Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Republicans do not trust women.

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

When I was faster i was always behind.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

She burned that motherfucker down, and I am so here for it. Thank you, Caroline Kennedy.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

You are here: Home / Elections / Biden-Harris 2020 / Late Night Post-Dueling-Townhalls Open Thread: Early Reviews

Late Night Post-Dueling-Townhalls Open Thread: Early Reviews

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  2. 2.

    sanjeevs

    Trump’s Amerika is like Russian circa 1983. Everything has to be run through the commissars.

    President Trump and his advisers have taken a more hands-on role than previously known in shaping Covid-19 recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, helping create a crisis of confidence in the nation’s top public-health agency.

    The changes the White House has sought—in many cases successfully—go beyond the agency’s public messaging. White House advisers have made line-by-line edits to official health guidance, altering language written by CDC scientists on church choirs, social distancing in bars and restaurants as well as internal summaries of public-health reports, according to interviews with current and former agency and administration officials and their emails.

    In one previously unreported Oval Office meeting, the president and top White House officials in May pressed CDC Director Robert Redfield to declare houses of worship essential and allow them to reopen. Later, they pushed to strip certain language from the guidance, current and former administration officials said. Both efforts were successful.

    More recently, aides to Vice President Mike Pence asked Dr. Redfield to have agency officials publicly substantiate an assessment by Mr. Pence’s doctor that it was safe for him to participate in last week’s election debate with Sen. Kamala Harris. Some CDC staff members worried that the request, which Dr. Redfield honored, drew the agency into partisan politics.

    The clashes stem in part from a turf war between a White House intent on controlling broad elements of the coronavirus response and federal agencies like the CDC who long prized their independence. Along with a series of missteps by the CDC itself, the sometimes-open tension has helped erode trust in the world’s pre-eminent public-health organization, compounding the difficulty of navigating a virus that has killed more than 217,000 Americans.

  3. 3.

    piratedan

    just shocked regarding the quality of the questions offered to Biden and “filtered” by Stephanopoulos. It is incredibly fucking tedious to continually watch him having to field questions comprised of GOP talking points… be nice if there was some quid pro quo, but apparently that’s only valid in GOP foreign policy.

  4. 4.

    Yutsano

    @piratedan:  It would bother me more if they were a bit more gotcha about them. But Biden handled them all with aplomb and grace. So can it be a gotcha question if it didn’t actually get Biden? To wit: his answer on court packing. He played that exactly right, except now I want to know more about these alternatives he mentioned. He started talking about one then waved himself off.

  6. 6.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    I couldn’t watch the Trump town hall. The start, at least, was an in-kind contribution from NBC to his campaign. “Mr. President, will you please tell our viewers a lot of lies, including lies that might kill them?” “Sure, and thank you for asking!”

    I did want to see him flop, and flub, and be stupid, but I was just too furious that NBC would give him a platform, and not actually *make* it a town hall, where he has to face his greatest enemy, the American people who want real answers.

  8. 8.

    WV Blondie

    I wish ABC had kept the cameras rolling while Joe answered more questions, with plans to run it as a 60-minute special.

  10. 10.

    Felanius Kootea

    I recorded the ABC townhall and just finished watching it.  Biden is a decent, thoughtful man. I’ll wait to hear what the news reports say about the NBC townhall.

  12. 12.

    mrmoshpotato

    In Noah’s tweet, 1. Why are people sitting behind the Soviet shitpile mobster conman?, 2. Are two of these assclowns texting at the moment?

    “OMG! OMG! OMG! I’m on TV!”

  14. 14.

    trollhattan

    @Felanius Kootea: 
    “Biden stabs a motherfucker in Reno just to watch him collect Obamacare” is my guess.

    Trump something, something pivots to center. Still waiting.

  18. 18.

    sanjeevs

    105,000 early voters in Harris County TX.

    Third day in a row of 100k+ voters.

    So far, there is every sign this is a wave election like no other we’ve seen.

  21. 21.

    JWR

    Watched a bit of the NBC townhall thingy, and was surprised to learn that Trump is “under-levered”. (No really. He used the term repeatedly in what passed as his answer to a question about his taxes. Which, BTW. are still under that damn audit!)

  22. 22.

    Mary G

    I watched Joe blow by Stephanopoulos like he was driving his Corvette and George was on a tricycle.

  23. 23.

    patrick Il

    When Biden says that, after Trump leaves office, the will be four to eight Republican senators that will work with him, does he believe it or is he just appealing to voters hoping for comity?

  24. 24.

    Sebastian

    @Mary G:

    Greenfield and all surrogates should from now on refer to Ernst as Senator Soy 5.50.

    From what I have read on Twitter EVERYONE in Iowa knows it because it is being announced every hour on radio.

  26. 26.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    @sanjeevs: 
    Election expert Michael McDonald, who correctly predicted the mid term turnout, says turnout will be the highest since 1908 (65.7%).

  28. 28.

    Cathie from Canada

    So Trump advisor Mercedes Schlapp thought it was just terribly, terribly clever and sophisticated to tweet that watching Biden was like being in Mr. Rogers Neighbourhood.
    Oops, what a self-own.
    Only the Trump campaign would try to smear Biden by comparing him to Mr. Rogers, one of the most beloved people in America for the last 70 years.
    And who is from Pennsylvania, by the way, a state Trump is desperate to keep.
    So Twitter has now exploded. Mr. Rogers is trending. Twitter has concluded that the election now is between Your Crazy Uncle vs Mr. Rogers.
    Its absolutely hilarious.

  29. 29.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    At least 19.8 million people have voted in the 2020 general election

    At least 5 million votes cast in past 48 hrs.

     

    (link)

  30. 30.

    jl

    @Cathie from Canada:  My best guess is that Trumpsters want to link Biden to Chuck D, a huge Mr. Rogers fan, to set him up for future attacks as a radical. Other than that, I can’t figure it, it’s just stupid and childish.

  33. 33.

    Ian R

    Yes, insulting one of the most beloved icons of American tv will surely go great. Especially in PA, which is even more fond of Mr. Rogers than most places, since he’s from Pittsburgh.

  34. 34.

    the pollyanna from hell

    Criminal charisma relies on abusive speech. An empathetic listener must choose between identifying with the abuser or with the target. Handing out as much pain as Drumpf does forces a lot of movement. I rejoice and lament.

  35. 35.

    different-church-lady

    @Cathie from Canada: well like I said on the last thread: Trump and his people think it’s Die Hard Bruce Willis vs. Mr. Rogers, when it’s really Jabba the Hutt vs. Mr. Rogers.

  36. 36.

    JoyceH

    I didn’t watch the Trump event but the clips are remarkable. His crazed eyes and gabbling speech – WHAT is he on? What IS he on?

  41. 41.

    JWR

    Take that, California, with all yer DemocRat voters!

    (CNN) The Trump administration has rejected California’s request for a disaster declaration for six destructive wildfires that burned hundreds of thousands of acres across the state, including a massive central California wildfire that has become the single largest in state history.

    F*cking A**hole.

  45. 45.

    MagdaInBlack

    I watched Hal Sparks watch the livestream of Trump, and it was a bit like watching Mystery Science Theater 3000 in that Hal kept up a running commentary of explanations of the lies along with some good laughs at the stupidity. It made it ( almost) watchable, and laughable.  “Levered??  Did he say levered? 3 times??

    Eta: I still didn’t make it thru the whole thing, but trump didnt get any rating points from my watching it that way

  46. 46.

    JWR

    @MagdaInBlack: “Levered?? Did he say levered? 3 times??

    He sure did! My first thought was that he hadn’t showered, (Lever soap came to mind), and I half-expected Guthrie to correct him, but she didn’t, not that it would’ve mattered.

    Then there’s this:

    Donald Trump Asked Savannah Guthrie If She Heard Of Being ‘Underlevered,’ Which Critics Say Is Not A Real Word

    “The greatest whiff in the history of broadcasting just occurred,” tweeted Mike Pesca, a journalist and NPR contributor. “Trump said ‘have you ever heard of being under levered?’ And Guthrie failed to say ‘no. But I have heard of being under leveraged’. Too bad.”

  48. 48.

    Chris T.

    @JWR: Take that, California, with all yer DemocRat voters!

    (CNN) The Trump administration has rejected California’s request for a disaster declaration for six destructive wildfires that burned hundreds of thousands of acres across the state, including a massive central California wildfire that has become the single largest in state history.

    F*cking A**hole.

    This might be a big self-own as central-valley CA is major Republican territory.

    (Well, it won’t hurt Trump himself any, since CA will vote D statewide, but it could hurt, e.g., Nunes.)

  49. 49.

    JWR

    @Baud: Unlevered, yes, but under-leverd? (And I ask as one who’s most definitely not someone who understands such things.)

  50. 50.

    MagdaInBlack

    @JWR: My personal favorite was when trump said he talked to some people about Judge Coney-Barret . Hal stopped the feed and said

    “By people, he means The Federalist Society”

    Without the commentary, one gets lost in the torrent of words and deflections. It really was a good way of watching, if one felt the need to watch… really cut thru the BS.  I’m glad I stumbled upon that format.

  53. 53.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Mary G: Man, THAT was brutal. And the follow-up tweets are hilarious. You’re from Iowa. There’s two things they grow in your very, very agricultural state: corn and soybeans. To not know what every farmer knows every single day, to the penny, is…not good. And all of her aggressions just make her look even worse.

    The hilarious thing is, she’s not even good at being a shitty Republican Senator. All she needed to say with a chuckle was “well you know, Jim, I was raised on a pig farm, so I never really got into the habit of following daily corn and soybean break-evens. But my policies about ….blah blah blah.”

    Nope, couldn’t even do that. What a fucking moron. C’mon Iowans, how much clearer can it be? She’s a fucking zero and she does NOT care about YOU.

  54. 54.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @rikyrah: Well, it is sort of funny, especially if you’re not used to the terms bandied about. As one commentator posited “I can’t believe you guys still measure in bushels.” To which my inner voice immediately replied “Well duh. What else would you use?”. But being born and raised in an ag state, and now living in another one, I can tell you that the daily farm report is dead serious business. Entire communities’ livelihoods depend on a few numbers going up or down a few pennies. It’s even worse in Iowa, where there’s really only two crops: corn and soybeans — which is exactly why the moderator asked those two questions.

  56. 56.

    burnspbesq

    @JWR:

    Being underleveraged is anathema to real estate developers (which Trump once was), because if they finance their hijinks with debt, the gubmint effectively subsidizes somewhere around 30 percent (depending on the interaction of several Internal Revenue Code provisions) of their cost of capital through the deduction for interest expense.

  57. 57.

    Ken

    @JoyceH: WHAT is he on? What IS he on?

    Something that causes incontinence, according to that unnamed Trump campaign adviser in the Daily Beast.

    I feel that line needs more amplification, but will settle for Mr. Rogers vs. Crazy Uncle.

  61. 61.

    SFAW

    @JWR:

    “Trump said ‘have you ever heard of being under levered?’

    He thinks he’s Ken Fucking Lay — “look at how smart I am and how stupid YOU are, you stoopid newsperson” — when he’s more like the Village Countrywide Idiot.

  62. 62.

    trnc

    @JWR: 

    Donald Trump Asked Savannah Guthrie If She Heard Of Being ‘Underlevered,’ Which Critics Say Is Not A Real Word

    “The greatest whiff in the history of broadcasting just occurred,” tweeted Mike Pesca, a journalist and NPR contributor. “Trump said ‘have you ever heard of being under levered?’ And Guthrie failed to say ‘no. But I have heard of being under leveraged’. Too bad.”

    I’m glad she didn’t correct him. That would let me claim he just misspoke one time. Corrections are a lifeline for him, so it’s time for journalists to just let him keep saying the wrong word. Not only does it show he doesn’t really know what he’s talking about for things he’s supposed to be an expert on, they make him look as “sleepy” as he claims his opponent is.

  63. 63.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Chief Oshkosh: Thank You. Farmers are their constituents. they should know the economics. It’s no different than asking a candidate the price of a gallon of milk

  64. 64.

    germy

    Anyone remember the woman in the audience described as a “Democrat who voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016” and then she gushes at Trump  “You have a beautiful smile!  You’re so handsome!”

    Gimme a break.  This was a Republican who decided to misrepresent herself.

    I noticed at Biden’s townhall, even the republican voters had smart questions and comments.  Did ABC do a better job of screening the audience than NBC?

  65. 65.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Chris T.: The parts that burned are red counties.

    And let us take a moment to morn what a disaster this year has been for the Mendocino pot harvest.

  66. 66.

    bluefoot

    @JWR: He’s a goddamned sociopath.  Hundreds of millions of dollars of damage, people homeless, the state is running out of resources to fight the fires (many on Federal lands!), businesses ruined and he just says “Nope.”

    I remember back in early March, my brother told me Trump was going to deny ventilators and aid to blue states (esp NY).  I was horrified – I told my brother then that no one is that much of a sociopath to inflict that level of suffering for the sake of hurt feefees (Cuomo was mean to me!!).  Especially not someone who holds elected office and has a responsibility to the nation.  My brother, who frequents conservative message boards and is way smarter than I, basically said, Wanna bet?  And then said it was no different than kids in cages…which is true.  A short time later as bodies were piling up in hospital corridors and refrigerator trucks being set up, there we were.

  67. 67.

    StringOnAStick

    @germy: Ugh, some woman announced to the world that this obese, poorly tailored, one can of hairspray per day, shambling POS is handsome?  She’s seen way too many “last call, this is what choices are left” moments.  The guy is absolutely repulsive physically, and that’s before he opens that sphincter-mouth.

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