That’s How You Do That

I’ve never been convinced that “debates” are a useful contribution to presidential campaigns; the idea that the candidates are going to do some kind of good faith high school debate club show is the same kind of pundit class galaxy brained take as “there are undecided voters." But then again, we’ve found ourselves with a system where the most powerful person in the world is selected by 6000 low-information people in rural Pennsylvania, so that results in some strange artifacts.

That said.

There’s your choice America. I can’t think of another occasion with that stark a contrast between candidates for anything. Both the best and the worst debate performance I’ve ever seen, on the same stage. Once again, Harris is proving that the way to deal with the convicted felon is to call him on his bullshit as clearly as possible and to his face. You love to see it.

With that said, I wish, I really wish, that some debate moderator would open with “so, we all know this isn’t about policy, this is about appearances and vibes, so I’m going to abandon the prepared questions and open with this: What’s your best joke?” Maybe move into the Voight-Kampff questions after that.