“It was CNN’s fault” demonstrates the same unwillingness to engage with reality as “the prosecution is a witch-hunt.”
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@mick even if one thinks - correctly! - that “we are an inert and noble platform and our audience can make up their own minds” journalism is a blight, you go to the polls with the media you’ve got, not the media you wish you had. You know the debate is going to happen in an awful studio, you know the Donald is going to gish gallop freely around the stage! Prep! For! Reality!
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@npilon absolutely.
Blaming moderators or the structure of the debate or even “a cold” for the fact that Big D was allowed to run his mouth without limits puts the blame in the wrong place.
The moderators are not running for President.
Biden’s people set this up.
Biden’s job was to show up and appear capable and coherent next to this criminal lunatic.
The bar was set very low.
Biden was not up to the task.
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@mick eh I think that’s too harsh; Biden *had a bad debate*. He was not prepped well, and did not execute that prep well. That’s miles from “he’s not up to the task”; look at his post-debate speeches. He can do it, he just has to actually do it.
Plus this was a *very* early debate; it’s still technically primary season down there. His team should use this to course-correct.
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@npilon I meant up to the task in that moment.
Whether or not his performance was poor enough to be disqualifying as a candidate is another discussion (though I think that’s where I’m landing, personally.)
The trouble I see with appeal to his more structured appearances is that there is only so much control his people can exert over the next 4 months.
He will have to appear without a teleprompter on at least some occasions.
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@mick he does plenty of unstructured appearances without a teleprompter just fine. Debates are their own thing with a lot of unique characteristics - for example, his team’s got to work on his attitude when it’s not his turn.
I’d also say they’ve got to be more disciplined about sticking to punchy three item lists on topics, but I’m an extremist on that point, mainly because of my own struggles with stuttering and filler.
Every flaw I saw was a rehearsal failure.