A couple of days ago, Paul Mirengoff observed that ‘Going back at least as far as Ronald Reagan, incumbent presidents have not done well in first debates.’ Was that true tonight?
Yes and no. President Trump interrupted too often, he did not respond to Chris Wallace’s questions or Joe Biden’s assertions with the specificity that his record has armed him with. For his part, Joe Biden did not drool in his shoe or utterly lose the thread of the discussion. So he exceeded expectations.
The whole performance was odd. I tuned into the non-profit C-Span to avoid the other droolers. There was the usual boosterism from the organisers of the event. I half-listened to that. Suddenly, though, the audio cut out when Chris Wallace emerged, no doubt to explain the rules and preen a bit. I take that as another sign that Providence is a beneficent force.
The sound came back on a few seconds before Donald Trump and Joe Biden took the stage, so I knew that God was in his heaven and all was right with the world.
By ‘won’, by the way, I mean how did the candidates impress the people watching them
Who won?
On balance, I think I have to say that the President did.
By ‘won’, by the way, I mean how did the candidates impress the people watching them. The
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