What are your thoughts on the Presidential Debate ?

[iNow]

A bit like it was a relief to have something more normal and quiet to see...

1 hour ago, CharonY said:

I suspect for some that would be the only reason to watch it. The fact that a "boring", i.e. typical political townhall gets better ratings kind of shows how folks have enough of the drama show. At least somewhat encouraging.

 

[CharonY]

3 hours ago, iNow said:

I liked how Biden stayed for more than an hour after his town hall has ended. The show was over. The networks cut away. He stayed and kept speaking with the people who were still in the audience and who had a question for him.

I think why many folks liked Biden is that he is able to project empathy (which I think would be considered a common human trait, but apparent not nowadays). However, in the past I had the impression (though I do not follow US politics that close, so may misinterpret it) that he tended to be light on the details and policy side. That being said, during the townhall one could clearly see that he did his homework. I actually liked that  (and one of the reasons why I liked Warren, she seemed pretty on the top of her game when it came to these specifics).

[iNow]

2 minutes ago, CharonY said:

he tended to be light on the details and policy side.

His strength is around relationships, understanding humanity and relating to pain and suffering, and nurturing foreign relations. He’s better speaking about what’s happening around the world and recruiting talent to help with issues back at home... though his cancer moonshot and auto bailout programs were quite effective.

I think his instincts tend to be correct and he follows them, even if being a professor and explaining things down to the 11th sub-bullet point isn’t necessarily his forte. 

 

6 minutes ago, CharonY said:

during the townhall one could clearly see that he did his homework. I actually liked that  (and one of the reasons why I liked Warren, she seemed pretty on the top of her game when it came to these specifics).

I liked that about Warren too, and even went to see her and caucused for her, but now that we’re so close to the election and I see the socialism attacks combined with the massive number of Republican endorsements for Biden (including 2 of Trumps own chiefs of staff, over 500 intelligence officials, and nearly anyone else with half a brain even those who’ve attacked Democrats for years), I’m content that he really was the best choice for the current moment. 

[CharonY]

5 minutes ago, iNow said:

I’m content that he really was the best choice for the current moment. 

Yeah, he was certainly the safe choice. But honestly you would have thought that if folks were sane, a random duck would have been a show-in. I mean how much worse can one mess up short of accidentally nuking Nebraska?

[iNow]

On 10/16/2020 at 10:56 PM, iNow said:

combined with the massive number of Republican endorsements for Biden (including 2 of Trumps own chiefs of staff,

I was mistaken here. Misread the article. Reince Priebus has not, in fact, endorsed Biden. He’s actually still consulting for Trump. 

[iNow]

Before the "debate" tonight... scare quotes intended... Gallup has come out with some data which strikes me as both unsurprising and also unlikely to matter given our problems with the electoral college:

https://news.gallup.com/poll/322340/voters-say-trump-not-deserve-reelection.aspx

Quote

The majority of U.S. registered voters, 56%, believe President Donald Trump does not deserve to be reelected, while 43% say he does. 

<...>
As would be expected, nearly all Republicans (93%) say the president deserves to be reelected, while few Democrats (3%) agree. Among independents, 36% say Trump deserves reelection and 61% say he does not.

 

[CharonY]

I think the most striking thing of it all was Santorum's after-debate discussion comment in defense of Trump:" First of all, we do not keep kids in cages anymore...". Says pretty much all there is to say regarding the hypocrisy of a pro-life stance, I think.

[iNow]

29 minutes ago, CharonY said:

First of all, we do not keep kids in cages anymore...". Says pretty much all there is to say regarding the hypocrisy of a pro-life stance, I think.

Tell me again, do ALL lives still matter? Asking for a kid in a cage. 

[MigL]

Both sounded more Presidential tonight.
Biden seemed more unflustered and coherent.
Trump interrupted much less.

The fact that Trump presented disinformation as facts isn't realized by most of his supporters.
When 3000 people were killed in the WTC attacks, America waged several wars on terror, at a cost to the economy of billions of dollars per year.
Yet Trump is obsessed with not doing any harm to the economy ( and its recovery ) even though 220 000 people have died from Covid-19.
So far !

[iNow]

8 minutes ago, MigL said:

Trump interrupted much less.

Indeed. Only 37 times in 90 minutes. Someone should give that man a medal for so successfully lowering our expectations!

10 minutes ago, MigL said:

Yet Trump is obsessed with not doing any harm to the economy ( and its recovery ) even though 220 000 people have died from Covid-19.
So far !

If only he and his cult members realized not getting covid under control was damaging the economy so much more

[CharonY]

21 minutes ago, MigL said:

even though 220 000 people have died from Covid-19.

Potentially more if one calculates excess deaths (though not all of them can be necessarily contributed to COVID-19 alone).

[iNow]

Encourage you not to argue at the margins. That number is likely to double in the next 2-3 months

[CharonY]

1 hour ago, iNow said:

Encourage you not to argue at the margins. That number is likely to double in the next 2-3 months

Well excess death is around 300k. But models do predict potentially 400k. Though the US is not the only Western Country with increases(they just never really pushed it down). I still folks would have learned from countries who did...

[J.C.MacSwell]

19 hours ago, iNow said:

If only he and his cult members realized not getting covid under control was damaging the economy so much more

...and masks can be part of the safer work equation....

 

[iNow]

2 hours ago, J.C.MacSwell said:

...and masks can be part of the safer work equation....

How ignorant one must be to argue that the wearing of a decent mask can help limit the spread of a respiratory virus. 

[J.C.MacSwell]

4 minutes ago, iNow said:

How ignorant one must be to argue that the wearing of a decent mask can help limit the spread of a respiratory virus. 

Let's not reflect too hard on the CDC... circa early 2020. 

[MigL]

Hope every American on this forum ( even ones who don't participate ) who hasn't already mailed in their vote, masks up ( along with any other PPE you can get your hands on ), and gets out to vote on Nov 3.
Just ask yourself whose vision of America you would like to see as outlined in the debate; D Trump's 'everything for the economy', or J Biden's 'compassionate, fair, and respected worldwide' ?
( although even D Trump's 'vision' is a fabrication which he'll never deliver )

[J.C.MacSwell]

2 minutes ago, MigL said:

Hope every American on this forum ( even ones who don't participate ) who hasn't already mailed in their vote, masks up ( along with any other PPE you can get your hands on ), and gets out to vote on Nov 3.

Yep. Don't forget to wear your work boots! 😃

.

[iNow]

35 minutes ago, MigL said:

Just ask yourself whose vision of America you would like to see as outlined in the debate; D Trump's 'everything for the economy', or J Biden's 'compassionate, fair, and respected worldwide' ?

 

 

[CharonY]

18 hours ago, J.C.MacSwell said:

Let's not reflect too hard on the CDC... circa early 2020. 

It is getting a bit off topic, and I apologize, but I would like to add that the early recommendations were based on three assumptions: 1) folks had to be symptomatic to spread 2) spreaders wearing masks have a strong effect, but it offers weak protection (compared to other measures) if one is not a spreader and wearing it and 3) PPE should be primarily reserved for health care professionals. 

What has changed is really 1) as it eventually became clear that folks can spread without symptoms. At this point the logic switched and everyone should wear a mask as anyone (without knowing) could be a spreader. And as a side note I would like to re-iterate that masks are no replacement for other measures, such as hand washing and distancing as much as possible.

 

[kingdom]

America has no human concept and no socio-political alternative as long as there is no third party to choose from in the USA and only the choice between horrible and nasty, as long as the state does not provide money for the needy, as long as there is no social safety net for the unemployed, sick, handicapped and disabled; politicians are only occupied with their private vanities and insults, there is no coming to terms with judicial misjudgements, politicians are not willing to come to terms with the structural racism in the whole of US society, violent behaviour by the Federal Police, if necessary also to give notice to police officers, to re-evaluate the cases with the many innocent people killed and also to punish them criminally, to rehabilitate the victims, to abolish the death penalty, that is how long I see a dark tunnel for the Americans. Such presidential debates are of no use if you do not like the politics of either candidate.

[TimeFlies]

i think Joe Biden's many years was the biggest advantage any Demo had. It was his years of actually cooperating with Republicans and Democrats that made him a known commodity. I think I'm older than Biden and I never considered him a good candidate until this election. I would vote for a cow before i would ever,ever, ever vote for Donald Trump. Biden was all we had . I don't care if he seems too old.He was a good vice president and really helped Obama' presidency. You go with what you got ! 

Edited November 22, 2020 by TimeFlies