Joe Biden's terrible performance has caused panic among Democrats
I don't know what was wrong with Joe Biden. It's hard to imagine that they ever would have asked for a debate if this was the way he is normally. We've seen him recently holding press conferences and giving speeches and he seemed to be fine. They said he had a cold so maybe he really was on drugs — Nyquil or Mucinex or something that made him seem so shaky and frail. Whatever it was, it was a terrible debate for him and if he does stay in the race (which is almost certain in my opinion) the campaign is going to have a lot of work to do to dig out of the hole that was dug last night. The media smells blood and they are circling like a bunch of starved piranhas.
. . . For some odd reason, moderator Jake Tapper told Trump in the beginning that he didn't need to answer the questions and that he could use the time however he wanted. Trump ran with that, essentially giving a rally speech whenever he had the floor and was unresponsive to the vast majority of the questions. He made faces and insulted Biden to his face, at one point calling him a criminal and a Manchurian candidate. If anyone had said 10 years ago that this would happen at a presidential debate they would have been laughed out of the room.
After the debate when most of the country had turned off cable news or gone to bed, CNN aired its fact check. And it's a doozy:
It sure would have been good if even some of that epic litany of lies could have been checked while people were still watching. The decision to have the moderators sit like a couple of potted plants woodenly asking questions about child care while Trump responded with irrelevant lies was inexplicable. Why did they even bother to ask questions at all? They could have just run the timer and let the candidates talk for two minutes each about anything they wanted. It probably would have been more enlightening.
I’m voting for Biden so don’t give me shit about being a Leftist helping Trump win. But if he does win, remember that Dems had a million chances to run someone better and this is what they let happen. It’ll be their fault if we get more of the bad man.
To run a debate with Trump and without live fact checking was just plain stupid. You know he's just going to run his rehearsed talking points without so much as trying to answer even mildly uncomfortable questions. They not only let him get away with serial lying, they basically laid the groundwork so he could get away with it.
Fact checks after the fact never reach the people that need to see them.
Someone pointed out, the debate was scheduled for 9pm, with two men over 70. I'm in my 50's, and I'm no good after 8pm. This should have been held in the morning.
The debate was poorly arranged, and once again Biden's incompetent staff contributed by letting it happen.
People here actually deluding themselves into Biden falling for Debate tricks instead of saying he "beat Medicare" and "we need Abortion because foreigners are raping women".
IMHO, complaining about the refs feels like grasping for straws.
Biden was rambling, incoherent, and unlike Trump, he couldn’t get on message. And the messaging against Trump ain’t complex. He wants fascism, he’s killing women, covid was a fucking disaster under him, he’s a felon, and he’s lying. Biden struggled to get the basics out in a clear and coherent way.
IMHO, this is NOT the time to keep on and carry on. This debate is early enough that he can still step down and we can have a contested convention. The alternative is fascism. Biden is going to lose this shit.
Brandon fucked up. Bad. He played into all that bullshit the traitors have been planning. It was truly disheartening.
Look, I’m voting for him. I’ll vote for any D in hopes of stopping the republican traitor filth. But Brandon needs to fuck off. Someone needs to talk sense to him and have him recognize what is right and necessary for the country.
Salon always has a bias, but I also can't help but think he was on Sudafed or something. I also have seen him at other things and he's generally less... raspy. Doesn't change that it was stupid to go on like that, though.
I fortunately skipped the debate and only watched highlights, though. I already hate "debates" as far as I remember since, at best, it's just fluffy sound bites and vague promises, and at worst, a series of unrefuted lies. This sounds like everything I hate about typical "debates" turned up to 11.
Whoever decided that putting that old man on stage in front of a national audience was a good idea should be shot. I'm voting for Kamala Harris, via Biden.
They only asked for the debate because they assumed Trump would say No to all the stupid stipulations they set for it. Then, they could've ran and told everyone that they tried to debate Trump but he wouldn't accept. They were really just left with no choice when Trump accepted their terms
having no crowd was so fucking stupid, such a dry dry awful environment. the guys need to be able to feed off the energy and rattle off a few applause lines, not just speak to the camera. such a dumb unforced error