Both President Biden and former President Trump are preparing for Thursday’s debate, though in very different ways. According to reports, Biden is at Camp David boning up on policy and practice, while Trump is at rallies and on social media making baseless pre-emptive excuses for losing, from Biden’s getting a shot in his butt to keep him standing up and cogent rather than falling asleep, to the CNN debate moderators, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, being Trump haters.
Is there any purpose to the debate other than to see which of the candidates blows it? What do you expect to see? Policy discussions? Outrageous lies? Absurd claims? Two old men who could stroke out at any moment? Are you going to watch or get to sleep at a reasonable hour? Or is this like watching a car crash happening in slow motion, wondering who will be driving the car most at fault and waiting to see who walks away from the wreckage?
*Tuesday Talk rules apply within reason.
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No chance I will watch this. I may not get to bed at a reasonable hour, but I will at least have half a brain still in my head when I do get to bed.
It’s been said before, but we as a country pretty much deserve what ever comes of this election if this is the best that the predominate parties can muster.
The problem is that the predominant parties no longer represent a majority of Americans.
Fair point…..Where are my vehemently pro-gun, vehemently pro-choice candidates?
Maybe we should all make me a candidate. 🙂
The only function of the debate will be to present to the voters the choice between VERY BAD and WORSE and the fact that telling which is which is difficult if not impossible.
Jon Stewart.
“You know what, I think we got a new name for our election coverage: indecision 2024 antiques roadshow.”
Robert Meitz.
” If you already decided who you’re going to vote against, why bother wasting time watching the debates?”
The menu for this event will be short: Do you like your polemics served up in blowhard style with a main dish of narcissism covered with a stinky stew of grandiosity and boorish braggadocio or do you prefer a plate of mumbling geriatric conman resting in a sauce of historical fantasies and garnished with a quick-tempered serving of dementia?
Imagine a sporting event where the teams are so terrible that there’s widespread discussion beforehand about whether it’s even worth playing the game. If nothing else the forces that brought us this scenario owe it to the public to display their handiwork.
At least their mics will be muted when it’s not their turn to speak. With that alone this will be the tiniest bit more an actual debate than the last times. If they were just going to try to shout over each other, I wasn’t gonna watch at all.
I’ll watch the beginning before retiring early, unless one, or both, of them does stroke out or something else interesting happens. Like a fist fight. I mean if they really want this show to sell, violence is necessary. The alternative that sells is too horrifying to consider.
I expect a circus and will be pleasantly surprised by any cogent sentence I hear whether I disagree with it or not.
“I look forward to watching the debate to have my preexisting feelings about the candidates validated, regardless of what is said.” -The American Public
The only way I would ever watch this political bum fight would be if they shifted it to an actual, physical bum fight. Bare knuckle, and no rules except they continue to a TKO.
Note that this would also have the salutary effect of eliminating concerns of moderator bias, as well as any competing claims about who “won.”
I guess one thing we can do is try to figure out how everything is controlled so that we are denied our “no Soviet domination of Poland”, “you are no JFK”, “oops, I forgot the third Cabinet Dept i’m gonna eliminate” moment.
Without the mute button, I know that I would not watch a repeat of 2020. With a mute button this time, I probably still won’t watch.
I want to see Tulsi Gabbard for Vice President on both tickets!
So much hope for the mute button.
I fully expect that Trump still still be heard over Biden’s mic, and expect that Trump’s refusal to stop it wait his turn will result in Biden being compelled to respond anyway. Trump’s got absolutely no restraint.
I’d love to be wrong, but that’s my expectation.
And yeah I’ll be watching. I’ve got to support the team, the team being my wife, without whom, I’d probably be focusing on important stuff, like navel lint.
Debates in general? I still have the remaining ember of a hope.
This debate in particular? No. Both are known qualities, and neither seems inclined to go “I used to think ___, but now ___” so I don’t think anything useful will come of it beyond clips for the next round of ads.
I’ll probably still watch it so I get the memes and understand just how slanted the various takes are. It helps to have a calibration event every now and again.
A second comment, if permitted: If I tuned in, it will be on the radio.
Twofer Tuesday.
Many thoughtful comments today, so I’m going to break that trend. I want to see whether one or both implode. This is pure reality TV entertainment and I wouldn’t miss it for the world
I’m not a Trump or a Biden supporter, and wouldn’t vote for either of them if you stuck needles in my eyes, but is it really up for debate that Tapper and Bash (along with CNN as a whole, the network that leaked debate questions to Hillary Clinton) are naked partisans with a deep hatred for Trump?
Given that the debate is on CNN, I expect instant technical difficulties if Biden falls apart.
However, if Trump implodes I expect an immediate close up view and the incident being repeated over and over with the comments being variations of “I told you so!”
To be fair, there’s no one with half a brain who doesn’t despise Trump. That doesn’t mean they won’t do their jobs professionally. I don’t really know Bash, but Jake Tapper is as fair as they come.
I’m not watching the debate but I am going to train my neural net with the transcript from the “debate”. The expected result is AR (Artificial Retardation).