Instead of wringing our hands ...

For the past 24 hours, I’ve listened to the deep sighs and whines coming from Democrats after Thursday night’s debate.  Now that all initial moans and groans are out of the way, let’s look at this situation with a little more clarity. 

First, yup- it was a nightmare. 

But maybe we should ask why.  Maybe we were all expecting a State of the Union delivery, one where Biden had hours to make his case with little to no interruption and with the use of a teleprompter- making sure that everything he wanted to say was included. 

Now, switch to the debate stage.  No teleprompter, no extended time to deliver his message, and a flaming idiot to his right who vomited lies all night long with no one to clean them up. 

Think back to the first barrage from Trump- a litany of lying that lasted wall-to-wall for his two- minute allowance, with no substance, policy, or new ideas to be found. I was flummoxed: had I been on that stage, I would have been speechless, too. 

Then, Joe had to respond.  As I watched, I wondered how you would  respond to that?  Do you try to correct the lies?  I don’t think two minutes was enough time. Do you go back to the original question - which now is buried in the mush of Trump’s answer - and deal with that rather than offer a rebuttal? And could you do it in two minutes and adequately cover a legitimate question with the details and substance that Americans are entitled to?

I don’t know- and I’m not sure that any debate prep would have anticipated the rate at which Trump can lie nor the depth of his deception. 

So for the first twenty minutes or so, it really was a nightmare for the blue team. 

Lawrence O’Donnell argued on MSNBC the night before the debate that the CNN format was not good.  I think he was right.  He proposed a debate in which the participants got the questions ahead of time, therefore holding them accountable for real answers.  He also stated that presidents always have a coterie of knowledgeable staff members at the ready to help with info, but the Thursday night rules allowed no one to enlighten either candidate for the duration of the debate, even during the commercials. Thus, information that might have helped the viewing public make a decision wasn’t allowed, because CNN said so. 

And CNN had obviously decided ahead of time that neither of the moderators would interfere in any way, especially to fact check the lies that the carrot-topped idiot was spewing to his base. 

I hope there are no more debates.  They are flawed and deliver no information to enlighten the dwindling viewers that make time to watch. The rules can’t seem to be altered or adjusted to accommodate a candidate who cares nothing for the truth and sees the debate stage as free advertising for his mindless followers.  

So in this age of Trump, debates can’t work.  

But I do know this:  few of us could have held our own against a candidate who knows neither what debate means nor much else.  However, I do think the people around Biden should have better anticipated what was going to happen, or maybe avoided the situation entirely by avoiding debates this election season. 

But despite what should have been, what happened is no reason to cast aside the person who got us through Covid, gave us the best economy in the world, and insures us that women’s health care will be front and center in his next term.  

 Instead of wringing our hands and singing the Trump blues, read the transcript from Thursday’s debate.  You’ll sleep better tonight. 

So Joe, you still got my vote.