There’s no question that Joe Biden had a terrible night, but I don’t know that I agree with the instant analysis that he seemed cognitively impaired — he actually displayed lots of factual recall and reasoning on a wide range of matters of policy. No doubt though that he did seem impaired at times in his ability to communicate all that he knows. But the context no one should forget is that this wasn’t a debate between a Democrat and a Republican. It was between a Democrat and an autocrat, between a Democrat and the greatest domestic threat to the Republic since the Civil War. Trump’s relative fluidity in speaking allowed us to hear flowing out of his mouth disrespect for the most defining and sacred institutions and values that have in fact made America great – accepting when you lose an election and supporting the peaceful transition of power, and the rule of law, which requires the independence of the justice system from political control and respect for the crown jewel of that system, which is the power and wisdom of juries. Incessant lying ain’t great either. So, as I’ve said many times before the crucible of this debate, the election is a banquet to which we have all been invited, where there is only chicken and fish on the menu. We may want steak or pasta or sushi but unless something changes, and there’s no good reason to think it will, we’re not getting any of those. The situation is that we still have to choose between the stinking, venomous fish — Donald Trump — and Joe Biden. The 3rd party “options” aren’t real. And in this choice between something maybe not so great and something much worse, we have a moral duty to choose the one that’s not the worst.
Eric Savitz
4mo
As Van Jones put it, it was the old man vs. the con man.
yeah I'm still here
4moIncumbent Presidents oftenb have bad first debates. Reagan seemed old and feeble, but he recovered. Bush also did badly in the first debate as well