The Presidential Debate, "Episode 1: The Phantom Menace" Megathread

[Admiral Yi]

"I thought it was great, I really enjoyed it. It's about making America great again. She proved it's all talk no action," Trump says to Mark Halperin offering up some post-debate spin. Trump suggests he considered going ugly, but shied away from it. "I didn't want to do my final attack, which was to attack her husband on what took place with respect to him and his life .... because Chelsea who I happen to think is a wonderful young lady was in the room, and I just didn't think it would be appropriate."

I look forward to the next 24-48 hours of the Donald's Twitterverse.

I don't see how Donnie Darko thinks that's a winning line of attack.  His opponent's *husband* is a serial philanderer.  Donnie himself is a serial philanderer.  Who has said he would like to bang his own daughter.

[CountDeMoney]

I don't see how Donnie Darko thinks that's a winning line of attack.  His opponent's *husband* is a serial philanderer.  Donnie himself is a serial philanderer.  Who has said he would like to bang his own daughter.

Because he's a sociopath.  Here ya go, you read the Atlantic:  Donald Trump's Cruel Streak

As far as banging his daughter goes, I don't believe it is out of any sense of incestuousness but because it's the closest thing he could ever get to making love to himself.

[11B4V]

They just played the clip of trump arguing with Holt about stop and frisk.

The look on Clinton's face was like what the fuck, you got to be kidding me.

[CountDeMoney]

Rudy Giuliani was telling reporters in the Spin Room that Trump may opt out of the next two debates. 

My Dad texted me 20 minutes into the debate: 
What a piece of shit
Going to bed

[jimmy olsen]

Hope?

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/09/27/politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-debate-poll/

Hillary Clinton was deemed the winner of Monday night's debate by 62% of voters who tuned in to watch, while just 27% said they thought Donald Trump had the better night, according to a CNN/ORC Poll of voters who watched the debate.

That drubbing is similar to Mitt Romney's dominant performance over President Barack Obama in the first 2012 presidential debate.

Voters who watched said Clinton expressed her views more clearly than Trump and had a better understanding of the issues by a margin of more than 2-to-1. Clinton also was seen as having done a better job addressing concerns voters might have about her potential presidency by a 57% to 35% margin, and as the stronger leader by a 56% to 39% margin.

The gap was smaller on which candidate appeared more sincere and authentic, though still broke in Clinton's favor, with 53% saying she was more sincere vs. 40% who felt Trump did better on that score. Trump topped Clinton 56% to 33% as the debater who spent more time attacking their opponent.

Although the survey suggested debate watchers were more apt to describe themselves as Democrats than the overall pool of voters, even independents who watched deemed Clinton the winner, 54% vs. 33% who thought Trump did the best job in the debate.

And the survey suggests Clinton outperformed the expectations of those who watched. While pre-debate interviews indicated these watchers expected Clinton to win by a 26-point margin, that grew to 35 points in the post-debate survey.

About half in the poll say the debate did not have an effect on their voting plans, 47% said it didn't make a difference, but those who say they were moved by it tilted in Clinton's direction, 34% said the debate made them more apt to vote for Clinton, 18% more likely to back Trump.

On the issues, voters who watched broadly say Clinton would do a better job handling foreign policy, 62% to 35%, and most think she would be the better candidate to handle terrorism, 54% to 43% who prefer Trump. But on the economy, the split is much closer, with 51% saying they favor Clinton's approach vs. 47% who prefer Trump.

Most debate watchers came away from Monday's face-off with doubts about Trump's ability to handle the presidency. Overall, 55% say they didn't think Trump would be able to handle the job of president, 43% said they thought he would. Among political independents who watched the debate, it's a near-even split, 50% say he can handle it, 49% that he can't.

And voters who watched were more apt to see Trump's attacks on Clinton as unfair than they were to see her critiques that way. About two-thirds of debate viewers, 67%, said Clinton's critiques of Trump were fair, while just 51% said the same of Trump.

Assessments of Trump's attacks on Clinton were sharply split by gender, with 58% of men seeing them as fair compared with 44% of women who watched on Monday. There was almost no gender divide in perceptions of whether Clinton's attacks were fair.

The CNN/ORC post-debate poll includes interviews with 521 registered voters who watched the September 26 debate. Results among debate-watchers have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points. Respondents were originally interviewed as part of a September 23-25 telephone survey of a random sample of Americans, and indicated they planned to watch the debate and would be willing to be re-interviewed when it was over.

[11B4V]

Doesn't mean shit, Tim.

[Zoupa]

Yes it does?

Or else let's not discuss the whole thing until the election, anything else doesn't mean shit I guess.

[jimmy olsen]

Doesn't mean shit, Tim.

Let me cling to some threads man.

[Duque de Bragança]

The weight of gravity.  What if somebody doesn't log in until tomorrow and find 25 pages of minute-by-minute color commentary?  That's not polite.

Well, I suppose some thanks are in order. Only 22 the morning after.

[jimmy olsen]

 

[Savonarola]

Did anyone's opinion change after the debate?  Not just switching from supporting Trump to Clinton or vice versa; but was anyone planning to vote third party but now will vote for Hil or Don?  Or was anyone planning not to vote but will now (or planning to vote but now will not)?

[CountDeMoney]

Did anyone's opinion change after the debate?  Not just switching from supporting Trump to Clinton or vice versa; but was anyone planning to vote third party but now will vote for Hil or Don?  Or was anyone planning not to vote but will now (or planning to vote but now will not)?

It's all confirmation bias now; Trump's not going to lose anybody, so I think the only real expectation is trying to keep potential Clinton voters from staying home, or being all Millennial stupid and piss their votes away on Stoner Nader.

[Grallon]

She looked very presidential.  However I'm beginning to wonder if Trump wouldn't be a better choice, despite his obvious stupidity.  If she wins, considering how little trust she garners, she might end up with another Republican dominated congress. The Obama mouth frothing will simply morph into Hillary frothing - after the nigger the cunt - that sort of thinking.  Which means your country will be paralyzed for another 4 years.

Whereas if he wins, and considering how little faith the Republican apparatus puts in him - he's likely to be opposed but not so completely or viciously as Oballary would be.  And that means the US could at least try to get out of the lurch it's mired in.  At this point immobilism is worst than anything.



G.

[Phillip V]

She looked very presidential.  However I'm beginning to wonder if Trump wouldn't be a better choice, despite his obvious stupidity.  If she wins, considering how little trust she garners, she might end up with another Republican dominated congress. The Obama mouth frothing will simply morph into Hillary frothing - after the nigger the cunt - that sort of thinking.  Which means your country will be paralyzed for another 4 years.

Whereas if he wins, and considering how little faith the Republican apparatus puts in him - he's likely to be opposed but not so completely or viciously as Oballary would be.  And that means the US could at least try to get out of the lurch it's mired in.  At this point immobilism is worst than anything.

You remember when we had a stupid Republican President (Bush II) and a Republican Congress?  That was a disaster.

[Tamas]

She looked very presidential.  However I'm beginning to wonder if Trump wouldn't be a better choice, despite his obvious stupidity.  If she wins, considering how little trust she garners, she might end up with another Republican dominated congress. The Obama mouth frothing will simply morph into Hillary frothing - after the nigger the cunt - that sort of thinking.  Which means your country will be paralyzed for another 4 years.

Whereas if he wins, and considering how little faith the Republican apparatus puts in him - he's likely to be opposed but not so completely or viciously as Oballary would be.  And that means the US could at least try to get out of the lurch it's mired in.  At this point immobilism is worst than anything.

You remember when we had a stupid Republican President (Bush II) and a Republican Congress?  That was a disaster.

Yeah, sometimes "they can't get anything done" is a good thing.