Kasie Hunt abruptly cut an interview w/ Trump spox Karoline Leavitt short this morning when she repeatedly went after Jake Tapper instead of answering Kasie’s questions.
pic.twitter.com/8sGtlQQg6Y https://t.co/pSi5Sk4Fcf
— Jake Wilkins (@JakeWilkns) June 24, 2024
I've always thought it was 60/40 that Trump would find an excuse to cancel at the last moment.
(Hey, I see why pollsters like using these percentages for predictions. You can't ever be wrong!) https://t.co/b94XhLD0Dc
— James Fallows (@JamesFallows) June 24, 2024
To recall why presidential debates can matter, look back at the first one aired on tv—1960, when Nixon led JFK in polls earlier in the race and lost the popular vote by .02%. At most, they sway up to 5% of viewers, which would be big this year. (By me.) https://t.co/CzlI3YVDgc
— Evan Osnos (@eosnos) June 23, 2024
… Until recently, it wasn’t clear that Trump and Biden would ever share a stage again. But last month their campaigns announced plans for two debates, which have the potential for even greater stakes and strangeness than four years ago. Since they are meeting nearly three months earlier than usual in a Presidential election, there would, in theory, be enough time for either party to find a replacement, in the event of a catastrophic performance. More likely, however, the spectacle of Biden and Trump side by side, and effectively tied in the polls, could jolt the electorate, swaying some of the disaffected voters who have preferred to ignore the choice before them. That would be a vivid test of Biden’s adage about elections: “Don’t compare me to the Almighty. Compare me to the alternative.”…
It is a measure of this curious rematch that some of Trump’s opponents are eager to boost his visibility. Because Trump posts almost exclusively on his own social-media site, and most broadcasters do not air his rallies, Rachel Maddow, the MSNBC host, said last week that she suspects voters have not absorbed how “pornographically violent” his rhetoric has become. As George Conway, the former Republican strategist, put it recently, “The more you see of him, the more you say, ‘What is wrong with him?’ ”
Biden, for his part, enters the debate without the lead he had at this stage in 2020, and he’s still acclimating to a forceful new posture of attack. For months, while Democrats pushed him to slash at Trump for his criminal trials, the President held back, wary that doing so could be portrayed as interfering in the prosecution. But, since the Trump verdict was delivered, on May 30th, a raft of polls have shown a small but consistent shift away from him, and the President has seized on that signal. At a fund-raiser, he labelled Trump a “convicted felon” who “snapped,” and his campaign has released a wave of television ads in swing states, showing Trump’s mug shot and images of him in court, and calling him a “convicted criminal who’s only out for himself.”…
Predicting what might make the difference is more difficult. Will Trump confirm his vow to pardon followers jailed for violence on January 6th? Or his aim to gut the Justice Department? Will Biden defend abortion rights boldly enough to inspire young voters who recoil from his handling of the U.S. response to the war in the Middle East? Can he defuse criticisms about inflation and immigration? The most searing moment, for two candidates dogged by questions about age and acuity, could be something unsaid. In a 1984 debate, Ronald Reagan stirred concern when he lost his way and abandoned a story about the Pacific Coast Highway; in 2011, Rick Perry’s primary bid all but ended when he blanked on the name of a government agency he intended to eliminate. (“Oops,” he said.) At times, a turn in history is obvious even as it is happening. While watching the 1960 debate, Nixon’s running mate, Henry Cabot Lodge, reportedly told those around him, “That son of a bitch just lost us the election.”
Joe Biden also beat Donald Trump twice in debates 4 years ago. But I know Donald's memory isn't that good so he probably forgot about it. https://t.co/EWo9l0TaAX
— The Biden Accomplishments Guy (@What46HasDone) June 21, 2024
Upon one thing all viewers can agree: If Biden *is* adjudged to have won the debate, his associates are gonna have to hide all sharp objects the NYTimes‘ Sulzberger #failson might access…
This whole "BUT what are the 'voters' FEELING" genre is getting so repulsive to me pic.twitter.com/o6T2ZdtEeP
— vocational politics appreciation account (@Convolutedname) June 24, 2024
Maggie Haberman Says Trump Raring To Bring Up Hunter At 'Much Uglier Debate' When Biden Hits His Convictions https://t.co/vZ55WaLiLo via @mediaite pic.twitter.com/YcKJi9h68f
— Tommy moderna-vaX-Topher (@tommyxtopher) June 20, 2024
Scenes from Biden debate prep: A movie theater and a hangar at Camp David are morphing into mock debate stages. Brian Deese is returning for econ help. Some of prep will focus on avoiding incumbency traps. “The rust factor is real” says Axelrod. Etc. https://t.co/SJnQpqisAZ
— Katie Rogers (@katierogers) June 24, 2024
Aussie Sheila
I am confident Biden will fillet him. He’s certainly long winded but he’s a very good and experienced debater.
OT, but I’m very pleased the US government has reached a deal with their loyal little ally Australia re Assange.
He’s a personal arsehole and a political effwit of the highest order. Nevertheless his continued incarceration at the hands of both the previous U.S. administration and this one was very unpopular here. His freedom will assist the federal ALP government somewhat, because the deal was done with this government. Even the conservative lickspittles of the Liberal/National Party were opposed to his continued pursuit by the US.
Well done Amb Rudd, PM Albanese and the US government.
NotMax
With the MSM insistent on treating it as a horse race, will they succumb to billing it as the Gymkhana in Atlanta?
//
Manyakitty
The reporting is vile. I’m torn about watching the debate, but I’ll probably at least start it.
JFTDC, how is this even a contest? I just watched an interview with Stephanie Ruhle and Todd Shriver (I think that was his first name) about disagreement with dignity and while he made sense, I fear that we’re too far gone to join back together as Americans.
Second sleepless night in a row and I’m flying to Tampa in 8 hours to visit my parents, who are aging at an alarming rate. Whee.
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
Kasie Hunt is shocked 😲 over face eating leopard eating colleague’s face
Aussie Sheila
@David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch:
She’s awful. A complete Republican symp. I can’t stand her little girl hairstyle and obedient girl affect as she fronts up to any political debate. However pretending to care about insults to colleagues will do I guess. God US cable journalists are terrible. No guts, no pushback.
opiejeanne
I don’t remember Biden’s debate with Ryan very well, and the only politician I remember chugging water like mad was Rubio during his rebuttal to the SOTU in 2013.
opiejeanne
@Manyakitty: I get like that just before a trip.
My sympathies on your parents suddenly aging rapidly. We moved away from SoCal in 1992 thinking both sets of our parents were healthy, and within 4 years they were falling apart at an alarming rate, mentally and physically. I’m sure our kids are starting to think we’re falling apart rapidly now, and maybe we are but to us it has felt like a slow decline. I figure we have at least 20 years left, but I don’t think they believe me.
Aussie Sheila
@opiejeanne:
I do remember Biden’s debate with Ryan. Biden handled him like a pro. Ryan looked like a deer in the headlights. I love political debates, have watched plenty here and been involved personally in them at very tough levels. Biden is excellent imho. He will do Trump like a steak, slowly and well.
Looking forward to it.
Jay
So, along with everything else going on here, T has tested positive for colon cancer.
Manyakitty
@Jay: Fuck cancer.
Jay
@Manyakitty:
She has a bunch of other health issues going on, so hopefully, it’s a misdiagnosis,
we will know in 2 weeks.
Debbie(Aussie)
@Jay: Fuck Cancer! I’m so sorry.
opiejeanne
@Jay: Fuck cancer, and who is T?
Debbie(Aussie)
I may have a couple of comments in moderation. Stuffed up my email, con instead of com.
opiejeanne
@Aussie Sheila: I don’t remember him chugging water. That’s the part I don’t remember.
Manyakitty
@opiejeanne: it’s been a shock. Add that to the reality of my own creeping decrepitude and <gestures broadly>, I guess it’s a wonder any of us can sleep.
Glad for this place, at least.
Fingers crossed I can write a 2-minute shadow puppet play I meant to finish last week and get packed by around 8 am. I’d love a little sleep in there, too. Oh yeah, and I’m traveling with my brother, who is a lovely person but that means I have to be ‘on’ the whole time.
Manyakitty
@Jay: keeping you both in my thoughts. 💕
Aussie Sheila
@opiejeanne:
He didn’t chug water. That was stupid Rubio at some other non event. Ryan could barely respond, and when he did Biden just laughed him off. Why is everyone so nervous? Biden needs some practice sure before Thursday, but he knows how to do this. Trump will flail especially because there is a mute button. This will be very entertaining and satisfying.
Jay
@opiejeanne:
T is my wife of 25 years.
Technically less, we were together for years, over a decade, before we got married.
Loved her the first time I ever saw her.
Jay
@Manyakitty:
Thank you.
Citizen Alan
@opiejeanne: All I remember is Ryan saying something stupid and Biden literally laughing at him. It was glorious.
opiejeanne
@Citizen Alan: I remember that part. Ryan is stupid and couldn’t help it.
Aussie Sheila
@Jay: I’m so sorry.
Fuck cancer. I just don’t understand why so little progress seems to have been made against this scourge. I’ve lost relatives and friends to it, and each time I’m outraged at the random fuckery of it.
opiejeanne
@Jay: I am so sorry, and again I say FUCK CANCER.
Frank McCormick
Without looking up to see who Michael LaRosa is IRL*, I did feel it necessary to QT and reply to his comment “if you appreciate history at all, or appreciate the traditions within this process”.
However, I did do so politely and respectfully, despite the great difficulty I encountered translating “where the eff have you been for the last 50 years, let alone the last six” to appropriate language. I used Obi Wan introducing Luke to the light saber (an elegant weapon for more civilized age) and something about this not being the Lincoln/Douglas debates.
I assumed he knew what a Gish Galop was, but just-in-case, I include a link to Wikipedia.
*I’m guessing he is a political consultant for Democrats, grumble, grumble, grumble…
Betty Cracker
@Jay: Damn, that sucks. Hoping for the best outcome. Fuck cancer!
Betty Cracker
@Aussie Sheila: Your comment makes me feel better — I’ve been dreading the debate because so much is at stake, and the media coverage is astoundingly dysfunctional and stupid. But you’re right: Biden is a pro, and Trump is dumber than dirt and an unhinged, belligerent asshole to boot.
“Will you shut up, man?” was the highlight of the 2020 debate for me. It was like Biden spoke for the entire world when he said it.
Michael Bersin
The day after we got back home from a ten-day road trip I spotted a social media announcement for a protest and march in the Westport area of Kansas City to mark the second anniversary of Dobbs. The event was scheduled to start at 11:00 a.m.
I gathered my gear and made the hour and fifteen minute drive into Westport, arriving about a half hour before the start time. I found a parking spot next to location. No one there. The heat and humidity were already oppressive.
About ten minutes before the start time people started arriving. Some wearing red as requested in the social media post. Most had signs. Over forty people showed up. The organizer was late – she apparently works nights. After she spoke briefly to the crowd, off they marched through Westport, into the rapidly increasing heat.
This crowd was not made up of the usual suspects. It was a spontaneous announcement from someone who wanted to do something – and a diverse group of individuals found out about it and decided to join in – in miserable heat.
Roevember is coming
Manyakitty
@Michael Bersin: time to RISE UP!
Manyakitty
@Frank McCormick: please update if you get a response.
Jay
@Aussie Sheila:
@opiejeanne:
@Betty Cracker:
Thank you.
T and I met at a poly meeting. (polyamourous)
She was balancing 3 “lovers” after her divorce, male and female.
I, the old guy, tried and managed to give her good advice, on managing relationships, while all I wanted really wanted to say was F-them, date me instead.
But I kept my mouth shut in that regard.
Betty Cracker
WaPo says the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that ultra-Orthodox citizens are no longer exempt from military service. (Gift link) Maybe this will finally collapse Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition, but who knows?
sab
I totally approve of Kasie Hunt cutting Karoline Leavitt’s mike. Karoline was a guest in somebody else’s house. As a guest, just behave. Don’t criticize the host or crap on the carpet. These are just very normal social norms.
Trump gleefully craps on norms, but other people own their own spaces and really should be bothered to protect them.
Aussie Sheila
@Betty Cracker:
I get the general Dem nervousness. But Christ on a cracker you guys panic easily! Biden wasn’t my first pick as Dem candidate in 2019, but who cares, I’m not a U.S. voter. But once he was selected, I was sure he would win. I get why conservative Dem voters selected him.
I was sympathetic and attuned to their concerns.
But JHC, he’s a very experienced politician, has forgotten more than most idiot US pols have ever learned and Is. A. Very. Good. Debater.
I know a lot hangs on it because of the idiocy of US Cable news and the FTFNYT, but if lots of people tune in it will be great for the Biden/Harris ticket.
Biden will crush it.
Enjoy it, and blast out how well he did and how awful the convicted crim is.
Jesus, if we had a convicted crim running against us in an election, I could go on holidays during the election!
sab
@Betty Cracker: Those nutcases will slaughter a bunch of Palestinian mothers and children until this all works itself out. Maybe they can raise the next generation to be not so genocidal if they actually have to serve. I am not holding my breath.
sab
@Jay: It is often very treatable. Two of my sisters-in-law had it and are well five and ten years out.
Hoping the best for her.
opiejeanne
@Aussie Sheila: CNN has been Fox-lite for years. They are consistently awful.
Ruckus
@Aussie Sheila:
As the only person in my family not to have cancer, my dad made up for it by having Alzheimers.
My point is that cancer is and always has been a very common thing within humanity, it’s just that we know far more about it over the last 40 or so years. And we have found ways to slow or stop it. And it’s different of course for men and women. And the other 4 people in my family other than dad have had cancer. It was the cause of death for 3 of them. Cancer is/can be very bad because a lot of times people do not know they have it until it is too late to do much about it. And some humans get lung cancer by smoking but cancers really may not have a lot to do with negative things we do TO our bodies (and lung cancer can also be one of those)
JWR
I wonder if this is what it’s like to practice in her court? From NBC:
Maybe she’s just mad about that NYT story about the senior judge advising her not to take the case because she’s
such a Trump suck uptoo inexperienced.Aussie Sheila
@opiejeanne:
Yes I get that. But although I’m a fitful and occasional watcher of US cable news shows, (which are uniformly awful, even the so called ‘liberal’ ones) my political nose is sniffing a change in the wind.
My political bones are feeling a change coming on.
Let’s see if I’m right. In the meantime make loud noises in support of your preferred candidate, and don’t mistake your informed self for the people who are actually watching.
I bet Biden won’t.
Aussie Sheila
@Ruckus:
Agree with all of that except for the idea that it is an inevitable result of being a human. I strongly believe it can be if not defeated, at least treated in a way that it rarely results in death. Think TB in the 18th century.
Jay
@sab:
Thank you.
Tony Jay
@Jay:
Obligatory ‘Fuck Cancer!’
Heartfelt sadness at the news. That is just frigging crap.
Betty Cracker
@Jay: Now that is a fascinating “how we met” story! It sounds like your strategy worked!
My husband and I had three “first” meetings over a span of a couple of years. The first was at a party hosted by him and his then-girlfriend. He thought I was gay because I arrived with my gay sister and he assumed we were a pair.
The second time I set eyes on him, he was in my friend’s apartment, wedged under her kitchen sink fixing a leaky garbage disposal, and I thought he was the building’s maintenance man. When he completed the job, he sat down at her piano and played, and I said to my friend, “That maintenance guy plays like an angel!” and she said, “He’s not the maintenance man — that’s my friend Bill!” But my friend and I were on our way somewhere, so we didn’t get to talk much.
Shortly thereafter, I was reading a book in a noisy neighborhood pub, and so was Bill, so he plopped down next to me, and we started talking about books. He asked about my “girlfriend” from the party and I said “what?!? — no, that’s my sister!”
That was almost 30 years ago, and we’ve been together ever since. :)
Geminid
@Betty Cracker: Also, the Submarine Case has resurfaced. It’s an old procurement scandal involving the purchase of German-built submarines; Netanyahu avoided indictment back then but some associates were convicted. Now a commission of inquiry is shining a harsh backlight on the PM’s role.
The inquiry doesn’t directly threaten the government’s coalition like the draft decision does, but unlike Netanyahu’s three current corruption charges it intersects with national security; another brick on the camel’s back, so to speak.
Jay
@Jay:
We met up again, about three weeks later, at a “poly party”.
Just people comfortable with every body else’s living arrangements.
So, while there were shenanigan’s going off in the main area, (BDSM play), some of us “retreated” to the patio. Just to talk.
I was just going to drop in, I had a date with a sub.
T, left, came back with a bottle of tequila, limes and salt.
Sadly, (what has our education system come to), we were the only ones who knew how to do shots.
A few shot’s in, my sub phoned me, asking where I was. We had a brief convo, where she said that if I wanted to be there, I would be there, and I said yes, but,……
As things progressed, T and I went down to the basement, and “macked” on each other for hours.
I wound up on crutches, tore a ligament, because I didn’t want to move.
I do not know how I will live with out T.
Jay
@Betty Cracker:
Happy.
Aussie Sheila
@Geminid:
That’s good and all. But the best thing would be if Biden just dropped the sentimentality towards a clearly authoritarian and ethnically obsessed state and just told the Israeli state that their current stance is unacceptable to the sole power that keeps them in the comfort they have become accustomed to.
In the absence of the US the Israeli state would have learnt better international manners. It’s time they learnt. The rest of the world isn’t listening to them any more, even loyal allies like Oz have had quite enough of the nonsense.
Geminid
@Aussie Sheila: I was just speaking to Netanyahu’s personal political position. I realize its only a piece of a much larger puzzle..
Aussie Sheila
@Geminid:
Sure. Not dissing you. But I’m so sick of US Dem sentimentality towards Israel. It’s not shared with any centre left party in the world, despite what their leaders say publicly.
Everyone is aware of Israeli interference in their politics. I’m a witness to a particularly egregious interference by an Israeli agent in the Aus TU movement. They are execrable. They are the worst anti semites.
They coddle European anti semitism if it assists in their lebensraum plans for Israel over the West Bank. It’s not just Netanyahu, bad though he is.
The whole polity has run away with the view they can do anything to Palestinians because who cares. It’s the US that has encouraged this moral foolishness. It’s got to stop, and unfortunately it’s only the Us that can stop it, and only US Dems that can make it happen.
Geminid
@Aussie Sheila: Have you seen Christane Amanpour’s interview of former Shin Bet chief Ami Ayalon? Silverman linked to it in last night’s Ukraine thread, and Ragip Soylu, Middle East Eye’s Istanbul bureau chief, linked to it this morning. The interview is 19 minutes long, but someone said the first two minutes contain the gist of Ayalon’s message.
Aussie Sheila
@Geminid:
Yes, I did. But I guess you and I are a distinct minority re US public opinion. Elsewhere, people don’t need to see the interview. In the UK and Australian Labour and left leaning electorates, Israel’s pretensions have long been seen through. Until this latest outrage, no one much bothered to make it an issue. Now it is. And their elected representatives need to respond. And they know it.
The clock is ticking.
Eyeroller
@Jay: When you say “tested,” do you mean a biopsy? A biopsy is the only reliable test for colon cancer. Any other test (especially Hemoccult, which is rampant with false positives, Cologuard is probably more reliable) is just an indicator for a colonoscopy. It doesn’t sound like she’s had one yet, so at this point you can prepare for the worst but hope for the best. If it is the worst case, if it’s early it’s curable with surgery.
Betty Cracker
@Jay: Much empathy and best wishes to you both. ❤️
Geminid
I’ve been following the NY16 Democratic primary through district resident Tom Watson* and was interested to see him repost John Cole’s tweet about Julian Assange.
* There are several Tom Watsons on Twitter, including the golfer and the British Labour politician. This is the Columbia professor who writes about New York politics.
WereBear
@Jay: Best of luck to you both.
TBone
@Michael Bersin: 💙😍
Aussie Sheila
@Geminid:
The Assange deal is great news for him and great news for the Aust ALP federal government.
Assange is of course, a fuckwit of the highest order.
But no Australian citizen should ever endure the US prison gulag, particularly for a breach of U.S. law that took place away from US sovereign territory. Fuck that, fuck the trump administration that threatened his life, and thank you Ambassador Rudd. Rudd was a bad politician, but is proving a great Australian ambassador.
Excellent news for PM Albanese!
Eyeroller
@Aussie Sheila: TB is a single disease caused by a single organism that is external to the body. These are “easy” to treat. Cancer is multiple diseases with multiple causes (many of them just random). The only thing the many cancers have in common is that all of them represent the breakdown of the elaborate mechanism that multicellular organisms have evolved to keep our cells part of a functioning unit even if it means those cells will be expected to commit suicide when necessary. Cancerous cells revert quickly to a free-living or nearly free-living state, which is the basic state of life on this planet, yet most still retain enough “self” markers to reassure the immune system that they’re really still part of the organism. That’s why chemotherapy is so vicious–it cannot avoid killing normal cells as well as cancerous ones. The only long-term hope for most cases IMHO is immunotherapy and that’s been a difficult path.
Gvg
@Jay: Not colon cancer, but I am a 10 year survivor of a different variety. I had chemo. It wasn’t fun but not terrible either. Family helped. Mom cooked a lot of meals for me and let me sleep off the treatments. Employer worked with me on hours, etc. Afterwards, it has seemed like some age arthritis has increased faster than family history. My uncle had throat cancer with radiation treatment. That was really unpleasant. Hard to get him to eat even the liquid protein shakes. Family took care of him, and it’s been almost as long.
When I announced at work that I had it, all kinds of people that I had known for years shared that they had survived it too, and gave tips. Turns out a lot of people get it, and many survive it. More than used to. The treatments are improving and the odds keep changing. The doctors told me their best practice treatments kept getting changed and better every year.
I also got lucky in that they found my bad kind of cancer in an early stage by chance. Something else minor was causing pain and the imaging found the tumor.
Aussie Sheila
@Eyeroller:
Thank you for that. I’m not a medical scientist but I do understand the difference between cancer and bacterial disease.
Nevertheless the ineffability of TB to 18th century scientists is alike to the difficulties 21st century medical scientists have in combating the particular malignancy that cancer represents.
Think no germ theory of disease.
I remain confident that it will be able to be rendered less lethal in my lifetime, albeit that it wreaks havoc on loved ones all and sundry in the meantime.
My sympathies and empathy to all whose loved ones suffer it. I know what it is like.
Geminid
@Aussie Sheila: Once Assange has been home long enough y’all will likely want to send him back.
I think 5 of years of incarceration was sufficient punishment for the offenses charged, though. My grudge against Assange relates to him acting as a knowing tool in Russia’s subversion of our 2016 election. That may or not be a criminal offense, but it puts him on my permanent shit list.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Geminid:
Bingo. Self-absorbed, treasonous bastards heads one of the columns in my Permanent Shit List.
Kay
The most amazing part of this is how the Israeli political and military leaders are busily providing evidence of intent for the genocide charge with their own eliminationist statements towards the Palestinian population. They’re like my 15 year old defendants in juvenile court who won’t shut up – they’re hanging themselves.
Eyeroller
@Aussie Sheila: We have a really good understanding of the immediate causes of cancer (just in terms of the mutations, it’s not so easy to understand what causes the mutations other than the fact that DNA replication is error-prone). That has barely helped. The increase in survival in recent years is almost entirely due to earlier detection and not to treatments. Surgery is the only reliable cure for most solid tumors. Chemo is just “maybe it will help” and sometimes it does, but unless chemo and/or radiation kill every single remaining malignant cell, it’s going to come back someday. My personal hypothesis is that the slow progress in treatments was due to to much emphasis on trying to treat with drugs against particular mutations and not enough on the immune system, but here is where we do get into lack of knowledge. We know a lot about immunology but not yet enough.
Aussie Sheila
@Geminid:
Sure, I agree. He is an arsehole. But he’s our arsehole. The US simply cannot claim sovereignty over someone who commits a crime against their penal code who wasn’t within cooee of their soil at the time, and isn’t a citizen in any case.
The world has had to endure a lot in the name of the ‘international order’ established by the US after WW2.
But not that. Not ever.
zhena gogolia
@Jay: Oh, I am sorry. I will keep you in my thoughts for good healing.
Aussie Sheila
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
He’s an arsehole. He’s not a US citizen so he’s not ‘treasonous’ by any international definition. He’s not even treasonous by your own Constitutional definition. I can’t even with the way USains throw around the word ‘treason’. It smacks of 17th century wars of religion or witch trials.
Why not try the word ‘stupid’, or ‘misguided’ or more simply, ‘arsehole’?
trnc
Good for you. I get that there is some gray area between what we would consider a fact check and what a moderator may consider siding with a candidate. However, it’s pretty ridiculous for anyone who has been around for a while to pretend that traditions are still adhered to by an increasing number of republicans, or that any “fact checks” by DT would themselves contain any actual facts, so it would be entirely appropriate for a moderator to fact check in those cases.
My specific hope would be that after DT keeps repeating that his trial was rigged, the moderator would explicitly state that the process for his trial was exactly the same as for every felon currently in prison.
trnc
@Aussie Sheila:
Absolutely, but (going slightly OT here) I would say that as far as the definition goes for US citizens, cyber warfare can be as dangerous to a nation as bombs and bullets.
Meh. People overuse words all the time all over the world. No one will get a visit from the DOJ because someone on a blog wrote the word “treason,” so best to let it roll and save your sanity.
trnc
OK, Imma stop you right there. The fact that there was a first anything is not a reason to maintain forever, and anyone who doesn’t understand all the differences between the 1960 election and this one should really hang it up. I support Biden’s decision to debate for one reason only – it has become it’s own institution to the point where not doing it will be trumpeted by all media as a weakness and due to fear (applies to dems only, of course. The media had a total hard-on when DT refused to debate for the primaries), and it may be the first thing that low info voters actually tune into.
Having said that, I’m having some trouble figuring out just how low information anyone can be about the current candidates without being in a coma.
terraformer
This apparent belief that moderators shouldn’t call out lies, that the candidates should do it instead, to “facilitate” it – is hogwash. It’s that belief that permeates well beyond debates and into mainstream press and media as well. What if neither candidate corrects lies uttered by the other(s)? What then? That means people who aren’t paying attention believe the lies.
That probably suits a lot of power-brokers. But I believe it’s important, vital even, for moderators to push back on lies, if at least when it’s clear that their “facilitation of back-and-forth” regarding the lie(s) – doesn’t happen
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@Jay: I’m sorry for your troubles and I hope it’s a misdiagnosis or if not, that it’s a in very early stages.
Marc
@Jay: I’m sorry to hear about this and I wish the best of luck to both of you. As others have mentioned, diagnosis of colon cancer requires a colonoscopy and biopsy. If that hasn’t happened yet, push for it.
Back when I was in my mid-thirties I showed signs of anemia and intestinal bleeding, I was diagnosed with bleeding ulcers and received treatment on that basis for a year. Which was very nearly a fatal misdiagnosis, as it was actually stage 3 colon cancer. Treatments now are vastly better than during my first round. In the 35 years since I’ve had two more malignancies, both treated successfully without chemo. I’ve just started a phase 2 vaccine trial which may (hopefully) allow the next generations of my family to avoid this problem.
JustRuss
@terraformer: Indeed. And when Biden corrects Trumps lies, the Magats won’t believe him. And when Trump claims Biden is lying when he is not, they’ll lap it up.
JFC, if calling out lies is too damn hard, don’t be a moderator. Or a “journalist”.
Marc
[ Hmm, if one spends more than 5 minutes composing a message, it apparently does not get posted, if this is a duplicate, I apologize ]
@Jay: I’m so sorry to hear what T and you are going through, I wish the best of luck to you both. As Eyeroller and others have mentioned, a diagnosis of colon cancer requires a colonoscopy and biopsy, if that hasn’t happened there are other (possibly less serious) issues that might be causing symptoms.
At age 38 I was showing signs of intestinal bleeding and anemia, my doctor diagnosed it as bleeding ulcers. A near fatal mistake, as a year later I was found to have stage 3 colon cancer. I’ve since had two more malignancies, but since I’m now 70, I can say they’ve become quite a bit better at detection and treatment over the years.
We’ve have a specific genetic issue in my family (mutation identified years after my first cancer) for at least four generations now. I’ve just started a phase 2 vaccine trial that may allow the next generations to avoid this scourge. Things are getting better.
dnfree
@opiejeanne: We had neighbors slightly older than us in our previous town. The wife told me once that they constantly reminded each other, “Listen to the kids!” She meant that if their kids started telling them they were declining, or should look into assisted living, they should pay attention and not brush it off. They knew it’s possible to be in denial as we get older.
Citizen Alan
@Aussie Sheila:
dnfree
@Betty Cracker: That is a beautiful origin story for a relationship! Thank you for sharing,
There was one guy in my youthful dating whom I met at different times and different situations over a few years (high school and college). We did date off and on for a couple of years until I met my husband. I think somewhere in the back of my mind I believed that someday we’d meet again—not romantically, but as friends—and I was sorry to learn that he died some years ago. I hope his life went well.