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 its becoming a theme in certain quartersnamely, 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 hasnt done any Sunday shows since Covid, Fox Newss 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. Bidens verbal stumbles and memory lapses were obvious in the Democratic primaries. How about when Mr. Biden mistakenly referred to Britains leader as Margaret Thatcher, who resigned in 1990?
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
“The bar is being set way too low for him.”
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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’.
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.
Honey trap
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?
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.
Yes she is that corrupt. No doubt salivating over having a first lady portrait made and redecorating the White House.
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. ...........
It appears the question answer itself...
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.
Trump should counter those urging Basementman to skip the debates, by running ads calling him a coward for not wanting to debate.
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.
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?
*sigh* every election no matter who is president we hear this rumor along with they wont leave if they lose
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It’s been around longer than I have and that’s a very long time.
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