Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Debate Hangover

Let me retract a previous comment about my not caring how well Trump did in the first debate.

First, a lot of Trump supporters thought he won the debate. Many of them were appalled at the blatant partisanship of moderator, Lester Holt. Did Hillary get to plan the questions with Holt? No wonder she was so well prepared.

A Drudge Poll favored Trump by 81 to 19. The site linked to CNN and Time online polls where Trump also won but by much smaller margins. So it could be that both camps shored up their base. That's not good enough. Trump had the momentum for about a month and could have delivered the coup de grace last night. Nope.

I texted to JH through most of the show. Each time a softball came up, I would offer my suggestion and JH would offer his. We had different suggestions but both would be better than whatever Trump happened to say.

The key word is counterattack. It is always key but so few politicians ever learn it. Hillary brings up the way Trump has talked about women. Softball! Instead of explaining himself, Trump should have brought up Jaunita Broaddrick and Hillary's important role in obstructing justice.

I hate to say it but it's hard to teach counterattacks to someone who is self-centered. Years ago a reporter questioned some aspect of Ross Perot's paper boy narrative. A day or so later Perot produced a map of his paper route roughly a half-century vintage. Trump ran into those all night long. His bankruptcies, his taxes, his business disputes. Not as if Hillary lacks vulnerabilities. She is one vast Achilles Heel.

Trump apparently has not learned the value of preparation. It's a shame. He could have ended the election last night.

2 comments:

Moose said...

I don't blame Trump's performance entirely on him.
Hillary is a world class liar and obviously has a world class team
of professional liars working for her.
I doubt that she said anything that wasn't scripted and well-rehearsed.
The moderator was also well-rehearsed. He personally lied for Hillary on
occasion and also hushed the audience when they cheered for Trump, while
letting the throng cheer loudly for Hillary several times...
What he shoulda-coulda said is all well-and-good, but I think that
his team let him down more than anything.
He didn't do all-that-badly. Could he have done better? Yes...
He will...
He's got 2 more chances...
If he and his team learned anything from their mistakes, that is....

BOSurvivor said...

Good points all.

It seems that Trump supporters are not quite as stupid as the Holts and Clintons make them out to be. They can spot the smoke and mirrors, the dangling wires, the stacked deck. Several sources are now reporting that Hillary got her questions in advance. Shocking!

Encouragingly, most Trump supporters thought their guy won the debate. Even when she gets to write the script herself, Hillary still looks like a snake.