stand Trump, so I could never say he "won" anything with his posturing and lies, but, for the most part, I think Biden lost (or at least underperformed). Biden was hoarse, mumbled quite a bit, and didn't take Trump to task all that much. I am concerned that there are many who will see this as doddering and being way too aged to be president (FWIW, I don't relish a president his age either, but I don't think he has cognitive problems--yet; but given the alternative, I am more than willing to take the chance rather than elect the disaster called Trump). But after this debate, I am even more concerned about Trump winning than I was; I hope I am wrong, but it does scare me. Maybe someone like a Hinkley will do us all a favor (I don't condone assassination, but I would welcome it here when I think a new Trump presidency will make this country a living hell. Failing that, I think the dems need to redouble their efforts in House and Senate races to act as an impediment to his shit.

[Scooter]

I was never a debater, but I can't imagine any criteria for judging where someone who did nothing but tell one falsehood after another the entire time can be considered to have "won" the debate.

[Big RR]

Depends how you define "won"; in this case, it is who the populace is convinced would be the better president by whatever metric they choose. Sure, Biden was much more truthful and I think made many more salient points, but IMHO his delivery was stilted and did not make a favorable impression, which is why I believe he "lost". Sure, Trump "lied" again and again, but he did it in a way that played well to his base and might appear more "presidential" to some uncommitted voters (especially those who don't really care to find out the facts. I don't think this qualifies as a win, but it is not a loss.

This is not academic debating--since the Nixon-Kennedy debates it has always been who made a more "presidential" impression; even a simple gaffe (remember Ford-Carter?) or a bad impression can result in a loss. The issues are rarely discussed in depth--even less so in recent years. People prefer sound bite and appearances to academic rigor.

[BoSoxGal]

Hard to imagine that once upon a time in America citizens went and sat and listened for hours while candidates engaged in thoughtful and vigorous debate.

What a world, what a world.

[Crackpot]

They didn’t have tv back then.