It should turn out to be the first one on one debate of the Primary.

Must watch TV, for sure.

I remember when slightly before this point in 2008, we had the first one-on-one debate and celebrated the fact that we were going to make history by nominating either the first black man or the first woman as our nominee. How is it that 12 years later, and despite the wonderfully diverse pool of candidates we had at the beginning, we are left with 2 old white guys? I like Biden and Bernie but I would have preferred a younger and more diverse nominee.

It would seem pointless.

He can insult, and scream, and lie, but he is simply not smart enough, or informed enough, or mentally agile enough, to debate.

Which I am pretty sure is what will happen. We need to come up with a strategy to deal with this probability. It must not go unchallenged/unshamed.

He does love the media attention, perhaps to compensate for the attention his parents denied him.

is with 4 or 5 "handlers" screaming and bawling .. while clinging to his ankles.
-- --

*SNIFF*

Biden should bring a small fan, and point it at Trump's hair.

You want to talk about shooting fish in a barrel? Trump's fish are already dead before they can be shot.

Trump is simply not.

I don't get anyone giving the Dotard any cred on debate performance. Like there is anyone who can't beat Dotard in a debate? If I had a dog, I'd say my dog could do it.

And that plays well on reality television.

He’ll be fine.

This op,is just to stir

I don't remember him stumbling or forgetting things nearly as often as he does now. He's always been gaffe-prone but lately it seems like he's making a gaffe a day. I like Biden a lot and I will enthusiastically support him if he wins the nomination, but I am concerned that he stumbles too much and it will hurt our competency argument against Trump.

Biden's "gaffes" are attributable to the remains of a serious stuttering problem he had when he was younger. People who stutter, or who even used to stutter, tend to choose words that won't cause a problem for them, and sometimes those aren't the words they really wanted so they sound wrong or mistaken. Read more here: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/01/joe-biden-stutter-profile/602401/

Stuttering has no correlation with intelligence, or mental sharpness.

Yesterday he made a small gaffe when he referenced 2018 and called it 2016. No biggie, but it happened.

I am 65, younger than Joe and hardly as spry. I know from experience that age slows you down. I find myself reminding myself about things, like be careful driving today (after driving 45 years, things can go on auto-pilot. Not great when your reflexes have naturally slowed), or setting my car keys down in full view so I don’t “lose” them.

My advice to Joe: take a beat. Slow down the mental processes a hair and take the time to formulate your response. He needs to do in the debates what he does so well in a one-on-one interview situation. I have no magic bullet for that, but it’s a worthy goal.

I wouldn't worry about 2008 or 2012 Joe Biden at all. He would fire back at Trump with fervor. The current Joe Biden is liable to attempt that and get stuck in mid sentence, then close his eyes while struggling to remember the words.

It is not stuttering. It is age. Right now it is hit or miss which Joe Biden you get. There is no question his handlers need to be cognizant of this and prepare him accordingly. Biden needs to stick to short answers. Then pause. Then another short response. He gets in trouble when he tries to include too many thoughts and weaves into the same debate response.

Less is more.

The Trump machine is going to attack this aspect. They'll have the audience groomed to wait for evidence of Biden simply too old, just like they desperately tried to use Hillary feinting as an example in 2016 of her health. Nothing is out of bounds to them.

The only aspect I would have preferred Sanders over Biden is how the two would fare in debates with Trump. Sanders would have unleashed and dominated. It would have been legendary.

That would be a very interesting debate to watch. Still probably not going to vote for Bernie this time, but that would be one upshot if he gets the nomination.

I've watched him recently and tried to get excited, but he says and does things that make me cringe. This was also my (liberal) mom's observation from watching him in all the 2019 debates (which I did not watch). I understand he has a stutter, but he hasn't been just stuttering - he's been mangling sentences and forgetting the words to the Declaration of Independence. I don't remember him making mistakes like that in 2008 or 2012.

And well informed on the issues.

Trump relies on insults.

I almost felt sorry for Ryan.

Almost.

Biden held his own against Palin, too. That debate made many realize that this crazy woman could be a heart attack away from the presidency, and it was downhill from there.

All the GOP has at this point is racism, and fealty to the 1%, and lies.

I remember Bobby Jindal saying that the GOP needed to stop being the stupid party, then he jumped on the stupid train.

Nikki Haley is the new "Smart GOP politician" of the month, but she only looks smart standing beside Trump and Pence.

I'm guessing anyone who expresses that concern will refuse, rationalize or excuse why they fail to provide objective data illustrating any real contrast between Biden's performances then and now, and rely wholly and solely on the "it-seems-to-me" concern routine.

Regardless, idiot-trump is an idiot. I doubt he'll attempt the same ass-grabbing routine as he did in the last debate. The poor little fella is going to forced to rely only on his records and his own words... a win/win for any Democrat on stage with him.

There is no objective data to support these concerns. In interviews, and in his speeches, Biden is obviously mentally sharp.

Trump relies on insults, and on clichés, but Trump has no grasp of any of the issues.

After 4 years, all Trump has demonstrated is that he is totally incompetent and incapable of learning.

As if informed voters needed one.

All Biden needs to do is keep himself in good health for a few months.

None at all.

and it was scary to see how many younger than age 77 had died. But I am going to stop being scared of reaching 80 in a few weeks, and aiming for 100!

Gore trounced Shrub but was criticized for sighing at Bush’s stupid comments and lies.
Kerry beat Bush in his debates.
Obama did poorly in his first debate.
Clinton beat Trump in her debates.

Not since Ross Perot made a fool of himself have the general election debates meant much.

Odds are that Biden is our nominee. He needs to hold the Hillary states, win back Pennsylvania and get the black and Hispanic vote back to Obama levels and we win.

Should it turn out to be Sanders, it’s his fervent base against Trump’s. And we need to fall in line like the Republicans. I think we win that as well.

It’s probably best to just have Joe lock up the Presidency and help us keep those swing House seats. And the progressives can focus on making the house and senate more blue and progressive so we can hand Biden the legislation we want.

that is the fault of the media, and the format that the media imposes.

If its judged by thoughful analyis and careful use of facts Biden will win

If its judged by bombast, bragging and demagoguing..Trump, being a master at all three, will win hands down..

Trump was created by the media and was exposed to the country by way of reality television. The problem for Trump, and the GOP, is that their message only wins when they can suppress enough votes to win by cheating.

Would Trump stalk Biden on stage the way he did Hillary?

lurk...lurk...sniff...lurk...


.

But the media that created Trump ignored it.

My scouting report in a nutshell: He has uneven performances in debates where there are multiple candidates but is better in those that feature a one on one exchange.

They care about the entertainment, the act, the dramatics, the zingers, the jokes, the anecdotes, the one-liners, the eye rolls, the comebacks.

Hell, people still talk about Nixon's bad makeup... and nobody even knows who Nixon is.

The best entertainer will win the "debates" but maybe not the election.

bullshit. I remember Lieberman he practically held hands with Chenny.

I think it's irrelevant.

In fact, I will be shocked if Agent Orange actually agrees to debate Joe.



-Laelth

Fox News will have at least one. They won’t be shut out like the primaries. I never understood why we blocked them. Repugs have a debate with msnbc which is somewhat liberal.

carry one of these for President Trump - Binaca Fastblast Breath Spray Peppermint

If Trump tries his shark attack again.