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You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Hail to the Hairpiece / Open Thread: Only A One-Word Response Required

Open Thread: Only A One-Word Response Required

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Hillary, tilting her head, politely: “….. Who?”

Donnie couldn’t help trying his usual half-witted Twitter “dominance” primate routine, and of course Ms. Flowers was gonna jump on the ‘invitation’, because what has she got to lose?

So when HRC pretends she doesn’t remember the name, the Media Village Idiots… get to besmear themselves a little more? Look like even bigger douchecanoes than Lord Orange Littlescrotum?

Never mind those college-educated suburban Republican women who Trump’s campaign is supposed to be courting — every married Republican man whose wife has forgiven him, barely, for That One Time on A Business Trip has (another) reason to resent Donald popping off. He’s just given the Democratic GOTV another boost, and given the “average” Repub voter one more reason to stay home.

It’ll go down well with the Twenty-Seven-Percenters, sure, but that’s not enough to win a national election. Good for the post-election grift, though!

Reader Interactions

130Comments

  2. 2.

    Nora

    The perfect response on Hillary’s part. His people think everybody’s as obsessed with Clinton conspiracy theories as they are. News flash: most people don’t remember what happened last year, let alone what happened 20+ years ago.

  3. 3.

    BR

    GOTV requires people to volunteer. Sign up here. I’m serious. It takes 30 seconds to find something and put your name down. Show up. That’s how we’ll win. The media will do what it does. We need to do what we need to do to win no matter what happens.

  4. 4.

    redshirt

    Indeed, Anne. Donald plays to the 27% and they love it. He could shoot one of them, as he said, and they’d love it.

    Everyone else though? Even ostensible Republicans?

    We’re going to find out how much “Party over Country” actually applies.

  5. 5.

    Trentrunner

    Hillary: “I have a question for Gennifer.”

    [Stunned gasp throughout the hall. All cameras turn toward the mistress.]

    Hillary: “Is it GIF or JIF?”

  7. 7.

    PaulWartenberg2016

    Hillary: Ask Trump if it’s okay for me to bring in all the women he’s bragged about raping, uh, I mean sleeping with over the decades. I’m sure there’s 80 million women voters who’ll love to support him now.

  8. 8.

    PaulWartenberg2016

    Hillary’s best response is to bring in every defendant in the Trump University lawsuits as well as every person who ever sued or is suing Trump for failure to pay them fair wages.

  10. 10.

    Major Major Major Major

    I just don’t see how this does anything good for Trump. It’s not going to rattle Hillary, Trump is almost guaranteed to say or do something else that will dominate coverage, and what coverage there is will just make white suburban married women more likely to vote for Clinton.

    I guess we’re back to Trump’s Razor. Ascertain the stupidest possible scenario that can be reconciled with the available facts: Trump’s an ape who has not an ounce of strategy in his body.

  19. 19.

    bmoak

    Hillary could invite one of Trump’s past mistresses to even the score, but Melania will already be there, so she’s covered on that front.

  20. 20.

    HR Progressive

    I think Hillary would get a ton of mileage out of making a relevant mention of Mark Cuban. Not a “Hey, look I brought Mark Cuban” sort of response, but when talking about tax hikes on billionaires, or donating to charity, or something “Blah blah blah, like billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban…” and watch Trump go nuclear.

    I’m really crossing my fingers that this actually happens, again, as long as it is germane to the conversation.

  23. 23.

    Brachiator

    @Nora:

    .
    News flash: most people don’t remember what happened last year, let alone what happened 20+ years ago.

    True dat. Those who most know or care about Flowers have got to be older voters.

    This only confirms how childishly trashy Trump’s mind works. He naturally goes for National Enquirer level gossip and conspiracy theories. And in turn, this stuff excites only the lunatic fringe of his base.

    And this stuff goes absolutely nowhere unless Trump himself brings it up, and then his surrogates will have to defend it in post debate commentary.

    But it should be easier than anything for Hillary to deflect this crap and to turn it back on Trump. It’s hard to believe that any of his team thinks this is a good idea.

  25. 25.

    jl

    Some commenter in last thread said Flowers supported HRC in 2008. Any truth to that?
    If so, would be poetic justice for more Trump dumbassery.

    Strictly speaking, public taunts to put Cuban in front row is dumbassery too, but it is standard long established political campaign dumbassery, which is dumb except it might make the opponent act far dumber, so.. um… .yeah…looks like this one worked quick like bunny (edit: and strong like bull). Hope Trump keeps acting like easy prey the rest of the campaign.

  27. 27.

    Adam L Silverman

    @trollhattan: No. It was, however, partially inspired by what she had done in the past. Like I said, I had the article about the ad and the ad all ready to go. Now I’ll have to find something about clowns to post.

  28. 28.

    Shana

    @Omnes Omnibus: Too funny. Reminds me of the Sarah Silverman video from last time when she said that grandchildren would not visit any longer if they voted for Rmoney.

    ETA: I see trollhattan got there first.

  33. 33.

    Trentrunner

    I saw a tweet from some debate official, essentially saying, “Enough with this front row plant bullshit. We’ve contacted both campaigns, and both have agreed to knock it off.”

    I hope this is the end of it.

  35. 35.

    Hal

    At the end of the day, inviting Gennifer Flowers is the summation of Trump’s very low opinion of women. Why not invite your opponents husband’s mistress to the debate? To Trump, Flowers is Hillary’s fault, just as I am sure he blames Ivana and Marla for his own affairs. Women are only useful to Trump if he considers them fuckable.

  37. 37.

    ? Martin

    @jl:

    Strictly speaking, public taunts to put Cuban in front row is dumbassery

    No it’s not. It’s not because it proves Clinton’s point about baiting with a tweet. Trump can’t help himself to respond. So under President Trump Mexico throws out our ambassador, so in relation he murders theirs. China buzzes one of our ships and we blow up one of theirs.

    Trying to bait the US into a confrontation is routine, and Hillary keeps proving that he doesn’t even have enough self control to resist something as nothing as having Mark Cuban in the audience.

  38. 38.

    randy khan

    Thinking about it, I think the ground rules for the debates really hurt Trump – candidates get limited numbers of invites (most of the crowd is local civic-minded people, etc.), there are specific rules about no reactions from the crowd (except beginning and end applause), it’s one on one with specified times for answers and responses, which will prevent him from getting away with making things up most of the time. All of those things hurt him and will make it hard for him to dominate the debate the way he dominated the Republican debates.

  39. 39.

    Mnemosyne

    @BR:

    I’m headed to Las Vegas next weekend to canvass — finally got the information from the campaign. After some internal debate and consultation with my fellow jackals, I think I’m going to do the overnight option.

  49. 49.

    Brachiator

    @Major Major Major Major:

    . Trump’s an ape who has not an ounce of strategy in his body.

    Oh Trump most definitely has a strategy, and it helped him sweep the table during the GOP primary. His strategists have been laying the groundwork for this even when Trump acts like a wild man. And they have learned how to back him up.

    Clinton supporters like to talk about her as the adult in the room. They will cite her years of experience and how hard working she is. There has been, recently, reports of contrast between her debate prep and Trump’s.

    So here’s my easy prediction. Trump will do everything he can to subvert Clinton’s legitimacy by hammering home the idea that her experience amounts to nothing because her judgement has always be wrong. He will, of course, include Obama in this as well.

    And he doesn’t have to do debate prep because he will lie where necessary. He will also say that his lack of experience doesn’t matter because he is terrific and will bring in new terrific people to solve every problem and make America great again.

    I call this the Simpleton Gambit, and Trump is a master at deploying it.

  52. 52.

    ? Martin

    @redshirt: Lester is part of the media establishment. At the very least, ignoring the rules will be taken somewhat personally by the rest of the media establishment.

    But the only response that will actually matter will be how Hillary handles it. A lot of people will want her to tell him to knock it the fuck off (in those exact words) and dress him down verbally. But I don’t think he’ll do that. In the previous debates he was a bit of a showboat, and a bit of a loudmouth, but he was surprisingly passive whenever something of substance was being discussed. He’s good at speechifying, bad at responding. He’ll ignore the question, bullshit about something, and then stop.

  53. 53.

    Mnemosyne

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    If I was still a young and broke-ass temp worker, I would probably go for the one-day option, but what’s the point of being middle-aged and financially secure if you don’t use a little of it to be comfortable while volunteering?

  54. 54.

    Corner Stone

    @Brachiator:

    Oh Trump most definitely has a strategy, and it helped him sweep the table during the GOP primary.

    He always had several people on stage with him during that period. One on one will be a different ball game, even if the moderator let’s him lie a few times each segment.

  57. 57.

    Jeffro

    I’m expecting Hillary to go a little ‘meta’ on Donald…she’s already done it by posting a list of his lies and calling on the media to ‘say something when he throws any one of these 294 lies out there’.

    I think she’ll say something similar right from the start: “I’m here to talk about a brighter future for the American people…and rather than try to refute Donald’s rapid-fire lies, I’ll just try to keep count each time, and then proceed on with discussing my plan for continuing the progress we’ve made under President Obama. You know, the guy that Trump lied about for essentially the entire Obama presidency? Anyway, please understand that no human being could keep up with, much less respond to, all of the BS that comes out of this unfit, unethical, fraud’s mouth. So I’ll be pushing past that and mostly ignoring him while I talk directly with you, the voters.”

  61. 61.

    redshirt

    @efgoldman: Agreed. Ellie said as much in the previous thread, that it’s Trump that has way more to lose in this debate than Clinton.

    He’s a clown and this is an environment he can’t control and will have a hard time distracting from. He can’t bounce off lot’s of debaters, he can’t play to the crowd. He can try, but when he’s met with silence, we’ve seen how poorly he responds.

    This could be a disaster for Trump. Whereas Clinton is so rock solid the only way she “loses” is if the media wills it to be so.

  64. 64.

    Mnemosyne

    @Brachiator:

    Donald’s debate schtick is to be the alpha male — he literally challenged his Republican opponents to a dick-measuring contest.

    But as Rick Lazio can tell him, that stuff doesn’t work when a woman is your opponent. Even people who are pretty sexist find it distasteful to watch a man bullying a woman. In fact, they’re probably more bothered by it than more egalitarian people.

    And, as many others have mentioned, this ain’t Hillary’s first time at the rodeo. She’s dealt with blustering blowhards before, and her opponents have always collapsed first.

  65. 65.

    Lyrebird

    @Adam L Silverman: Hey I’d still like to know! And when you’re stuck for ideas another time, get the back story on that was-it-EMILY’s-list video Omnes shared recently, “Women Can Stop Trump” I think, bc apparently those women were people I should recognize…

    I always welcome help in surprising my students by showing some knowledge beyond the underside of the rock over my office.

  66. 66.

    Ken

    @redshirt:

    What if Trump just ignores the rules outright and bulldozes over the Moderators? What can be done?

    In the unlikely event I’m asked to moderate a presidential debate, I will insist on shock collars on the candidates, and I will have the controllers.

  68. 68.

    Another Scott

    @Jeffro: That would be an excellent strategy. I hope she uses it, even if she doesn’t say so explicitly like that.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  70. 70.

    Mary G

    @Omnes Omnibus: @Adam L Silverman: Put it up again as a front page post. I just watched it for the second time and still love it. Real grandmas and grandpas threatening to come back to haunt their grandchildren are hilarious. Lots of people don’t read comments and click on all the links and I don’t want them to miss it. Plus, I am scared of clowns.

  71. 71.

    randy khan

    @redshirt:

    Fair question. In the endless scrum of the Republican debates, that kind of behavior was okay, but I think it would come off as boorish, not to mention that in a one-on-one debate they can adjust time accordingly. Also, I imagine that Clinton won’t need much time to nail him.

  72. 72.

    Ruckus

    @Mnemosyne:
    I’ve seen the one day schedule and that seems brutal. I’d do the overnight but the fatigue from my treatment is sort of kicking my ass and I just have to take it one day at a time. I phone banked today and couldn’t last more than an hour, tomorrow may be the opposite. And that’s not walking in the hot sun for half a day or more.

  73. 73.

    Pete Downunder

    I am worried that Trump will have a voice in his ear, concealed by the possum, much like W was suspected of. Has anyone taken that into account?

  74. 74.

    Hal

    @efgoldman: Omarosa is just a useful idiot to Trump. A black woman no self respecting African American even respects, but hey, a check is a check. I guess Stacy Dash wasn’t available.

  79. 79.

    Brachiator

    @Corner Stone:

    . He always had several people on stage with him during that period. One on one will be a different ball game, even if the moderator let’s him lie a few times each segment.

    Trump had fewer opponents as the debate wore on. He still swept the table. I don’t see how one on one hurts him.

    And note that I am simply predicting what Trump’s main strategy will be. He is easy to figure out. I don’t know what Team Clinton will do or that they need to fear Trump.

    Trump will bring a distracting circus, a clown show, but again, his primary strategy will be to try to neutralize Clinton’s knowledge and years of experience.

  80. 80.

    Another Scott

    @Pete Downunder: I recently heard on some show on NPR that a person can only pay attention to 1.6 conversations at a time (apparently a variation on this). I believe it. In a highly stressful situation, when the moderator is asking a question, you’re concentrating and listening carefully (especially if your hearing isn’t the best) thinking to yourself about the best way to answer, the clock is running, millions of people are watching, and your future (and the future of the world) is at stake, I don’t think anyone would be able to also pay attention to a voice in their ear. And standing there silently, listening to your minders, while the clock ticks would be sketchy as hell.

    It just never made sense to me that W having an earphone would actually help him. Similarly with Donnie.

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  83. 83.

    Another Scott

    @Major Major Major Major: I remember. Google “hillary earpiece” to see the insanity. ;-)

    Still, even if you think the handlers were only giving instructions when the other person was given or answering a question, I can’t see how it would work in the real world. Most people can’t listen intently to two people talking at the same time.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  84. 84.

    JMG

    So here’s an idea my son and a friend of his have put together for next month as good Mass. Democrats. Mother and son team canvassing for Clinton in New Hampshire. I think it’s a great idea. I’d like to know what Kay, the only pro among us, thinks of this idea from a fellow if younger pro.

  85. 85.

    Brachiator

    @Mnemosyne:

    .And, as many others have mentioned, this ain’t Hillary’s first time at the rodeo. She’s dealt with blustering blowhards before, and her opponents have always collapsed first.

    This is true. This is why I say that Trump will not try to bully her, but he will work on trying to present her as weak and ineffectual.

    Also while I also agree with you that viewers would find bullying Clinton to be distasteful, crap like that would win her sympathy, but not votes.

    ETA. Good luck with your upcoming Vegas adventure.

  87. 87.

    Sandia Blanca

    @Jeffro: Or she could refer to the number of the lie from her list: “I see that you’ve chosen #17 for your opening attack, Don.”

  89. 89.

    JMG

    Sooner or later, Trump will be asked to explain a policy. Since none of them make sense, he’ll be doing the dog paddle in deep water, At some point, it comes down to the voters, us. If a majority/plurality fall for bullshit then it’s on them. They’ll suffer, too, a point I hope Clinton makes. Let’s see how all those retired dentists in the Villages love Trump when their portfolios fall by 50 percent.
    PS: Posted this on another thread. My son (veteran of several big campaigns including Obama 08) and a friend, who are good Mass. Democrats, have come up with what I think is a great idea. Mother and son team canvassing for Clinton in NH. My wife is game. I’d like to know what Kay, who has the most practical experience of all of us, thinks of this idea.

  90. 90.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @JMG:

    IANK, and I don’t even play her on TV, but I think it’s a great idea. In any canvassing, I like to see contrast — male/female, black/white, older/younger. I think it’s reassuring and expansive for the people you’re calling on.

  91. 91.

    Jeffro

    @Brachiator:

    Trump will bring a distracting circus, a clown show, but again, his primary strategy will be to try to neutralize Clinton’s knowledge and years of experience.

    And so, the only way to win is not to play…at least, not to play his game, try to respond to all of his nonsense. Clinton should just open with “he’s gonna try and throw a lot of crazy crap at you, at me, heck he brought someone here who had an affair with my husband eons ago…what does that say about his character? I’m just going to try and do what I’ve always done: ignore the hatred and the BS, and lay out what I’d like to do for Americans if given the honor.”

  92. 92.

    Brachiator

    @efgoldman:

    .Nope. He doesn’t do strategery. His advisors do, but that doesn’t mean he has enough self-control to follow it in a non-scripted situation with someone competent actually opposing him.

    Trump’s advisors and the GOP bosses have learned to adapt to Trump’s wild man style. This makes him more formidable.

    When he gave up his brother delusions, his surrogates and team were all over the Sunday shows backing him up, even using lies of their own to support him. And a shrewd reporter noted GOP discipline. Almost every high level GOP politician refused to comment, attempting to minimize the story’s impact. Look for more of this when Trump goes off script. His people realize that with fewer days to go, it’s about pushing their message and containment of the impact off rogue messages, not keeping him on message.

    There is no equivalence between “debating” the 97 dwarfs to see who can be the right-wingiest, most racist, teahadiest one, and doing one on one for 90 minutes against a genuinely qualified person, unscripted.

    Nobody thought that Trump had a chance against the 97 dwarfs. Nobody. And he swept the table.

    And yes, Clinton is genuinely qualified. This is precisely why I predict that Trump’s gambit will be to try to convince debate watchers that her qualifications do not matter. And Trump’s people have been laying the groundwork for this by suggesting that she only won against Sanders because she cheated, and reminding people that Obama beat her in the Democratic debates in 2008.

    I’m not saying that Trump will win the debates, whatever “win” means, only that Clinton will need to do more than display her knowledge and experience. Trump is going to do everything he can to neutralize her advantage here because it is also his greatest weakness.

  96. 96.

    Brachiator

    @Jeffro:

    .And so, the only way to win is not to play…at least, not to play his game, try to respond to all of his nonsense. Clinton should just open with “he’s gonna try and throw a lot of crazy crap at you, at me, heck he brought someone here who had an affair with my husband eons ago…what does that say about his character?

    Yep. Totally agree. Leave Trump with nothing. Let the moderators deal with the circus. Note Trump’s emptiness and desperation and move on.

  97. 97.

    Jeffro

    @Major Major Major Major: They thought that at some point, a #NeverTrump majority would assert itself and knock him out…the only problem was, that majority was divided amongst 16 other candidates, many of whom were kept in the race by their Citizens United-approved sugar daddies.

    Despite all that, it seems pretty clear that even if it had been Trump vs, say, Rubio from the start, Trump’s sheer assholishness and racist appeals would have won the day (and nomination). That’s just the party they are now: no principles of any kind, just ranting and raving, facts be damned.

  98. 98.

    Jean

    I don’t remember if it was Kay or Annie Laurie who suggested that Trump be asked factual questions in relation to his positions. “What countries are included in the TPP?” And proceed from there with more factual questions that reveal his ignorance. Don’t let him just spout opinions without any evidence that he understands the facts. He could wave those questions away, but his bluster won’t cover his ignorance.

  101. 101.

    NotMax

    We all can surmise (and HRC’s people undoubtedly know) that Trump’s gambit will be to spout things intended to make her cry or shout or both.

    That am confident she is well aware of this and well prepared for it makes me serene about Monday’s event.

  102. 102.

    Brachiator

    @Major Major Major Major:

    They only thought he didn’t have a chance in the primary because they refused to believe the polls, which were very very clear about who was going to win.

    This means that Trump won not because his opponents were weak, but because Trump knew how best to harness GOP voter dissatisfaction.

    You earlier derided Trump as a con artist. But you have to be talented and disciplined to work a con successfully, and Trump is a master at the game. And the best cons are pretty simple.

    So let’s watch what Trump does during the debates. And let’s see how Clinton deals with it.

  103. 103.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @NotMax: I agree. She and her people have run through all of the possible and impossible Trump actions and have worked out responses to all of them.

  104. 104.

    NotMax

    @Omnes Omnibus

    Hoping one such response, when apropos, is along the lines of “This may come as a great shock to you, Mr. Trump, but Bill isn’t running for anything. I am.”

  105. 105.

    Jeffro

    Btw I finally got around to reading Bobo’s Friday column and L. to the OL. Not even going to waste time wasting time noting how he is wasting our time. Clinton is out of touch, Trump (and Sanders) are hip. Um yeah.

    Hey Dave, I think Hillary is only a couple years older than you but unlike you, she has actually fought for things, taken hits, and is about to make history.

    David Brooks = 1/Hillary, in mathematical terms.

  106. 106.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @NotMax: I bet she has responses for mole people and reverse vampire situations. But that is a good response for a certain type of attack.

  108. 108.

    Wapiti

    @Brachiator:

    He will also say that his lack of experience doesn’t matter because he is terrific and will bring in new terrific people to solve every problem and make America great again.

    I think that Clinton could point to the example of his foundation. Clearly, he could (and did) pick who the directors were, but his directors and whatever systems they had failed badly, and he spent a quarter of a million dollars on personal stuff with the charity money. Those terrific people Trump promises? Don’t believe it.

  109. 109.

    sigaba

    @Brachiator: “I call this the Simpleton Gambit, and Trump is a master at deploying it.”

    Shades of Canticle for Liebowitz.

    I personally think Hillz’s best strategy is to swear a blue streak through the entire debate. We know how she talks in the situation room from various sources, she should just let the freak flag fly. She’d own the news cycle for a month.

  110. 110.

    Miss Bianca

    @Adam L Silverman: Talking Huskies! Come on, come on, it’s been ages since we had a cute animal video from you!

    ETA: Of course, if yu had a post ready to go, why not post it? It’s not like you and O2 are showing up at a party and one of you has to gasp/sob, “That BITCH! He’s wearing my dress!” (//)

  111. 111.

    Vhh

    @Brachiator: I expect you are right. But I don’t think anything short of a knockout by either side will change a Hillary voter to a Trump voter or vice versa. And the so called undecided are mostly liars. At most, a Trump outrage might cause the crypto Republicans among them to stay home.

  116. 116.

    Miss Bianca

    @Omnes Omnibus: I saw an English Cocker today at the dog park in Colorado Springs (shaved for the summer, blasphemy, but with long curls on ears still intact) and thought of you, I confess.

  117. 117.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Miss Bianca: They have a very Restoration poet who is also a deadly duelist vibe. FWIW Beau got a near-shave every summer (we needed to tranq the neurotic freak to do it). He loved the result.

  118. 118.

    Bruce K

    Don’t forget that in the GOP debates, all of Trump’s opponents were hamstrung by their need to avoid alienating the Southern Strategy voters that Trump had attracted with his schtick; without the Southern Strategy vote, they’d be dead in the water in the general, and all of them knew it even if they wouldn’t admit it.

    Hillary’s not operating under that restriction. And based on how she handled fifteen-odd hours in front of the Benghazi committee, where the GOP was basically in control of the environment…

  119. 119.

    Applejinx

    She should have a counter, that makes an audible click when actuated. She can actuate it next to her mic so it’s more obvious.

    When inevitably confronted she can say part of her job will be to keep track of foreign leaders’ lies, and in many cases you have to stay alert to catch the key lie in a sea of innocuous statements. Thus no clicker would be necessary.

    With Trump, well…

    “If I was talking with Vladimir Putin, wouldn’t you want me to keep track of the points he’s not being entirely truthful about? And this is very good practice, because it’s sort of Putin one step removed. Let’s just say they’ve got some similar faces on their teams and leave it at that”

    Trump: “I have nothing to do with Putin!”

    *click*

  120. 120.

    Suburban Mom

    @JMG: I’ve canvassed with my daughter in PA (we live in NJ) and it was great. We had fun and found people were unusually willing to engage with a high school student canvasser and mom.

  122. 122.

    Kay

    I’m fretting again. I just worry about everyone putting all the chips on a debate. Outside of political lore, was there ever a debate that decided an election?

    Clinton is a very good debater and Trump is a moron, but I don’t want rank and file Democrats expecting the entire case against Trump to be prosecuted by one person in 2 hours. They will be disappointed. There won’t be a conviction. She can’t “put him away” with this. Trump has 90-some per cent of GOP voters- he will have more than that by election day. He’ll have 95%. In my state, that makes it a close race debate or no debate.

    Clinton probably has tons of polling on issues because Obama had tons of polling on issues. She’ll have to concentrate on the part of the Trump prosecution that will give her the most bang for the buck in terms of what her campaign believes regular voters care about. Looking at ads in Ohio it looks to me like they believe Trump has character problems- people suspect he’s a bad person. That’s not “issues” – it’s harder to argue than issues.

  123. 123.

    Kay

    I saw the Clinton ad where the girls are looking in the mirror last night and I think it’s really effective. That’s what I mean about “hard to prosecute in a debate format”. She has to show him to be a bad person and if you look over Clinton’s career (to her credit, actually) that has not been how she operates. She’s not saintly- she “raised questions” about Obama in a sort of shameless way, but I think she’s uncomfortable directly attacking character and that’s why she sounds practiced and inauthentic when she does it. She really does stick to issues and Trump is a shape-shifter on issues. It’s all bullshit. She’s left with “bad person” and while bad person is TRUE a lot of people are uncomfortable attacking character because doing that is brutal and ugly and inevitably some of the shit they throw sticks to them. It’s difficult-harder than it looks.

  124. 124.

    Kay

    The REASON (IMO) it’s hard for people who are smart and serious to attack character is because it’s really true about “wresting with a pig”. It brings both sides lower but one side doesn’t care how low it gets. Clinton does care. She believes it will reflect poorly on her and that’s true- it will to a certain extent.

    She’d RATHER have issues to argue and she doesn’t, because he’s a fucking fraud and facts don’t matter to him.

    I don’t envy her this job.

  125. 125.

    JosieJ (not Josie)

    @Brachiator:

    However much he “swept the table” during the primaries, he never had to debate one on one. His style during the primary debates was to hover on the fringes while others did the heavy lifting on policy questions, dip in for a quick zinger or two, then quickly dip back out again.

    He will not be able to do that in this debate. I have no doubt that he’s hoping to get in a zinger or two, but he won’t be able to avoid answering policy questions, and I suspect that most of his answers will end up sounding like his “the dog ate my homework” plan to deal with ISIS. He also won’t benefit from kid-glove treatment from opponents who hope to inherit his voters.

    That said, I don’t think Clinton will score a big victory over him, merely a routine one, but then, she doesn’t need to win big. The polls are pretty much inching back to their previous positions, and they never indicated a Trump win, only a more narrow loss than we were comfortable with. He’s the one who needs the upset victory to change the momentum and his lack of policy knowledge precludes him gaining many more potential voters than he already has in his corner.

  126. 126.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kay: She can have the TV spots paint him as a bad person, and personally paint him as a foolish, ignorant and weak person, which is where she shines. Bring out some of what she brought to bear against Trey Gowdy. You can even see her doing the same thing for laughs with Zach Galifianakis.

    Yes, she’ll turn off some people by seeming condescending like sighing Al Gore. But I think there’s a “what is this bullshit, you’re wasting my time” quality to Hillary’s version that plays as less phony.

  127. 127.

    Matt McIrvin

    @JosieJ (not Josie): The moderator’s chosen subjects for the first debate sound worryingly gassy and vague: “Securing America,” etc., the kind of thing he might be able to bullshit through.

  130. 130.

    WaterGirl

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Now I’ll have to find something about clowns to post.

    Nice to see that you don’t hold a grudge! :-)

    Seriously, post the link and the article on the front page later tonight, as you had planned.

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