Grumpy Old Men: A horrible debate presents the painful choice for American voters | Opinion
The “grumpy old men” presidential debate between the felon from Florida and the Democrat from Delaware was a dreadful and disturbing performance that may have lasting consequences.
Donald Trump was a spectacular liar who did not belong on this or any political stage. But Joe Biden, his decline on full display, seems no match for him in the modern, spontaneous political world when facts don’t necessarily matter.
Listening to Joe Biden is now reminding me of listening to my late grandmother. She would mistake facts and then correct them. First I’d be cousin Marc, then she’d remember later I was Tom. She would run words together. But in the end, her words and wisdom rang true, and I savored every one of them.
I don’t want to navigate my inherent respect for the elderly when I listen to my president, but this seems to be our reality. American voters are simply going to have to forgive Joe Biden’s human limitations in order really listen to what he is saying and to reelect him.
Opinion
There is every reason in the world why Donald Trump should not be president. He lied about abortion and how everybody wanted a woman’s right to choose to be settled by each and every state. He lied about his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection. He lied about immigration. He won’t accept the results of the election. He probably lied about his relationship with a porn star, but I was not there. He does have a probation officer as a result, though.
Going up against a bully requires the strength of a bully and an even faster mind. Trump tried to make Biden the liar, the disgrace. Yet watching Joe Biden’s performance Thursday night made me wonder whether his mannerisms, his sporadic empty looks, some painfully incomplete sentences when he forgot what he was going to say, are what Americans will remember and not Trump’s horrific misrepresentation of reality.
This debate from a personal optics perspective may go down as being as bad as Richard Nixon in 1960 against John F. Kennedy, when a wooden Nixon proved no match for his more charismatic, compelling opponent, who then pulled away in the race.
The debate format, with both speakers subject to microphone muting, helped maintain a back and forth and not a sea of interruptions. We got to hear, loud and clear, the worst choices for president in modern times.
The massive chattering class in American politics is about to have a field day. Everyday citizens are in for the most hideous electoral process imaginable.
Walter Mathau and Jack Lemon, the grumpy actors in the 1993 comedy, were both far too young to qualify for Thursday night’s presidential debate stage. They were funny at least. What took place Thursday night in Georgia was nothing short of terrifying.
