"Will you shut up, man?" US Politics October 2020

I think Biden sounds fine, like a normal, boring politician. I'm having no problem following him, as far as that goes. Trump, I have trouble just hearing him.

Watched The Candidate (1972) last week; the seats in the televised debate there were as far apart as Biden and the moderator guy tonight.

Has anyone asked the less-evil one about weed because it's fucked up if they don't even give more of us a chance to buy drugs legally.

Biden is boring. Trump is awful. He fucking said dangerous bullshit about masks again. I can't believe there's even a comparison.

Harris said decriminalise weed and expunge convictions in her debate; there's no added value in asking Biden about it.,

The most it would do is scare geriatrics who aren't already using cannabis for medicine.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/15/adelson-trump-super-pac-429688

Too bad he wasn't at the White House superspreader event

Fracking question! It has made citizens sick and killed wildlife in SW PA. We're transitioning away from fossil fuels in the region itself. What other technologies would you promote?

"First of all, let me be clear that I will NOT ban fracking."

ABC: 366,211 watching now
NBC: 184,421 watching now

— Adam B. Vary Scared…SO VOTE, PLEASE AND THANK YOU (@adambvary) October 16, 2020

not that this shit matters but I am petty enough to want Trump to lose in the ratings because that's all he cares about

Wonder how much of the rough ride trump sounds like he’s getting is due to internal nbc politics

not that this shit matters but I am petty enough to want Trump to lose in the ratings because that's all he cares about

the viewers are rigged. defund Nielsen.

hearing a lot of grousing about how unfair the mod has been to Trump so I assume his event is not going well

Art of the steal...Art of the deal

I have about 70 pro-trump blue checks on a twitter list, they aren’t celebrating Trump’s performance, only attacking the moderator. That’s not a good sign.

— Josh Russell (@josh_emerson) October 16, 2020

Seems like the expression "so dumb he could fuck up a two-car funeral" ought to be replaced with "so dumb he could lose a one-person debate".

it will never sink in for the trump campaign that they just let their guy walk into a textbook A-B experiment https://t.co/MRLU27LE01

— kilgore trout, kiss me mr. president (@KT_So_It_Goes) October 16, 2020

otm

Mother of a trans daughter asks about what he'll do to restore protections etc for LGBTQ ppl; Biden says "I'll flat-out change the law. I'll reverse those executive orders" -- good precedent. Reversing 99.2% of all executive orders should be a day-two priority, then restaffing govt depts on day three.

Trump bailing on the debate, even one conducted remotely, was a terrible decision. It wouldn't have changed anything, but it was much harder for him to bluster his way through in the setting he found himself in. Didn't he realize that no matter who NBC picked, the moderator would be lying in wait?

Wonder how much of the rough ride trump sounds like he’s getting is due to internal nbc politics

Quite sure this factored in too, after the grief they got.

xp to me, same question:

Biden uses his folksy/family schtick in a good way; tells a bullshit-sounding pat anecdote version of something that probably really happened - an eight-year-old grandson or grandnephew or s/t pointing across a car park to some LGBTQs holding hands and saying "they love each other" - then suddenly realises he has a more relevant fact to relate, and says "and by the way, my son who died, Beau Biden, when he was attorney general, he had a staffer, a man who became a woman, right there in the office." (not exact quote)

Good to hear him saying the more sincere-sounding thing that he didn't have a soundbyte for, even though it could have undermined the prepared bit.

(And the prepared bit was a good way of presenting "acceptance" to dumb olds who might be swing voters)

I didn't care for this thing at all, but the transgender answer sounded to me like one of his few good moments -- and the mom looked as if she responded.

Good point. People *hated* that guy. https://t.co/m5zZSzAPjc

— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) October 16, 2020

Joe Biden appears to have started a second town hall, staying in the room and trying to convince the voters in the room as he answers more questions.

— Matt Viser (@mviser) October 16, 2020

But despite fears that the event would amount to a free promotion for Trump’s campaign, it ended up being one of the toughest grillings he has faced as president, with questions about white supremacy, covid-19 deaths and his taxes.

While the event was nominally a town hall, featuring questions from Florida voters, it included a lot of direct pressing by the moderator, “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie, who repeatedly challenged the president’s evasions.

At one point, after pushing Trump on his retweet of a QAnon-linked conspiracy theory, Guthrie said, “I don’t get that. You’re the president. You’re not like someone’s crazy uncle who can just retweet whatever.”

When Trump said he wasn’t familiar with QAnon, Guthrie said “you do know,” to which he replied: “No, I don’t know. You tell me all about it. Let’s waste the whole show. Let’s go. Keep asking me these questions.”

After questioning him about his frequent claims of election fraud, Guthrie told him, “There is no evidence of widespread fraud, and you are sowing doubt in our democracy."

When Trump said he couldn’t release his taxes because he’s “under audit,” Guthrie repeatedly countered by saying, “You aren’t.”

For his part, Trump protested Guthrie’s questioning, saying, “I knew you’d be doing this. … You always do this.” He complained that Biden got much easier questions from moderator Lester Holt when he participated in a similar event held by the network on Oct. 5. “He was asking questions like Biden was a child,” the president said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2020/10/15/trump-town-hall-savannah-guthrie-biden/

Guthrie us doing a good job

Trump campaign statement: "President Trump soundly defeated NBC’s Savannah Guthrie in her role as debate opponent and Joe Biden surrogate. President Trump masterfully handled Guthrie’s attacks and interacted warmly and effectively with the voters in the room. "

— Philip Klein (@philipaklein) October 16, 2020

congratulations on defeating the moderator Mr. Trump

I'll be honest and I'll probably get a lot of shit for it, but I'm an undecided voter. After watching this town hall, I believe my decision has been sealed. Tomorrow I will be casting my vote for Savannah Guthrie.

"Warmly and effectively"--well, he didn't insult or attack any of the town-hall questioners, and he hasn't yet tweeted out any photoshopped pictures of them, so sure.

I will never get tired of politicians not knowing the price of things

Watch Joni Ernst fail to know the price of soybeans in Iowa and then fight w/ the moderator before simply giving up #iasen pic.twitter.com/kMhGR8malp

— Justin Barasky (@JustinBarasky) October 16, 2020

So my mom is a Trumper. She also is fond of Archie Bunker and Ralph Kramden. Some people are drawn to loudmouths who “tell it like it is,” or, say out loud what they feel they can’t say.

But I don’t understand how anyone can watch an episode of All in the Family and not realize that Archie is an asshole. People see what they want to see.

Here’s the other part of that #IASen exchange, where Theresa Greenfield nails the price of corn pic.twitter.com/BMoTDJAKX7

— Iowa Starting Line (@IAStartingLine) October 16, 2020

It's one soybean, what could it cost, ten dollars?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McuMXM70nHE

I don’t know why people still assume Today Show anchors are softball interviewers

We’re all still traumatized by lauer

ernst's silent sepulchral grin in that clip haunts me

i don't understand why i criticized by people that I LOVE for watching and enjoying things like nathan for you, but there's this ELLEN clip where she's identifying with the audience as the group that understands the costs for the real people, jfc

So my mom is a Trumper. She also is fond of Archie Bunker and Ralph Kramden. Some people are drawn to loudmouths who “tell it like it is,” or, say out loud what they feel they can’t say.

But I don’t understand how anyone can watch an episode of All in the Family and not realize that Archie is an asshole. People see what they want to see.

― Cow_Art, Friday, October 16, 2020 2:51 AM (four hours ago)

otm. for that matter, i love the honeymooners but it amazes me that anyone could think of ralph kramden as someone who tells it like it is. he's always an idiot!

Biden uses his folksy/family schtick in a good way; tells a bullshit-sounding pat anecdote version of something that probably really happened - an eight-year-old grandson or grandnephew or s/t pointing across a car park to some LGBTQs holding hands and saying "they love each other" - then suddenly realises he has a more relevant fact to relate, and says "and by the way, my son who died, Beau Biden, when he was attorney general, he had a staffer, a man who became a woman, right there in the office." (not exact quote)

Asked by a mother of a transgender child about what he will do to protect LGBTQ rights, Joe Biden says: "I will flat-out just change the law." https://t.co/AHhqjfwTJc #BidenTownHall pic.twitter.com/mc4KkDnsmr

— ABC News (@ABC) October 16, 2020

I thought the answer was good and the exchange moving. Worth pointing out that the "bullshit-sounding pat anecdote version of something that probably really happened - an eight-year-old grandson or grandnephew or s/t pointing across a car park to some LGBTQs holding hands and saying "they love each other"" was actually Biden remembering himself seeing two men embrace and kiss, and his dad explaining it to him.

can we dispense with the idea that debates are ever superior to a competent journalist asking questions?

I thought that was the whole reason we have debates rather than interviews.

Vote count just a hair under 20 million, as I figured. Assuming it generally maintains a pace of 3 million every 24 hours that would take it up to at least 56 million before Election Day not counting weekends, but those should be counted to some degree and there’s no reason not to think the overall pace will increase further as more states start voting early, line delays ease back (as has been the case in Georgia) etc.

Just saw this in https://cdn.donaldjtrump.com/public-files/press_assets/president-trump-platinum-plan-final-version.pdf

Prosecute the KKK and ANTIFA as terrorist organizations and make lynching a national hate crime

Okay, but you know the hidden meaning behind that 'lynching' designation, yeah?

Let's just say that police charge protestors, even peaceful protestors, with 'lynching' all the time, particularly in California, where to de-arrest someone being forecefully kidnapped by the state is considered 'lynching'. It is another charge to add to those like 'resisting arrest.' Police are eager to utilize the law as a cudgel against protests.

Fuck that.

Ice Cube should definitely prosecute antifa, though

found myself watching chris cuomo last night and he spent a good half hour talking about Biden’s “evasive” answers on “court-packing,” saying that it was “trumpy”

kindly stfu, fredo

Woke up with a pit in my stomach after dreaming Trump started handily winning battleground states on election night. I was hoping I could stave off the nightmares for a couple more weeks.

So are there any legit sources gaming out Trump's path to a win? Because I feel like I should start keeping tabs on that and preparing for the worst. The outlook is getting a little too rosy atm and I'm getting unpleasant 2016 flashbacks.