We’re no more informed about what Kamala Harris’ policies are or what she will do as president. She still makes those smug faces. She repeated her empty mantra of “turning the page” over and over, as if that illuminates anything. But damn, did she bait Trump and he fell for it, devolving into the Trumpiest Trump possible.
Haitians eat dogs because he saw it on TV? World leaders respect him because Viktor Orban said so? People don’t leave his rallies early because he’s not a tedious incoherent bore? Crime is through the roof and the FBI are lying about it? Tariffs are paid by Chi-na?
But then, it’s hardly news that Trump is Trump, spewing nonsense and lies at every turn. So he demonstrated yet again that he’s unfit to be president or dogcatcher, but we already knew that. Did Harris demonstrate that she is fit to be president? Did Harris inform the marginal voters that she is capable of being a moderate president? Did Harris explain the whiplash shifts from her positions in 2020? Did Harris demonstrate the gravitas to deal with world leaders beyond her smug smile? Single cat lady Taylor Swift made her decision after the debate. Did you?
There is little question that Trump lost the debate, but did Harris win? Did Harris do enough to earn the vote, to convince a shaky nation that she won’t revert to full progressive should she be elected? Harris is still not Trump, certainly the strongest argument there is for voting for an anointed candidate who was never subject to the normal scrutiny of a primary that would reveal whether she’s someone who should be president. On the other hand, Trump proved that he is manifestly unfit to be president, no matter what Harris’ policies may be.
Is that enough?
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What I want to know is what each candidate will direct his/her administration to do about Title IX regulations and implementation? I can guess, but I’d like to hear from each one. It will tell me a lot about how the world will be changed over the next 4 to 6 years.
However, getting the answer isn’t important. They’re both liars and morons and I’ve already decided to write in my vote for RFK to be president. He’s no better than they are but the cable news stories would be fascinating.
FWIW, I thought she deserved a “C” or “C-“, while he got an “F”.
I listened, rather than watched, an understand she trolled him w/ her expressions. Had I watched, I might have rated her performance more highly.
I’d been hoping that she’d ridicule him more. Perhaps say something like, “Russia, if you’re listening, please release the pee-pee tape!”
Marcy, at Emptywheel, closed her analysis w/ this observation, “Last night’s debate may not, directly, persuade many voters. But if it cures the press of their addiction to the Donald Trump con, it may have a dramatic effect on the race”.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed
I could be wrong, but I don’t think the debate influenced anyone’s vote. Those that were for Trump or against Harris won’t budge. And those that support Harris or hate Trump are equally set.
I still think the election comes down to a feeling of whether you believe you’re better off financially now than you were pre-covid.
One thing I’m not clear on. Are the “transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in prison” being performed by school nurses? Or hospital orderlies/ fellow inmates?
Can anyone help clear this up? TIA
[Ed. Note: You’re welcome.]
The debate confirmed my priors.
– Everyone
Around the Internet this morning, both camps are claiming victory. I doubt that Harris rang the bell. She needed something on the scale of Trump’s Biden stomp-over, and she apparently didn’t achieve it. (For full disclosure, I skipped the actual clown show to water my roses). The polls will soon tell. How voters perceive reality is likely to have more impact than anything the candidates said.
“We’re no more informed about what Kamala Harris’ policies are or what she will do as president. ”
Well, there is the Dem Party Platform if you want something to read. And are you going to be greatly surprised if, given the votes, the first major piece of legislation in an abortion bill? Beyond that, the Dems have a metric shitton of unfinished business: minimum wage, Dreamers, Social Security, etc., not to mention just getting a budget bill past the Republicans.
I’m sorry, but most voters can’t even spell Title 9. Oops, Title IX.
The reality of politics is that, in a close race, any particular proposal is as likely to lose votes as gain, so candidates just don’t do that. And most of the folks here aren’t in the target market Harris was speaking to. Do you really think she is going to tell Republicans disenchanted with Trump that the best way to deal with undocumented persons is to give them documents?
I doubt whether these debates have any meaningful effect on the hearts and minds of most. Trump v Biden is an outlier in that it triggered Biden’s eventual withdrawal. Having said that, Harris proved she’s a master baiter when it comes to Trump.
I thought Trump won. I’m still voting for Harris because she’s not Trump, but her performance was terrible. For showing she is fit to be president, she did worse than not showing up.
Harris was limited to rote sound bites, even when she was asked a reasonably softball question, even when she was supposed to be responding to Trump–and even when Trump dumped out a terrible answer that called for vicious mockery. Her approach to debating appeared to be ‘what is the closest thing I’ve memorized’. The reason pictures of her expressions are plastered all over social media is that those expressions are all she had that responded to Trump.
It also didn’t help that her sound bites had a fast-and-loose relationship with the truth, which reduced the contrast between her and Trump.
She lied her way to a win, but a win is a win. Trump was a pale ghost; Harris was well prepared. And not one cackle. The handshake ploy caught Trump off guard and he never really recovered. Kudos to her preparation staff!
Trump seemed old, out of date, the same old personalization of the issues, the “everybody loves” routine. The same limited vocabulary. If I hear the “good people”, the “best people” one more time . . .
He missed many chances. He is now the bumbling 80 year old.
I think that the election is over. There will be no second debate.
Harris doesn’t have to be good.
She only needs to be good enough.
Low bar, I know, considering the opposition.
But yes, she showed she is good enough.
Harris’s best day will be the day she wins the election. Her worst day will be every day thereafter when she no longer has Trump to run against.
This debate was a huge disappointment. It was Trump’s to lose, and he lost it spectacularly. All he had to do was act presidential and stoically endure Harris’s attempts to trigger him, but he couldn’t do it. He and his debate team must have known that she would goad him with predictable attacks intended to elicit bad behavior from him, and they should have been practicing this for weeks, but he was obviously either unprepared, or unpreparable. I suspect that Trump is headed down the same path that ended Biden’s campaign after many years of decline.
However, Harris is so widely hated and so obviously incompetent that it’s unlikely that she will win the election, or even get within cheating range, regardless of Trump’s terrible performance.
Why is Harris deemed “obviously incompetent”? Explain please.
It’s possible that she’s not incompetent. Maybe the people who write the text for her teleprompter are playing a joke on us.
Go to youtube and search for “unburdened by what has been” or “ukraine is a small country”.
Most of the debate was pretty meh, but I lost my mind when Trump went full conspiracy nut:
Haitians eating dogs and cats (and ducks).
Also, he’s attacking Taylor Swift today for the high crime of endorsing Kamala.
He’s totally lost his mind.
If it is THAT EASY to bait Trump and for him to accept conspiracy theories, I hope most Americans wouldn’t want him anywhere near the Presidency, and have to deal with inteliigent leaders of other countries that could easily bait or massage his ego to the point where he gives them anything.
Sure, Kamala isn’t perfect, or even close. But she’s the only one currently running (that has a chance of winning) that I would want to be the president.
One is an obvious nutjob (States that permit abortion execute born babies). The other is a smooth prosecutor arguing to the jury, some of whose facts are true. Harris’s voters will consist of the “I want someone who looks like me” crowd and those who’d like a sane person in the White House. Whether that represents the majority of voters remains to be seen.
Harris won! No, Trump won.
One wants to curtail free speech and take guns.
The other looks to be heading in the mental direction that Biden is in.
The only sure thing about this election is that the voters lose no matter who wins.
I really missed the days of candidates promising everything and delivering nearly nothing.
With Harris, I get to reminisce .
As far as the debate I took this directly off the Newsmax screen this morning and it hasn’t been requoted elsewhere ( I did not make this up)
Newsmax poll: who won the debate: Trump 94 pct Harris 6 pct
“Let me tell you something Tony Schiavone!”
I have no follow up except to say pro wrestling references seem more and more appropriate for national elections.
The cope is strong in this thread.