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Presidential Debate: Joe Biden and Donald Trump

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  • PentagonWall
    2020-09-30 12:31:30 AM
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    After watching the debate tonight I stuck around and listened to the announcers talk for a while. And even though the debate itself was pretty irritating to watch for many reasons, what irritated me the most is how the announcers summed it up with their own words at the end. They basically said that no one won this debate and it was the most depressing and worst debate of all time. They said the debate was nonsense and was simply two people arguing and talking over each other with no real responses from either side.

    This is incorrect and is a terrible thing to say just after a presidential debate. This should not have been said immediately after the debate ended. Those people should not have been in the position to broadcast their misguided thoughts on national television immediately following a presidential debate. This isn't the message you should be sending out to people. Yes, it's unfortunate that it's at this new low, I get that. But consider who got us here and the fact that we're now arguing against that same person. It'd be ridiculous to expect a well mannered, clean cut, gentlemanly discussion when one of the parties behaves the way he does. More on that below.

    In my opinion, there was plenty said and showcased on that debate stage that wasn't nonsense. There have been alot of doubters regarding Joe Biden's stamina and mental awareness when it comes to debating Trump and tonight we got to see that not only is he capable of that, but he's also pretty good at it. We also got to see Trump get put into a bad position plenty of times and get somewhat hammered to actually answer questions. Trump didn't answer most of the questions of course, but did anyone really expect him to? On that note, Chris Wallace did what he could, it's just hard to control Trump.

    Also, it's extremely disingenuous to say there were no winners of this debate and that both parties were just yelling and childish. I honestly can't see how anyone (logically speaking) didn't think Joe Biden won that debate. He cleared up some things about his/the green new deal. He spoke directly to the people many times which I thought was an excellent touch. He looked much, much more comfortable on that stage than Trump did. Trump looked irritated, tired, mad, worn out, etc. Biden looked like he was ready for the role. Not only that but he also held his own when it came to Trumps only language, being the loudest in the room and arguing. Biden answered that call pretty well I think.

    Look. We all knew it would be rough for Biden (or anyone) to debate Trump. He lies. He talks over people. He's all over the place. He doesn't answer questions. He doesn't let you answer questions. He mocks. What is an opponent or moderator supposed to do with that? I think both Chris Wallace and Biden did excellent considering the person they're dealing with. I'm happy with this debate over all and with how Biden handled Trump. I myself consider this a Biden win and look forward to the next debates.

  • J.K.Logic
    2020-09-30 01:35:14 AM
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    I agree that Biden handled himself well. Also agree that Biden did better than most expected, including myself, at being in the moment and being sharp on stage, and handling whatever Trump threw his way.

    I can't agree that Wallace did the best he could though. And that might have more to do with the debate format and the people in charge of the rules than Wallace. I will at least give him the benefit of the doubt because I do like Chris. But I think Wallace was WAY too nice and polite toward Trump's constant interrupting and disdain for the process and format.

    What moderators need to do is to set the guidelines at the very beginning just like this:

    If you break the rules and speak out of turn, the first time I will intervene and remind of the rules. The second time I will mute your mic until it is your turn to talk.

    Simple as that.

    But the cynical side of me thinks the debate commission and the TV networks and news reporters don't want to handle Trump (or any other candidate that breaks the rules); they don't want to stop issues like this before they happen. They want to be able to broadcast some wildness, and have the ability to write juicy headlines about it right afterwards. I'm not certain of it, but I think they could stop debates from going off the rails much easier than mild mannered 'hey, remember the rules you agreed to..'.

    All that said there were important and revealing moments of the debate. It wasn't all an interrupt, rule-breaking feast. I do look forward to the next 2, but hope they figure out a better way than that to carry on the back and forth.

  • JaredS
    2020-09-30 12:23:32 PM
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    I fully agree that the moderator should have the ability to mute microphones if either candidate (although, let's be honest here...) consistently flaunts the rules. Unfortunately, I don't see that happening anytime soon.

    Last night was a dumpster fire, but I agree with you both that Biden did a great job simply by keeping his cool and not (for the most part) letting Trump get under his skin. There were certainly plenty of times where Biden could have lost his cool, but for the most part he kept to his "script" and didn't let Trump throw him off his game.

    Another thing I really liked about how Biden handled the debate is that he almost universally spoke to the camera and not to Trump. It was almost as if he was more focused on speaking to the American people than Trump, which I personally thought was a great idea. He had 90 minutes to show the American people that he truly would be a different President and I can't help but think he was successful with that, even if he was constantly interrupted throughout the debate.

    When it comes to the talking heads, they are just that - talking heads. Many of the "experts" on cable news before and after debates work for and are paid by the campaigns or are closely aligned with them in some way or another. I've long since stopped watching pre and post debate analysis because I reached a point where I could predict what certain commentators were going to say before they said it. Instead I tend to see what reliable and trustworthy polls say after a major debate. That will give you a far better snapshot of what the average American thought of it.

  • J.K.Logic
    2020-09-30 04:24:39 PM
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    Changes will be made for next Trump vs. Biden debate ‘to maintain order’ after ugly first round

    Maybe we will get mic muting abilities in the next debate, seems a popular idea at least.

  • J.K.Logic
    2020-10-20 01:52:24 PM
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    Thumbs UpThumbs UpThumbs Up

  • JaredS
    2020-10-21 01:11:10 PM
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    I think this is a great idea. It will allow both candidates to say their piece before, hopefully, engaging in a back and forth for the remainder of a segment.

    What will be interesting is if Trump still interrupts Biden. With him being close enough to Biden, I imagine you'd still be able to hear whatever Trump was saying even if it sounded muffled or muted. It would certainly sound weird and I can't imagine it will win him any new votes, but that's never really stopped him from doing something odd before.

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