Republican lawmakers, right-wing media outlets and influencers, and Trump himself are pushing conspiracies about Biden’s health and the debate in general.
They set the expectations ridiculously low for Biden and are desperately trying to claw that back. When they say he can't string two sentences together, all he has to do is string two sentences together and he's shown that they're wrong about him. Such morons.
Meanwhile, I had higher expectations for Biden, and Trump's expectations are what I'm seeing.. This debate will not sway me away from voting Biden, but fuck is it hard to watch.
I try to remember that we're voting for an entire administration and presidential appointments, an apparatus much larger than one old man. It's cold comfort, but it's something.
I feel like Biden has exceeded my expectations for him. I wouldn't call him good, but he's better than I expected him to be, which was essentially Trump lite on policy.
I agree, and have said the same repeatedly. In 2020, I just wanted a president who wasn't a complete crook, con man, and national embarrassment. I didn't think Biden would accomplish much, I just hoped he could repair our reputation with other countries a little.
I was stunned that Biden accomplished more than Obama. He certainly isn't perfect, but he's fine a good job. Just that infrastructure bill would be something most presidents would take as their legacy, but he's done a lot more.
He's too damned old, but I'll still take him over Trump.
I really don't see his policies as even being close. environment, taxes, ukraine, abortion. Hes not even bush jr light. Might be able to compare him to bush sr. or reagan as far as lite version but you can say that about clinton and obama. As far adminstration accomplishments he is the best president of my lifetime. I liked obama but he really wasted his first term. Granted we are not nearly as left as I would like to be as a country now or in direction we are headed bu that is not due to too many democrats being elected.
I dunno. IMO, he didn't sound terrible. He sounded like an 81 year old who probably shouldn't have been shoved into the nomination but the other frontrunner last time could have forced some representation of the left, so the DNC did it anyway. At least he made an effort to make sentences and call out lies, which the moderators should have.
I hate that our choices are a guy who should be retired vs a nazi that should be retired.
I did watch it. It was not great but, I'm still left with the impression that people set really unrealistic expectations for an 81 year old with a history of speech impediment. Those things come back in novel ways as we get older. IMO, the whole thing borders on elder abuse but, that's where we're at. Just disappointing to see the "left-wing" (corpo) media immediately on the attack - they seem to be trying to carry more water due Trump.
Also, I am not sure if the shell-shocked look of the talking head before she started speaking was from the debate or the words on the teleprompter.
What's amazing to me is the Trump team set the bar so super low that Biden would have cleared it no matter what and it didn't end up making a difference.
Agreed. I didn't think that it would have made much of a difference, however, even if Biden came across as a master orator. "Undecided" folks are probably just going to use whatever they take from it to justify whatever decision they were likely already going to make.
As far as I know, Biden chose to run for president again. If that was forced on him, then yes, what's happening is terrible. But if he made that choice freely, then we're only attempting to vet candidates for the job as we always do. If he can't handle the vetting process (as flawed and televised as it is) then he shouldn't be running...
He should be at home chilling, not taking on one of the most demanding possible jobs for another 4 years. His decision making may or may not be fine, but the he obviously can't consistently meet the communication demands of the role.
The alternative is worse, but I'm not happy about voting for Biden. 3rd parties and RCV, please!
We need about a week to see what happens with polling. Anyone right now is just reading tea leaves. But uh ... This is the worst debate performance I've seen since Palin. So I can see why party insiders are suddenly discussing things like an open convention in hushed voices.
Okay, but what I'm reading is that Biden sounded like a lost old man and Trump sounded like a crazy old man, which is what everyone already knew about both of them, so I'm not sure why anyone would change their minds.
Because we know from 2016 and 2020 that Trump's craziness isn't an impediment to him getting votes. We're also in a bubble here on Lemmy. The CNN flash poll they conduct before/after the debate had a 12 point swing towards Trump.
Was that 12 points swinging towards Trump as the debate winner or was that people changing their vote? Because those are very different things. I would be surprised if it were the latter.
I really don't think that it's telling at all. I have a very difficult time believing someone would suddenly consider a dictator over the possibility of Kamala Harris stepping in like they hadn't already.
I was really dissapointed that biden did not discuss trump lowering interest rates to zero before covid when obama had gotten us to a few percent. Zero interest rates is something that is only supposed to be done when there are problems and the economy is not running right and we need a general buff. three to six are normal levels. over six is high. You will always get inflation when interest rates are kept low in an economy that does not need it. This was one reason we could not drop them when covid hit and the reason they had to be raised at breakneck speed which is something you never want to do. They should be lowered and raised very slowly at very slow levels. Idealy quarter of a point or less each time and not ever quarter.