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Will Joe Biden Duck the Debates? There are growing calls to shield the former Veep from having to perform.
Wall Street Journal ^ | August 3, 2020 | WSJ Editorial Board

Posted on 08/04/2020 4:28:14 AM PDT by karpov

Televised presidential debates have been forcing future leaders of the free world to sweat since Richard Nixon in 1960. Six times President Obama went mano a mano with Republican opponents in 2008 and 2012. But Joe Biden is leading President Trump in the polls and has been known to fumble his words, so now TV debates are apparently passé.

The Commission on Presidential Debates has scheduled three of them for Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump, beginning Sept. 29. But it’s becoming a theme in certain quarters—namely, the New York Times —that Mr. Biden should skip out, or that the face-offs should be canceled. The latest entry is an op-ed by the liberal journalist Elizabeth Drew, who was a panelist during a 1976 debate. “The debates have never made sense as a test for presidential leadership,” she writes, because points are awarded for “snappy comebacks and one-liners.”

What a terrible year to make this argument. The pandemic has put the usual political rallies on hold, so fewer voters will see the candidates in the flesh. The conventions will be largely online. Press aides will shape the news coverage by picking friendly interviewers. Mr. Biden “hasn’t done any Sunday shows since Covid,” Fox News’s Chris Wallace recently said, adding that “we will ask every week.” The debates will be a rare chance for a third party to push Mr. Biden on his plans for tax increases and a Green New Deal.

Also, Mr. Biden would take office at age 78, becoming the oldest President in history on Day 1. Mr. Trump is all but calling him senile, and Mr. Biden’s verbal stumbles and memory lapses were obvious in the Democratic primaries. How about when Mr. Biden mistakenly referred to Britain’s leader as Margaret Thatcher, who resigned in 1990?

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Politics/Elections; US: Delaware
KEYWORDS: biden; clowncar; debates; delaware; joebiden; joeclowncarbiden
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To: krny9

“The bar is being set way too low for him.”
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/\this
I don’t know how he can survive opting out of debates. The Trump campaign will hammer him for weakness and it will be an easy hammer to swing.
I think more likely, there will be very constricted rules and guidelines but somehow they will happen.

But you are correct. A lot of this is posturing to set the bar below ground so when Biden is able to stumble over it without falling down, the media will proclaim him a ‘stable genius’.


41 posted on 08/04/2020 7:18:24 AM PDT by BuckeyeGOP
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To: DannyTN

Well there’s “deals” they could certainly put in place. When Obama was in the Primaries with Hillary it was suppose to be ‘her turn’ then but she settled for Sec. of State instead. That deal went down just before or during their convention.


42 posted on 08/04/2020 7:22:11 AM PDT by caww
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To: krny9
The bar is being set way too low for him.

Honey trap

43 posted on 08/04/2020 7:22:30 AM PDT by 1Old Pro (#openupstateny)
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To: karpov

Has there ever been a candidate, at least in modern times, who did not public ally debate their opponent? Or in the last 100 years? Or 150? Or even 200?


44 posted on 08/04/2020 7:23:28 AM PDT by DrGunsforHands
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To: plain talk
All Trump needs is a moment where Joe is exposed for what he is. Hopefully Trump’s team is smart enough to make that happen.

The trip up questions or comments will be easy given Joe's dementia. All Trump needs to do is reference a vote, comment or position Biden took 10, 20, 30 years ago and have him defend it. Biden won't recall how he voted or why. Then, as with any good debate, repetition is good, Trump does this 2 or 3 more times and now America will see that Biden is fried.

45 posted on 08/04/2020 7:27:51 AM PDT by 1Old Pro (#openupstateny)
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To: twister881

Yes she is that corrupt. No doubt salivating over having a first lady portrait made and redecorating the White House.


46 posted on 08/04/2020 7:34:25 AM PDT by nfldgirl
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To: twister881

We, to this day, still do not know what meds Bill Clinton was taking and for what................thet even fired a doctor when he refused to inject an “unknown substance” into the POTUS, AND IMMEDIATELY ESCORTED HIM OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE AND GROUNDS. ...........


47 posted on 08/04/2020 7:40:26 AM PDT by Red Badger (To a liberal, 9-11 was 'illegal fireworks activity'...........................)
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To: 1Old Pro

It appears the question answer itself...


48 posted on 08/04/2020 7:41:09 AM PDT by PghBaldy (12/14 - 930am -rampage begins... 12/15 - 1030am - Obama's advance team scouts photo-op locations.)
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To: karpov
Debates are not important because they reveal policy or the thought process of the candidates. But they do reveal how they act under pressure. In most cases, candidates, especially at the presidential level, are skilled at handling pressure and deflecting questions that are designed to pull them into traps. That's why it usually seems that the debates are more or less a draw.

But with the doubts raised about Biden's mental condition, the debates this year could reveal quite a lot. To me it's very simple- if Biden flounders and has trouble with complete sentences and coherent thoughts in the debates, he will be done. If he is sharp and handles the questions with wit, Trump is in serious trouble. It's still not insurmountable, as the Democrat platform is a hard sell to mainstream America. But Trump will need to be focused, more than he has previously.

The recent past, however, shows that Biden is losing mental acuity, not maintaining even from earlier this year. People who have not seen much of him since he was Vice President are going to be shocked by his appearance alone. He has aged a lot in the last eight years.

49 posted on 08/04/2020 7:42:17 AM PDT by Repealthe17thAmendment
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To: karpov

Trump should counter those urging Basementman to skip the debates, by running ads calling him a coward for not wanting to debate.


50 posted on 08/04/2020 7:48:17 AM PDT by euram
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To: DannyTN

Trump would have no reason to pile on. The more Joe talks the plainer and more painful the reality. Biden might stumble through the first debate, but there wouldn’t be a second one. FWIW I don’t think the debates will happen at all. The democrats’ signals are all flashing red already.


51 posted on 08/04/2020 11:26:08 AM PDT by hinckley buzzard (Power is More often surrendered than seized.p.)
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To: karpov

Preliminary apology for my use of language, but.....

.....if the demented, useless fuck cannot stand on a stage debating another man for 90 minutes, how-in-the-hell is he supposed to be President?


52 posted on 08/04/2020 11:32:00 AM PDT by nesnah (Liberals - the petulant children of politics)
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To: TexasFreeper2009

*sigh* every election no matter who is president we hear this rumor along with “they wont leave if they lose”

...................................................

It’s been around longer than I have and that’s a very long time.


53 posted on 08/04/2020 1:00:19 PM PDT by Graybeard58
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