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If debates didn't matter, Biden would still be the nominee.
You know that the debate response had nothing to do with the debate topics or responses. Any other press conference that day would have likely had the same response. It wasn't what he was saying that was the problem.
True, but until then, the Biden campaign had done a pretty decent job of keeping a lid on his condition. The debate made it impossible to hide any longer. They just had to YOLO him out there and pray it wouldn't be a fucking disaster.
He's done a decent number press conferences before and since that debate and has seemed perfectly capable during all of them, but the big difference is the debate is a 90 minute event in the evening when Sundowners hits hard, and most if not all of those press conferences have been around mid-day when he's reportedly most lucid. Anyone who's cared for or been around aging individuals with dementia can tell from the debate that he has dementia and its progressed pretty far
That's my point. The debate itself had nothing to do with the issue.
That just happened to be the event where it became more apparent to many people. It could have been any press conference or other speaking event instead.
That IS the issue in American politics. As much as you believe people should be in tune with what is going on, politically speaking… they aren’t. Middle America gets sound bites and moves on. A lot of misinformation hits with them because they aren’t paying attention to how messed up politics actually is.
Things like presidential debates are worth tuning in to because it’s a single event (or 3) where you can get a condensed amount of information from the candidates. Most people don’t saturate their lives with politics. Things are changing because of social media, but that’s not necessarily for the better. Most people just want to live without the weight of the world on their shoulders all the time.
Debates don't matter and that is a prime example. Trump gave no coherent answers while Biden was able to answer all but 2 questions. Yet the response was as if biden answered 0 questions and Trump intellectually ran circles around him.
They do matter because a debate can show a lot more than just answers. For example, I think for a lot of folks, the lowest point was when they started arguing about fucking golf. It showed pretty much everyone that these guys are both just utterly divorced from the real problems facing Americans. Most everyone I know IRL was just disgusted with both candidates by that moment. That nobody cared Trump lied isn't a surprise. It'd be like being surprised that the sun rose in the east. It's what Trump does, he's a bullshit artist and everyone knows it, even the people who vote for him. That debate didn't really change anyone's evaluation of Trump. What was a surprise was Joe coming on the stage and just being an unintelligible mess. He did kind of get it together in the back half, but by then, the damage was done. That debate did change plenty of people's evaluation of Biden, myself included.
You mean the short back and forth at the end of the 1 hour 30min debate where Joe Biden had clearly outlined the issues facing Americans, what he has already done and what he plans to solve them. Oh yeah a little back and forth of Joe insulting trump definitely invalidates his entire debate because it exposes that he is rich enough to play golf?? Did you just learn in that moment that Joe Biden was an elite class white boomer?
When I read stuff like this I wonder if you watched the debate or you only saw a clip with some republican opinion posted above it.
I watched the whole thing, facepalming the whole way through because it was the most disastrously bad debate performance I'd ever seen, and I've been watching since Kerry/Bush. Look you don't have to defend Joe's honor anymore, he already backed out. And yeah, it was basically like watching the candidates argue over who had a better sports car or greener lawn; it didn't invalidate anything as much as show just how disconnected both of them are from our concerns.
He wasn't a charismatic superstar but I genuinely don't understand how you could watch the whole debate and think Biden looked worse or that both were equally bad. I believe you when you say you watched the entire debate. I just struggle to understand how any sentient person comes to that conclusion. Trump was making the most insanely obvious fake claims and rewriting history to fit whatever narrative he decided to ramble on. While Biden was responding to every question with thought out answers and relevant policy to address the issue.
He's not running anymore. You no longer need to pretend he was a good candidate.