2016 Postmortem

Sunlei

(22,651 posts) Thu Oct 20, 2016, 02:36 AM Oct 2016

Hillary Clinton won the last presidential debate by finally just being herself

At long last, the Clinton who took the stage Wednesday night wasn’t the policy-reciting pull-string doll we’ve seen throughout most of the last two debates. With Obama-like calm, she mostly dodged Trump’s efforts to bait her, speaking with more empathy, authority, and passion than we’ve seen so far.
Her biggest point of victory, however, was a gift from Trump himself. Chris Wallace, the moderator and by far the best we’ve seen in the last few elections, drilled Trump on his claims that the election might be rigged. “What I’m saying is that I will tell you at the time. I’ll keep you in suspense. OK?” Trump said.

Clinton nailed this. “Well, Chris, let me respond to that, because that’s horrifying,” she began. After noting Trump’s habit of calling conspiracy every time he’s losing, she continued:

Clinton: “That is not the way our democracy works. We’ve been around for 240 years. We’ve had free and fair elections. We’ve accepted the outcomes when we may not have liked them. And that is what must be expected of anyone standing on a debate stage during a general election. You know, President Obama said the other day when you’re whining before the game is even finished…

Clinton: … it just shows you’re not up to doing the job. And let’s—you know, let’s be clear about what he is saying and what that means. He is denigrating—he’s talking down our democracy. And I, for one, am appalled that somebody who is the nominee of one of our two major parties would take that kind of position.

For those waiting for Clinton to seem “presidential,” there’s your moment. Champion of democracy, defender of America’s history—you can’t get much more presidential than that.

http://qz.com/814357/presidential-debate-hillary-clinton-won-the-third-debate-by-finally-just-being-herself/