Thoughts on the Debate

I wasn't planning on watching the debate. Nothing could happen that would make me change my vote, but I tuned in out of curiosity... Wow. I expected Biden to be a little more sentient and coherent than he was. "He started out a little slow," in the words of Vice President Harris, and things went downhill from there.

I did not hold out much hope for Trump to rein himself in, but he did an excellent job. His facial expressions during Biden's ramblings were priceless. The debate format—the one everyone beforehand was saying would work against Trump— truly worked for him. It kept him from interrupting Biden; he let Biden hang himself. The meme-errific line was definitely, "I really don't know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don't think he knows what he said either."

And was it my imagination, or did Trump refer to Biden as "Brandon" at one point? I thought I heard him do that, and it cracked me up.

The most memorable line of Biden's was, "We beat Medicare!"

Another surprise was how well Jake Tapper and Dana Bash moderated the debate. They kept both men to the agreed-upon timetable, and they never inserted themselves in a Candy Crowley moment. I could have done without the silly "climate change" question, but you can't have everything, especially when it comes to CNN.

I'm wondering why Biden's handlers agreed to this. I'm sure it was obvious to them that he was in no condition to stand up for 90 minutes and give coherent responses to reasonable questions, let alone parry Trump's attacks. Did they think Trump would never agree to their conditions (and when he did they were trapped)? Now, instead of people wondering if Biden can last four more years, they're wondering if he can last the rest of his term. The final image of Dr. Jill Biden carefully helping her husband down the steps is a perfect metaphor for his presidency.

It's a sad indicator of how far our country has fallen that both men showed the most energy when they started arguing about their golf handicaps. Unfortunately, elections are no longer about persuading the majority of Americans to support your policies. It's now all about harvesting the most votes, no matter the source. In that regard, the Republicans have their work cut out for them.