On stage: one man who breaks things, one who fixes things

I didn’t watch or listen to the debate between Biden and the nasty guy last night. If what Biden said that the nasty guy said nothing but lies is true (and I have no doubt that it is) I’m glad I didn’t sit through 45 minutes of him lying. So I didn’t hear about it until this morning. NPR’s Morning Edition looked at every single angle of it – the debate itself, how these people saw it, how those people saw it, etc. Of course, they included audio of the clip where Biden seemed to grind to a stop in the middle of a question. And, of course, that flub was all over the news. Somewhere in all that someone, perhaps Biden, said the only thing that came out of the nasty guy’s mouth was lies. That got me wondering: Who knows they were lies? Who was going to tell at least the undecided, in a way that was as delivered to them as easily as the actual debate, that lies were constantly spouted and this is why they are lies? From all this blather it seems this debate was not as decisive as I (and most Democrats) would like. There were calls from pundits – and Democrats! – that Biden’s performance was so bad he should step aside and let the Convention in August choose someone else. Amazing how many pundits didn’t call on the nasty guy to step aside when he was convicted 34 times. Mark Sumner of Daily Kos reported on the debate. He posted his observations this afternoon, so it wasn’t the quick take as came from the overnight pundits.

On stage were one man who derives sick pleasure from breaking things, one man who tries to make everything better, and a network that invited them both into a glass house and handed them mallets. Then, after 90 minutes of watching the first man send shards in all directions, we got to listen to everyone complain that the second man didn’t swing his mallet with sufficient vigor. If you give a minute to Donald Trump, he will use it to lie. If you give a minute to President Joe Biden, he will use it to try and correct the lie—and answer the original question that Trump ignored. If it seems like Trump has the easier task, you’re right. If you think Biden should do something else, you’re on the wrong team.

Sumner said before the debate started host CNN would do no fact-checking. Sumner can’t think of any reason why that would be a good idea. So the nasty guy lied. And all CNN hosts did was say, “Thank you.”

Pundits—even some supposed Democratic pundits—are admiring the massive, nonchalant lying of a convicted criminal while clutching their pearls over Biden trying to set things right, and that tells you everything about them. If the Democratic Party fails to dust itself off, stand in front of the cameras, defend Biden, and explain how a lying felon is worse than laryngitis and some verbal stumbles, then it will say everything about us.

Before the debate Biden posted on X a spoof of the claim he would be on performance enhancers during the debate. The caption says:

I don't know what they've got in these performance enhancers, but I'm feeling pretty jacked up. Try it yourselves, folks.

He holds a drink can showing Dark Brandon and the text:

Zero Malarkey Get Real, Jack. It’s Just Water.

Fans can buy cans at the campaign website.