First Clinton/Trump Debate Thoughts

[Barry]

A few quick thoughts -

First, I was relieved to see Trump being Trump. Rarely answered the question and was generally all over the place. Not very presidential. Not even worthy of City Council!

Secondly, Lester Holt did a terrible job! I'm a big fan of hands off moderating myself, but he was AWOL. Trump completely overpowered him. Hillary clearly decided to let the moderator reign in Trump, which may have seemed like a good strategy assuming there was a moderator on duty! On the other hand, they gave him a lot of rope which he put to good use!

Hillary did well and scored some points here and there, particularly on his taxes and her looking presidential.

Did anybody mention actual policy, besides "I'll fix it", or "we have to do better", etc.?

Pretty sad that the test is can the candidate can speak in complete sentences. And even sadder, only one of them passed!
---

Best mid debate audience quip:

"Why are we not talking about Rump's penis yet?
I knew this would be a waste of time."

[Shepherd]

Watching Trump in the first of the presidential debates last night was difficult for a friend and myself. We are glad that we had two loving dogs to ground us. Following is a link to what various NY Times opinion writers wrote. Their consensus is that Clinton won, which I would agree with.

Link to New York Times opinion writers on Clinton/Trump debate:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...-election-2016

How Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton looks to Times Opinion writers — before, during and after.

[Valley Oak]

I had the same experience of difficulty in watching the debate!

My wife and I watched it at Democratic Party HQ in downtown Santa Rosa and I was exhausted physically and emotionally after an hour and a quarter. After that I was just wishing for it to end with a Clinton victory and it did.

I just wish this fucked up, surreal election would come to its conclusion but there is still about 5 or 6 weeks of painful angst left. There are so many important observations to be made about this election but one of them is the tragedy that SO MANY Americans are going to vote for the monstrous clown! I just don't get it. I knew that Republicans were assholes but I did not realize that they were a completely unhinged rabble of lunatics. I guess that is precisely how we get the worst ones--because they represent the lowest common denominator amongst the average, majority voter.

This is a spectacular and reprehensible FAIL among the Republican Party leadership; all Republican officeholders should have denounced and abandoned Trump from the very beginning. Shame on them. The Republican Party leadership and most Trump voters are absolutely and undeniably deplorable. If we did not have to endure this acutely undemocratic two-party system, the Repug Party would suffer a permanent nosedive or disappear altogether. But unfortunately this is the U.S.

Watching Trump in the first of the presidential debates last night was difficult for a friend and myself. We are glad that we had two loving dogs to ground us. Following is a link to what various NY Times opinion writers wrote. Their consensus is that Clinton won, which I would agree with.

Link to New York Times opinion writers on Clinton/Trump debate:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...-election-2016

How Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton looks to Times Opinion writers — before, during and after.

[Star Man]

A few quick thoughts -

I want to add a thought. Trump uses a rhetorical technique called apophasis. It means a person says awful things about another while denying responsibility for the thought. Here's what Wikipedia says, "Apophasis is a rhetorical device wherein the speaker or writer brings up a subject by either denying it, or denying that it should be brought up. Accordingly, it can be seen as a rhetorical relative of irony." Trump did this at the end of the debate when he said he could have said something really terrible and hurtful to Clinton and her family (bringing up Bill Clinton's affairs) but he wouldn't do it he said. Of course he continues to say he won't do it or he might. Apophasis can be a fun style to write in. Here's an example:

"Several people who should know....I know a lot of people,, good people, smart people...the smartest people. I surround myself with smart people. Several people who should know have told me that Trump is really insecure about his penis and for good reason. Now, I'm not saying Trump is insecure or that he has good reason to be, because I haven't personally seen his penis, but I know people, good people, who tell me they have seen it and they say it is unremarkable. Now this shouldn't be an issue in a political campaign, and I'm not going to make it one. I'm only going to say that there may be pictures, I've been told there are, so you could check it out for yourself...and if these pictures exist it will lay this story to rest once and for all and people will finally know if Trump is insecure about his penis for good reason."

Try this writing exercise yourselves, Waccobbeans. It can be ever so much fun.