Of course, with the obvious mental decline of Joe Biden, combined with him having to defend the far Left Modern Socialist ideas, such as defunding the police, from Donald Trump, who never has a care over attacking, this will surely only apply for this election
"The debates have never made sense as a test for presidential leadership," writes @ElizabethDrewOH. "In fact, one could argue that they reward precisely the opposite of what we want in a president." https://t.co/ICzfURxxhz
— New York Times Opinion (@nytopinion) August 3, 2020
From the screed
Nervous managers of the scheduled 2020 presidential debates are shuffling the logistics and locations to deal with the threat of the coronavirus. But here’s a better idea: Scrap them altogether. And not for health reasons.
Yes, health reasons. But, not COVID19 ones, Joe Biden ones. If you put that there in the first paragraph, that’s the focus
The debates have never made sense as a test for presidential leadership. In fact, one could argue that they reward precisely the opposite of what we want in a president. When we were serious about the presidency, we wanted intelligence, thoughtfulness, knowledge, empathy and, to be sure, likability. It should also go without saying, dignity.
But, hey, you know what makes sense? Demanding Trump’s tax returns.
Over time, the debates came to resemble professional wrestling matches, and more substantive debates were widely panned in the press. Points went to snappy comebacks and one-liners. Witty remarks drew laughs from the audience and got repeated for days and remembered for years.
That’s pretty much politics in the modern era, really going back to the Nixon-JFK debate, which is mentioned.
This, by the way, isn’t written out of any concern that Donald Trump will prevail over Joe Biden in the debates; Mr. Biden has done just fine in a long string of such contests. The point is that “winning†a debate, however assessed, should be irrelevant, as are the debates themselves.
Yes, it is.
The better way to pay attention to and choose among the presidential candidates is to follow the long campaign that so many complain about. The reason for such moaning has always been a mystery, because unless the campaign is taking place in your living room, you can simply switch it off.
Should we pay attention that Biden is essentially hiding? That we rarely ever see him speak, and when he does, it is not good? That the only coherent sentences he speaks are in commercials in which we don’t actually see him speaking them? I watch a lot of programs on Discovery Go and there have been lots of those Biden commercials, none with him actually speaking the lines.
The party conventions, also vestigial organs of a political system that no longer exists, are close to being done away with, if not for the reasons they should be. There’s no reason not to throw the presidential debates on the trash heap of useless (at best) rituals that are no help in our making such a fateful decision.
And next up is doing away with Biden having to make a speech at the convention. Probably just walk out, wave, and walk off.
Read: NY Times Recommends Getting Rid Of Presidential Debates »