Some debate result articles

[jimnyc]

I'll be sure to post fairly as I peruse my usual sites.

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Clinton Proved Trump Is a Man You Can Bait in a Debate
In Round One, the Democratic nominee prodded Trump into a peevish tone and self-defeating admissions.

In her acceptance speech at the Democratic convention, Hillary Clinton called out Donald Trump memorably, saying, “A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.” The insight that Trump is easy to provoke formed the core of Clinton’s successful strategy in the first debate on Monday, as she repeatedly incited the Republican nominee to both adopt an off-putting aggressive tone and to make a series of damaging self-admissions.

During the Republican debates, Trump got away with outrageous behavior because he seemed like a clown who was having fun. That jovial spirit disappeared tonight, thanks to Clinton’s ability to needle Trump. Instead of being a joker above the fray, he came across as petulant and peevish, often yelling incoherent answers. Even Trump supporter Ari Fleischer tweeted, early on, that “Trump is getting too loud and too hot. If I were him, I’d tone that down a notch.”

Trump’s is a narcissistic defensiveness, as my colleague Laura Reston noted during the debate. If you criticize him, he has to keep counterpunching, even if it makes him look bad. A classic moment occurred early, establishing the pattern. Trump was doing an effective job of hammering Clinton on her quite effectively emails—then suddenly stopped his attack to go back and answer an earlier critique she made of his business practices. At one point, Trump even started making a sales pitch for a hotel he’s building in Washington, D.C., noting, “If I don’t get there one way, I’m going to get to Pennsylvania Avenue another.”

Trump’s driving need to speak up for himself led to self-sabotaging admissions. When Clinton accused Trump of eagerly benefitting from the housing crisis, he responded, “That’s called business, by the way.” When Clinton complained that Trump paid no taxes, he again took pride in the accusation, saying, “I take advantage of the laws of our nation.” Trump also said that it was good he paid little or no taxes because the money would’ve been wasted, “it would have been squandered too.”

https://newrepublic.com/article/137222/clinton-proved-trump-man-can-bait-debate

[jimnyc]

Clinton scores by staying on offense, Trump by sticking to serious issues

The tone was cordial at the outset, each candidate being polite to the other while hitting their talking points: she on equal pay for women, he on China and Mexico stealing American jobs.

Hillary Clinton said it was good to be with Donald Trump. Trump said he probably agreed with Clinton on child care. But it didn’t last long.

But Clinton, perhaps surprisingly, was the aggressor all night. She threw the first jabs, saying Trump’s father loaned him $14 million and that he was pushing “Trumped-up trickle-down” to mainly help the wealthy.

Trump came back by saying his dad gave him “a small loan,” made a show of calling her “Secretary Clinton” and said she should have started pushing for jobs years earlier.

“Donald was one of the people who rooted for the housing crisis,” she said.

“That’s called business, by the way,” he interrupted.

Another jab: Clinton said Trump called climate change a hoax. Another interruption: Trump insisted he never said that.

When Trump insisted Clinton did nothing to create jobs for 30 years, she smiled and played the spousal card: “I think my husband did a pretty good job in the 1990s.”

It was 20 minutes into the faceoff when Trump finally went on offense, accusing Clinton of dropping her support for the Pacific trade deal to match his opposition.

“You called it the gold standard,” he said.

“Donald, I know you live in your own reality, but that is not the facts,” Clinton countered.

As the debate wore on, Clinton acted bemused at Trump’s charges, smiling and at one point suggesting he was saying “crazy” things. That seemed to aggravate the Republican nominee, who started talking faster and louder in pressing his case.

The good news for Trump is that he was debating serious issues with the former secretary of State, made no obvious gaffes and delivered no low blows.

His overarching indictment seemed to be that politics as usual had created a mess in the country: “Typical politician. All talk, no action, never gonna happen.”

Rest here - http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/09/26/clinton-scores-by-staying-on-offense-trump-by-sticking-to-serious-issues.html

[jimnyc]

What worked for Trump in the primaries failed him against Clinton

Donald Trump was trying very hard to be on his best behavior.

In the opening minutes of the first presidential debate Monday night, the Republican nominee began an answer by saying, “In all fairness to Secretary Clinton” — then turned to his opponent with exaggerated cordiality. “Yes? Is that okay? Good. I want you to be very happy. It’s very important to me.”

But even Trump’s best behavior was not quite good enough. Within minutes, he was hectoring and interrupting Clinton when she spoke, glowering, pursing his lips, shaking his head and interjecting one-word retorts.

“Wrong!” he told Clinton.

“Wrong!” he told the moderator, NBC’s Lester Holt.

Rest here - https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/this-time-trumps-interruptions-insults-and-insinuations-arent-enough/2016/09/26/fcdce978-845c-11e6-a3ef-f35afb41797f_story.html?utm_term=.db1244f9e74c

[jimnyc]

Clinton, Trump Draw Stark Contrasts With Sharp Debate Attacks

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump leveled sharp and personal charges and counter-charges over trade, the U.S. economy, race and foreign policy in their first face-to-face debate, an event that put on display their starkly different personalities and visions of the nation’s future.

From the first question posed by moderator Lester Holt, the debate devolved into an exchange of accusations and blame as Trump and Clinton reached into each others’ past statements and records. On most policy issues they fell back on their standard campaign stances, offering no new proposals for how they would deal with the country’s challenges.

The debate Monday night at Hofstra University in New York ended as it began with testy exchanges -- and a few odd moments -- between the candidates when Holt asked Trump about a comment he made that Clinton doesn’t present the image of a president.

"She doesn’t have the look, she doesn’t have the stamina,’’ Trump said, repeatedly questioning her vigor and endurance.

“Well, as soon as he travels to 112 countries and negotiates a peace deal, a ceasefire, a release of dissidents, an opening of new opportunities in nations around the world or even spends 11 hours testifying in front of a congressional committee, he can talk to me about stamina,” responded Clinton, who served as U.S. secretary of state.

Rest here - http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-09-27/clinton-trump-clash-on-economic-solutions-for-country

[jimnyc]

Clinton, Trump Go Head to Head in High Stakes Presidential Debate

Democrat Hillary Clinton accused Republican Donald Trump of racism, sexism and tax avoidance on Monday during a heated presidential debate that could reshape the 2016 campaign for the White House.

Trump, a real estate tycoon making his first run for public office, said Clinton's long years of service represented "bad experience" with few results and suggested her disavowal of a trade deal with Asian countries was insincere.

For Trump, 70, the debate was a chance to appear disciplined. For Clinton, 68, it was an opportunity to reassure voters she could be trusted. It remained to be seen how voters would judge their performance.

In a sign investors saw Clinton as the winner, Asian shares recouped early losses on Tuesday and the dollar edged away from a one-month trough against the yen. Markets have tended to see Clinton as the candidate of the status quo.

In one of the more heated exchanges, the two candidates attacked each other for the controversy Trump stoked for years over whether President Barack Obama was born in the United States.

The president, who was born in Hawaii, released a long form birth certificate in 2011 to put the issue to rest. Only this month did Trump say publicly that he believed Obama was U.S.-born.

"He (Trump) has really started his political activity based on this racist lie that our first black president was not an American citizen. There was absolutely no evidence for it. But he persisted. He persisted year after year," Clinton said.

Trump repeated his false accusation that Clinton's failed 2008 presidential campaign against Obama had initiated the so-called "birther" issue.

"Nobody was pressing it, nobody was caring much about it ... I was the one that got him to produce the birth certificate and I think I did a good job," Trump said.

African-American voters overwhelmingly support Clinton, but Trump in recent weeks has said he believes his policy agenda would benefit them and said the policies of Obama and Clinton had failed to help black Americans.

He said Clinton's arguments were disingenuous.

"When you try to act holier than thou, it really doesn't work," Trump said.

http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/clinton-trump-debate-polls/2016/09/26/id/750269/

[jimnyc]

And Newt is right from what I've been reading, and this is a big point...

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Newt: Trump Made No Major Mistake

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich praised his candidate's debate performance Monday night, saying Republican Donald Trump scored an "enormous historic victory" over Democrat Hillary Clinton.

"No major mistakes, no fumbles, no interceptions," Gingrich told Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity. "He went on the field as a guy who has the big issue perfectly."

Trump, in his first run for political office, slammed Clinton over her 30 years in politics that he called "all talk, no change" and jabbed her over bad trade deals and lack of job creation.

"So again and again, the things on the core of his momentum, he got out what he needed to without making a major mistake," Gingrich said. "She played nit-picking games with him. Trying to get him off balance.... She failed totally or had to discredit him so much that people would say he just can't be president. The opposite happens. He was totally comfortable up there. He was comfortable with her and with [moderator] Lester Holt."

People won't appreciate the job Trump did for a few days down the road, Gingrich said.

"This was an enormous historic victory for Donald Trump. He didn't go out for a forced touchdown," he said."It's a very decisive win. Only going to sink in over the next week."

http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/newt-gingrich-donald-trump-debate-performance/2016/09/27/id/750306/

[jimnyc]

Kinda what I was referring to in the other thread where I suggested questions that should be asked. No jugular. :(

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Dick Morris: Trump 'Could Have Done Such a Better Job'

Donald Trump "left a lot of shots open that he could have taken" at Hillary Clinton in their debate — and "he's got to be a better debater in the future," political strategist Dick Morris told Newsmax TV on Monday.

"He's asked the question about cybersecurity — and he takes it on face value and he lets Hillary take it on face value," Morris told host J.D. Hayworth on the "Newsmax TV Post-Debate Special" in an interview. "The answer on cybersecurity is secure your own damn email, secretary of state, and he didn't do that.

"Then, he's asked a question about what can we do to reduce the crime in various cities? And he doesn't take it. He doesn't talk about stopping immigrants from coming in, from terror-sponsoring countries.

"He doesn't mention the word 'Benghazi' in the entire debate, despite many opportunities to do so.

"Of the four rounds, he won two and he lost two," Morris said. "But he could have done such a better job."

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsmax-Tv/dick-morris-donald-trump-needs-better/2016/09/27/id/750301/

[jimnyc]

Pat Caddell: Breitbart/Gravis Post-Debate Flash Poll Shows Hillary Clinton Won Slightly; Trump Gains ‘Plausibility’

Democratic nominee for president Hillary Clinton edged her GOP rival Donald Trump in Monday’s presidential held at Hofstra University before a television audience estimated at 100 million viewers, according to a Breitbart/Gravis “flash poll” conducted minutes after the debate ended.

Pat Caddell, the Democratic pollster and Fox News Insider, told Breitbart News that poll respondents said Clinton performed better at the debate; 48 percent said Clinton did a better job, compared to 43 percent, who said Trump did the better job.

“However, 95 percent of the people we contacted told us they were not going to change their vote based on the debate,” Caddell said.

Two percent of voters, previously undecided, switched to Trump after the debate. No undecideds went to Clinton. One percent switched from Trump to Clinton, and one percent switched from Clinton to Trump.

“Trump won on the most critical factor, on whether Clinton or Trump was more ‘plausible’ as president, 46 percent to her 42 percent,” he said.

“That for him is really what this debate was really about,” he said.

Participants said they thought Clinton had a better grasp of the issues, by 48 percent to his 40 percent.

“What really happened was she won on the issues and he won on plausibility,” Caddell said.

“I was really surprised by this–because it is usually a question that plays well with Democrats–‘Who showed that they care about people like you?’ Trump won that 49 percent to 44 percent for her,” he said.

http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/09/26/debate-flash-poll/

[jimnyc]

FACT CHECK: Clinton Lies About Her Support for TPP

During Monday night’s first presidential debate at Hofstra University, Hillary Clinton misrepresented her longstanding support for the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement to millions of American viewers.

During an exchange in which Clinton defended NAFTA and her husband’s trade policies of the 1990s, Trump said:

NAFTA is the worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere but certainly ever signed in this country and now you want to approve Trans Pacific Partnership. You were totally in favor of it and then you heard how I said how bad it was and if you win, you would approve it and it would be almost as bad as NAFTA. Nothing will ever top that.

“That is not accurate,” Clinton said in response. “I was against it [TPP] once it was finally negotiated and the terms were laid out.”

Trump interjected: “You called it [TPP] the gold standard. You called it the gold standard of trade deals. You said it was the finest deal you’ve ever seen. You heard what I said about it and you were against it.”

Rest here - http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/09/26/fact-check-clinton-lies-support-tpp/


Five Times Lester Holt Shilled for Hillary Clinton at First Debate

NBC News’ Lester Holt had his “Candy Crowley” moment at the first debate of the 2016 presidential election on Monday night, bowing to pressure from the Hillary Clinton campaign and the liberal media by “fact-checking” Republican nominee Donald Trump on the question of his support for the Iraq War.

Holt lived up to the expectations of his peers. But he lived down to the worst expectations of conservatives, who routinely see Republican candidates treated unfairly by debate moderators.

Again and again, Holt asked Trump tough questions that were straight from the Clinton campaign’s talking points, and which were obvious set-ups for Clinton to attack (and for fact-checkers to pounce on whatever Trump asserted in his own defense).

Here are the five worst examples.

Tax returns. Holt never asked Clinton about her e-mail scandal, about Benghazi, or about the Clinton Foundation and its dubious dealings. But he did ask Trump about his tax returns, arguing — not asking — that there might be questionable information in them that the American public deserved to hear.

Birther conspiracy theory. Holt never asked Clinton about her past record of racist statements, including her “super-predator” remarks as First Lady, or her explicit appeal to “white Americans” in her 2008 primary campaign against Obama. Yet he asked Trump about the Birther conspiracy theory and cast it as racist.

Stop-and-frisk. After an exchange between the candidates over the policy of “stop-and-frisk,” Holt interjected to bolster Clinton’s point by stating, erroneously, that stop-and-frisk had ended in New York because it had been declared unconstitutional by a court. Trump countered, correctly, that the new mayor had canceled the policy before the litigation was over.

“A presidential look.” Towards the end of the debate, Holt asked Trump about what he meant by saying Hillary Clinton did not have “a presidential look.” He did so after noting that Clinton had become “the first woman” to be nominated for president by a major political party, thus setting Trump up as a sexist. As Trump answered, Holt interrupted him, then gave Clinton a chance to respond with her talking points about Trump’s past comments on women.

Iraq War. The question of whether Trump supported the Iraq War or not has been widely debated. What is beyond doubt is that Hillary Clinton voted for it. Holt only represented one side of the debate about Trump, and never asked Clinton about her own vote.

In addition, the audience repeatedly interjected — almost always in Clinton’s favor — and Holt did not stop them, though it was against the rules. He only stopped the audience when there were cheers for Trump calling for Clinton’s emails.

Bow again, Lester Holt. You did your job.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/09/26/lester-holt-candy-crowley-moment-first-debate/


Trump Bludgeons Clinton on Trade; Forces Her to Defend NAFTA

During Monday night’s first presidential debate at Hofstra University, Donald Trump put Hillary Clinton on the defensive over the critical issue of international trade — eventually forcing Clinton to actually defend NAFTA and her husband’s globalist trade policies of the 1990s.

At one point, Clinton appeared desperate to move on from the issue of trade, which has been a point of vulnerability for her, declaring, “Let’s not assume that trade is the only challenge we have in the economy.”

During the fiery exchange, Trump explained that Clinton has had 30 years to fix the nation’s trade policies:

All you have to do is look at Michigan and look at Ohio and look at all of these places where so many of their jobs and their companies are just leaving. They are gone. And Hillary, I’d just ask you this: you’ve been doing this for 30 years, why are you just thinking about these solutions right now? For 30 years you’ve been doing it and now you are just starting to think of solutions… I will bring back jobs. You can’t bring back jobs.

Clinton replied, “Well, actually, I have thought about this quite a bit… I think my husband did a pretty good job in the 1990s. I think a lot about what worked and how we can make it work again—”

Trump interjected, “He approved NAFTA, which is the single worst trade deal in this country—”

http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/09/26/trump-bludgeons-clinton-on-trade-forces-her-to-defend-nafta/


Fact Wreck: Fact-Checking the Fact-Checkers at First Debate

Viewers were left to think for themselves. The HORROR.

10:20 p.m. EDT: Lester Holt bows to the Clinton campaign, and tries to “fact-check” Trump on his support for (or opposition to) the Iraq War.

It happens thus: Holt introduces, matter-of-factly, the premise that Trump supported the Iraq War. Trump pushes back, calling it “mainstream media nonsense.” Trump burns two minutes explaining how he did not support the war, citing Howard Stern and Sean Hannity.

At the end, Holt repeats the allegation again anyway. This is what the Clinton campaign and the mainstream media wanted him to do.

In one gesture, Holt proves everything that conservatives allege about mainstream media moderators, NBC News, and “fact-checking.”

10:07 p.m. EDT: The self-proclaimed fact-checkers join moderator Lester Holt and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for a real-time demonstration of how so-called “fact-checking” is really a guise for deliberate political attacks.

Step 1: Moderator asks setup question. In a segment on race relations, Holt asks Trump about the Birther conspiracy theory. He asks no similar questions about Clinton’s record, leaving Trump himself to bring up such Clinton hits as “superpredator.” Trump also notes that the Birther conspiracy theory started in the Clinton campaign.

Step 2: Democrat pounces on setup question. Clinton goes to town on Trump’s Birther past, denying her own. Trump counters, again, with examples of racism from Clinton’s 2008 campaign. But then…

Step 2a: Moderator interrupts Trump’s response. Holt reminds Trump that the segment is about race relations. Just to reinforce the underlying charge of racism.

Step 3: Fact-checker gives Trump a “false.” PolitiFact tweets a link to an article from Sep. 16 claiming that neither Clinton nor her campaign had anything to do with the Birther conspiracy theory. Of course they did, as Clinton’s campaign manager admitted. Trump points that out — and perhaps that is effective, but the point is that the left’s so-called “fact-checking” machine completes the cycle.

To review: Moderator sets up attack, Democrat attacks, fact-checker removes Republican’s defense.

9:58 p.m. EDT: Trump fact-checks Clinton when she claims crime is down in New York, including murder.

Trump is right. Crime was down overall in New York last year, but murder, rape, and robbery were up, according to the Wall Street Journal.

We don’t need no fact-checkers…

9:49 p.m. EDT: Trump fact-checks the moderator.

Holt: Stop and frisk was ruled unconstitutional in New York…

Trump: No, you’re wrong. It went before a judge, who was a very against-police judge. It was taken away from her and our mayor, our new mayor, refused to go forward with the case.

Fact Wreck rating: Trump is 100% right, according to the New York Times and Holt’s collusion with Clinton is becoming hard to ignore.

9:47 p.m. EDT: The left’s pressure on moderator Lester Holt seems to have worked, as he raises the question of Trump’s tax returns (not yet disclosed) but says nothing about Clinton’s missing emails, leaving that to Trump to raise on his own.

FactCheck.org does not bother to fact-check Hillary Clinton’s false rebuttal, which is that she made a “mistake” (which she originally claimed was a mistake of using only one phone, when she in fact had 13). Instead, the organization simply refers to a “guide” to Hillary’s emails.

9:25 p.m. EDT: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump both refer viewers to fact-checking services on their campaign websites.

The media fact-checkers are about to go out of business.

9:22 p.m. EDT: Hillary Clinton fact-checks Donald Trump, after he says that she supported the Trans-Pacific Partnership before she opposed it.

Clinton: That is just not accurate. I was against it once it was finally negotiated…

Trump: …You called it the gold standard of trade deals. You said it’s the finest deal you’d ever seen.”

Clinton: No.

Actually, she did. CNN (!) counted 45 times Clinton pushed the deal.

Rest here - http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/09/26/fact-wreck-fact-checking-fact-checkers-first-debate/

[jimnyc]

Clinton Runs from Reporters After Debate, Trump Speaks with CNN and Fox News

Immediately following the intense presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Monday night, Clinton quickly exited the arena, dodging questions from major main stream media news outlets.

However, Trump spoke directly to Sean Hannity of Fox News and Dana Bash of CNN answering numerous questions in the post-debate madness.

Trump told CNN that he hates the way the U.S. government spends tax dollars.

Trump said that he thought the debate went better than he expected.

He talked with Hannity and said, "Do you think (General Patton) would have a website saying how he's going to defeat the enemy?" referring to Clinton's website listing her plan to defeat ISIS.

Clinton left the debate without answering any questions.

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/justinholcomb/2016/09/26/clinton-runs-from-reporters-after-debate-trump-speak-with-cnn-and-fox-news-n2223891

[jimnyc]

Trump: ‘Hillary Has Experience, But It’s Bad Experience’

(CNSNews.com) – Hillary Clinton has experience, but it’s not the kind of experience Americans can afford to have for another four years.

That was a message Donald Trump seemed keen to underline as the two met in their first presidential debate at Hofstra University in New York on Monday night.

Facing a rival with a hefty political resume, the Republican candidate called into question how successful a secretary of state she had been, citing the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS/ISIL), the Iran nuclear deal, and the serious instability that has plagued Libya since 2011.

After Clinton won applause by listing achievements (in response to his doubting her “stamina”) including travel to 112 countries, negotiating peace deals, and spending “11 hours testifying in front of a congressional committee,” Trump conceded that she does have experience.

“Hillary has experience, but it’s bad experience,” he said.

“We have made so many bad deals during the last – so she’s got experience. I agree. But it’s bad, bad experience. Whether it’s the Iran deal you’re so in love with where we gave them $150 billion back. Whether it’s the Iran deal, whether it’s anything you can name – you almost can’t name a good deal.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/patrick-goodenough/trump-hillary-has-experience-its-bad-experience

[jimnyc]

Debate wrap-up: Does a draw go to the challenger?

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton met on the debate stage for the first time tonight … and neither one scored a knockout. Trump used the trade debate to dominate Hillary in the first thirty minutes, Hillary seized the momentum in the second thirty minutes, and the final third was a mixed bag. Hillary barely mentioned Vladimir Putin, and Trump never mentioned Benghazi. It was an evening of sharp banter and missed opportunities, but in the end, both candidates remained standing.

What does that mean? In our debate analysis below, I argue that it benefits Trump more. Supposedly Trump was going to have trouble keeping up with Hillary’s grasp of policy, and that was true at moments, but Trump didn’t get eclipsed enough to matter. Keeping pace with Hillary, and especially putting as much pressure as he managed in the first thirty minutes, puts him at the same level as Hillary in the eyes of voters. She needed to completely outclass Trump in order to make the point that he’s not up to the task of the presidency. Instead, she kept him in the ballgame, even with a bizarre last-minute attack about Trump’s treatment of a beauty-pageant contestant, an attack that fell flat a few months ago when Team Hillary tried launching it the last time.

How about Lester Holt? He’s getting pounded on Twitter, but he did a credible job for the most part. Holt got into an extended argument over Trump’s positions on the Iraq War, but otherwise stayed out of the mix except to attempt to enforce time limits. The questions provoked both candidates into personal exchanges. If Holt interrupted Trump more than Hillary, it’s only because Trump interrupted Hillary and ran over time limits more often. Those who worried about a Candy Crowley moment can breathe a sigh of relief; Holt didn’t change the trajectory of the debate, or the race.

Bottom line: I don’t expect to see a significant change in polling trajectory from this debate — and considering the current momentum, that’s good news for Trump. Team Hillary needed him to fall on his face, and they didn’t get that. That should have them worried, because in this case, the draw goes to the challenger rather than the quarter-century Washington champion.

Rest here - http://hotair.com/archives/2016/09/26/debate-wrap-draw-go-challenger/

[jimnyc]

About 12 minutes or so of "highlights" from last nights debate.

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[jimnyc]

An angle from the Washington Times:

Donald Trump won, but he needs to be better on his own best arguments

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — Monday night’s debate here was a tremendous victory for Donald Trump, but his performance left plenty of room for improvement.

Big picture: Polls show support for Hillary Clinton is collapsing, and she desperately needed to stanch the bleeding. She did nothing during the debate to change the trajectory of those increasingly bleak polls.

With states like Pennsylvania and Colorado in play this week, we could be talking about states like Michigan and Wisconsin in play next week. That would put the race away early for Mr. Trump.

Mrs. Clinton’s primary charge against Mr. Trump is that he lacks the “temperament” to be president. In an easy glide Monday night, Mr. Trump demonstrated otherwise.

He was perfectly presidential, even if a bit unpolished at times — just the way so many of his supporters love him. He was poised and even a bit mannerly at times.

Perhaps a bit too mannerly. But we’ll get to that.

Mrs. Clinton failed to do anything that will change the overwhelming view of her that she is slick, calculating and out of touch. And her plastic smile and that practiced, canned laugh — including a truly bizarre shoulder jiggle at one point — will only feed the notion that she is not really all there.

In addition, Mrs. Clinton failed to land any devastating punches on Mr. Trump. She landed a few potent shots about his tax proposals and his tax returns, but nothing extraordinary. And nothing anywhere near as withering as everything everybody in both parties and the media have already hurled at the guy.

From the start, the debate was lively and fiery. That was not because of the moderator, and it certainly was not because Hillary Clinton was on stage. It was entirely owing to Mr. Trump’s presence.

Something about his swashbuckling manner always puts people off kilter a little, and the result always seems to be a debate that is more robust and honest — if sometimes a bit imprecise.

As for moderator Lester Holt, he will be excoriated in coming days for his multiple follow-up questions of Mr. Trump and his failure to ask even the most basic questions of Mrs. Clinton.

She also used up a number of lines that she had obviously practice extensively — to little effect.

“I know you live in your own reality,” she said at one point, but it was entirely lost in muddle.

But here is where Mr. Trump has a lot of room to improve.

Instead of simply prosecuting the case against Mrs. Clinton, he dutifully answered all of Mr. Holt’s questions and responded to all of Mrs. Clinton’s jabs — no matter how silly.

Rest here - http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/sep/27/donald-trump-won-he-needs-be-better-his-own-best-a/

[jimnyc]

Trump pulled off presidential: James Robbins
Like Reagan in 1980, viewers saw a Trump who was better than the liberal talking points.

You can’t fact check leadership, and tonight Donald Trump showed himself a leader.

In the run-up to the Hofstra presidential debate, the Clinton campaign mounted a concerted effort to make fact-checking the centerpiece of the event. Campaign manager Robby Mook argued that "it’s unfair to ask that Hillary Clinton both play traffic cop with Trump, make sure that his lies are corrected, and also to present her vision for what she wants to do for the American people." Mook said that if Trump “lied,” it was moderator Lester Holt’s responsibility to point that out.

Fact-checking has never been an accepted role for debate moderators. Janet Brown, head of the Commission on Presidential Debates, said that a moderator should not “serve as the Encyclopedia Britannica.” And moderator Candy Crowley’s ill-advised intervention against Mitt Romney in 2012 showed why fact checking on the fly is a bad idea.

It was strange that the truth-challenged Clinton would want to make an issue of facts. But there was certainly no shortage of checking. Veteran debate moderator Bob Schieffer said that “the chief fact-checkers are the candidates,” and Clinton and Trump agreed, vigorously challenging each other over facts, policies and opinions. In addition, the social media hive-mind was scrutinizing every word in real time. Anyone who needed to track down a fact had the entire connected world at their disposal.

Even in the pre-internet age, moderators did not see themselves as real-time arbiters of the ground truth. There were five journalists on the stage in October 1980 during the debate between Democratic President Jimmy Carter and Republican challenger Ronald Reagan, and none of them felt compelled to question the facts. Carter and Reagan took care of that. Fact checking was the occasion for Reagan’s memorable comment, “there you go again,” when he was taking exception to Carter’s representation of his views on Medicare.

Rest here - http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/09/26/trump-clinton-debate-hofstra-1980-reagan-carter-james-robbins-column/91141618/

[gabosaurus]

TRUMP: MAKE SNIFFLING GREAT AGAIN :p


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wd_ZITiiKs&feature=youtu.be&t=25

[jimnyc]

TRUMP: MAKE SNIFFLING GREAT AGAIN :p

Sniffle SnuffleLuffleGets