Presidential Debates Are Supposed To Inform The American Public On Policy!

The Presidential Debate last night was an embarrassment for America, Donald Trump's behavior was far worse but both candidates acted like school children not the statesmen the American people deserve! A fair evaluation would conclude Vice-President Biden protected his interests not much advanced it and President Donald Trump hurt his interests with such a person as President it is no wonder the Democrats and Republicans in Washington cannot come together and pass legislation the American people need passed!

It was nice to see Vice-President Biden have his moments where he demonstrated himself as a sharp leader, for instance, when he was talking about with what is needed to address the dissatisfaction with the police problem in America where he said most police officers are good people that put themselves in harm's way to protect us and there is a few bad apples and we need get them out of the job and how we need to get all the parties together and talk out the problems and figure out a way forward that works for everyone, etc.. But I think the Vice-president missed an opportunity with the debate to make the case for his candidacy. I got the impression that the Vice-President did not have the optimal perspective about the debate he should have viewed it as an interview for a job where the American people watching at home were the hiring managers and sell himself for the job of Presidency. Like when he talked about the ACA he repeatedly mentioned that the law provides health insurance for twenty million Americans and that is great but there is so much more that he could have said about the ACA the essential benefit mandate if you need inpatient treatment it is covered if you need prescription drugs it is covered, it covers preventive care which is critically valuable in lowering overall healthcare costs it puts mental health treatment in parity with physical health treatment, it has good out of pocket limits, etc., etc. etc..

The Vice-President's staff did not prepare him well they with he should have given him a simple strategy to implement when the moderator raised a major issue he should have been prepared with his important commentary he wanted to say on that and not be sidetracked. Like when the moderator raised the issue of where President Trump went wrong with his leadership on the Pandemic or to say it another way how would a President Biden have done things differently Vice -President Biden should have been there with at least one or two major strong points. He should have said President Trump dropped the ball on testing America should have had point of care testing months ago not these tests where we have to wait days for a response yada, yada, yada and this PPR even in September we still have hospitals that don't have an ample supply of N95 masks when the pandemic was clearly here in America in March and April Trump shouldn't have told governors across America I am not your shipping clerk for PPE go out in the international market and get it yourself the President back then should have used the Defense Production Act and quickly domestically manufactured all the N95 face masks the U.S. healthcare system would need.

Vice-President Biden's staff did a poor job in preparing the Vice-President for the debate the staff should have had a handout for the VP with likely questions and good responses in bullet proof form and there was many issues here. One can see the questions Biden faced from a mile away and he shouldn't have struggled for answers his staff should have better prepped him. Like the one where Trump says to Biden you say America needed good tax reform you were in Washington 47 years shy didn't you get it done. Biden should have responded that when I was VP President Obama and I passed a great tax bill into law it extended the Bush tax cuts on lower and middle income Americans and eliminated them for wealthy Americans and fixed a lot of yearly reoccurring problems in the tax code and for the prior thirty-five plus years when I was just a Senator there has been a bipartisan recognition in Washington that the tax code needed to be reformed and loophole closed for decades but special interests have thrown up roadblocks but I will tell you that America never faced trillion dollar plus yearly deficits where the deficit trajectory is even worse and so a President Biden is making a top priority closing these loop holes. Another of these easily anticipated questions was VP Biden your planning to raise taxes by three to four trillion dollars over ten years won't you hurt the economy Biden's response should have been too many American's are getting short shrifted today America is failing them miserably I am raiding this three to four trillion dollars and giving it to young men and women so they can pay for college, low and middle income families so they can pay for child care, help for families to buy their first home so they can build wealth and the ten plus other good things he wants to do!

Biden's staff should have warned Biden do not allow yourself to be pulled into following Trump down rabbit holes, stick to the important issues who really cares that Trump plays the tax code so he pays little in taxes focus on the changes to the tax code you will make like I am going to have a fifteen percent minimum tax so these billion dollar corporation pay their fair share of taxes. Biden's staff should advise Biden to not respond to every little point Trump makes the American people know that Trump's points are often garbage we don't need your laugh over them to realize this we want to hear how you will improve and protect America! VP Biden did have some really good moments him acknowledging that he won the Democrat primary so he sets the agenda for the Democrat Party that is the way the system works and his courage to further acknowledge that the green new deal platform which will cost a fortune is not his climate protection plan his won't break the bank!

 

Put the microphones on a toggle switch for the next two debates. Only one activated at a time. It would so make for a debate rather than the PeeWee Herman show we got of "I know what you are but what am I?".
Besides, it could work like a chess clock and make sure both of them got equal time.

 

There's an old Chinese proverb, "More words count less." I have no clue what you ended up saying. You were all over the place. All I'll say at this point is Joe Biden lied, lied and lied the entire night. Take one subject and go back what he's said over the past 6 months you will see his lies.
But, one thing I'll mention since it seems to be the topic of the leftist media, Trump's statement in NC about the white supremacists is told by Biden and the media complete with lies and distortions. Listen to it. Read the transcripts. He wasn't talking about white supremacists when he said there are fine people on both sides OF THE ISSUE. The ISSUE was tearing down of statues. In fact, right after his statement he condemned the racist white supremacists. And, he's done so many, many times. I guess Biden has forgotten what he's said about Blacks over the years, especially when he helped his KKK buddy Byrd in the Senate attacking blacks and wanted to keep segregation.

 

Presidential Debates Are Supposed To Inform The American Public On Policy!

Where did you get that idea? It is political theater. There is no point in paying attention to what politicians say. It means nothing. Pay attention to what they do.

 

Unfortunately watching debates in both the primaries and the general elections over the last decade has taught me one simple truth: debates are not about discussing policy. They are about soundbites. The thing political commentators and the news will talk about are the moments where things got heated, where someone had a gotcha, where someone forgot something. Ex:

Mitt Romney 10,000 dollar bet.
Rick Perry oops.
Kamala Harris busing.
Bernie I wrote the damn bill.

If you wanted a debate that informs the public, you'd have to structure it more like - well a debate. You know, those things where two people from opposing sides come up and spend ~10-15 minutes making their case. Then the other side comes up and presents theirs. Then you get a back and forth period of ~5-10 minute rebuttals.

But that's not argumentative enough and you don't get good zingers that way. That's why even when it's down to the general and there really is no good reason for it, candidates are still given a meager ~2 minutes to talk per question and given great leeway to interject. The director of the debate program at Vanderbilt has a nice write up on the subject if you are interested.

 

You could have mentioned one lie, might give your argument more weight.
As to white supremacy, Trump had a chance to put it to rest, he didn't. Why would he not do it?

 

How many times must he do this?

 

so agree, it's sad, but with Trump's lack of self-control, it's needed

 

He's put it to rest for over 4 years and Wallace was totally misinformed about it to even throw that one out of the blue and include the Charlottesville myth. He put it to rest then and again yesterday and as we see still being accused of "not putting it to rest". How about the left and MSM put it to rest with the false claims and Biden issue an apology for calling Trump a racist during the debate, the low point of the entire thing.

 

Biden interupted and talked over first. Katie bar the door after that and perhaps Biden could show a little self control with the vile name calling and invective.

 

How am I supposed to get any work down if you people keep making me spew my coffee?

 

Was that due to your sudden realization of the facts? Biden interrupted Trump 28 seconds into his rebuttal of the first question and then engaged in his filter name calling and invective throughout. Yeah I spewed my beer when he called Trump a racist duringthe debate.