First and most important was Biden. Contrary to fears he had no trouble coping with Trump who was his usual oafish, ignorant, lying self. No surprise there but Biden holding his own put paid to doubters (such as me) whether he is up to the job.
In New Zealand, the outstanding winner was Patrick Gower who massively showed up John Campbell’s garrulous unctuousness. Gower steered the debate quietly and inconspicuously which is as it should be.
It was also a win for Judith, not because she bested Jacinda which she didn’t as there’s little they disagree on, but in showing herself as a viable alternative.
The loser may prove to be ACT as disaffected Nats return to the fold. That will be a pity. ACT advances policies the Nats were supposed to but never have, unless of course as with Roger Douglas, Labour’s applied them first.
They’re unlikely to change so a strong ACT Parliamentary presence will be important.
With 3 weeks to go we can expect a closing of the National-Labour polling gap to a more conventional situation, proving what detached observers knew all along, namely Judith was the right man for the job.
4 Comments
Donald Trump is an appalling human being. I cannot think of any positive attributes about him. Worse is that all presidents before him at least attempted to govern for the benefit of all American citizens. He has no interest in that concept. He is a megalomaniac.
I had no worries re Joe Biden. I recently saw a long interview with him where he referenced his wife & daughter being killed in a car crash and then his son dying of brain cancer. He was very articulate and compelling and showing a sense of decency and resilience that is foreign to Trump.
As for Seymour. He has always been a very capable MP. Speaks a lot of sense, is principled in his comments and I find in parliament very witty. Today when he said re speculation that he might be Deputy PM was “premature allocation”. You have to love that.
I saw the second debate, and actually felt a bit sorry for Ms Ardern.
Despite my previous abuse of her, I do believe that Ms Ardern means well. Alas, she came across as completely clueless to me.
She genuinely seems to want to help the poor, but she is so achingly middle class, with so little life experience, that she doesn’t have any realistic solutions at all.
Poor people aren’t chanting socialist slogans. The poor aspire to live like the Kardashians. If they won lotto, that’s what they’d do for a year, until all their money was blown.
The Crusher comes across as the better-rounded candidate.
Of course, I see the debate through my own prism.
It would be interesting to know what the Jacinda cultists thought of her performance.
Bob, perhaps you could enlighten us as to what lies Trump told.
You must have been watching a totally different Trump v Biden debate to the one I witnessed. Host Chris Wallace babied Biden throughout the debate. Whenever Biden mumbled off topic or forgot his pre-scripted sound bites, Wallace quickly changed the subject or asked a new question which gifted Biden some illusion of competence.
It reminded me of the Joshua v Parker fight as whenever Parker landed a punch, the referee quickly ordered the boxers to “break”.
Luckily for Trump, Democrats are making the same mistakes they made in 2016. Believing in their own inflated poll numbers, they have committed to not a single policy and ignore their traditional, but now despised, working class base.
Sick with TDS and despite all of their “grand” but ultimately stupid schemes (Steele Dossier, Russia-gate, impeachment nonsense, the closing of the American economy and the exaggeration of Covid 19 deaths) it is still 50:50 that Trump can win this election.
Hallelujah.