Experience?

from The Gray Area:

Tonight the first debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton took place at Hofstra University on Long Island in Hempstead, New York. This was an event that had been anticipated for the better part of a year. Now that it is here, did it live up to all the anticipation? Was it the entertainment event you expected? More importantly, did it help you make a choice?

Like the Super Bowl it was compared to, these over-hyped events never really live up to the hype. Since there is no real scoring system, a definitive winner is never determined, though a consensus will surely develop.

In the first few hours after the debate, I would say that Hillary was the winner. She got most of her attack points in, whereas Donald was more on the defensive making his answers rambling and ineffective. He made some good points, but Hillary made most of hers, which were designed to diminish Trump’s perception as a solid leader of “the movement”.

Bottom line on winner / loser is this. If you disliked one candidate before the debate, you disliked that candidate more after the debate. If you felt okay after the debate, then your candidate likely did better. If you felt somewhat disappointed, then your candidate could have done better. Watching post debate coverage, MSNBC was giddy, which should tell you who they think won.

But, if you were trying to find your winner, not sure this debate helped. Some may not like the Hillary attacks and her new, ‘demonic’ smile. Others may be turned off by Trump’s rambling answers and interruptions.

If you were looking for substance, following are the points of differentiation (you should be able to determine who is who) and how you answer will decide your vote:

Economy:

• no agreement in this category. A clear differentiator between liberal and conservative ideology.
• tax increase of tax cuts?
• ‘trickle down’ economic theory bad or good?
• do government gifts or investment in business help economic growth?
• where do jobs come from, government or business owners?
• do the wealthy not pay their share of taxes, or is 80% of taxes paid by the top 20% of earners more than a fair share?
• more regulation vs less regulation?
• stimulate growth through punitive economic measures vs incentive measures?
• has low interest rates the past 7.5 years helped the stock market grow?
• has the growth in the stock market helped the middle class or the wealthy?
• will higher interest rates cause the stock market to crash or help the middle class?
• more spending or spending cuts?
• $20T in debt good or bad? What has the debt bought us?

Race

• community relations apparently a shared objective.
• police reform and gun control vs law & order, gangs & guns?
• what has voting 90% for Democrats over the past 50 years done for black Americans?
• is ‘stop & frisk’ effective or ineffective? Unconstitutional or constitutional?
• are police ‘implicitly biased’? Are we all? Will more money fix that?

Cyberattacks

• the Russians did it, or we don’t really know?
• both agreed this is an important issue.
• US has greater capability than we are using was agreed upon.
• agreed this is one tactic to use against ISIS.

Defeating ‘Islamic extremism’ (not the term used), ISIS

• think those who believe ISIS is ‘JV’ and have not stopped their growth will actually ever defeat them, or will someone new, who is clearly prioritizing the issue?
• is publishing a detailed military strategy a good thing or bad?

Nuclear Weapons

• climate change is bigger threat than nuclear weapons, or the other way around?
• believe there is a ‘lid’ on Iran’s nuclear program now or that the Iran deal has actually saved Iran and put them on a path to nuclear weapons?
• honor our mutual support agreements and ask for more financial participation?

Miscellaneous

• political experience vs no political experience?
• experience vs bad experience?
• detailed plans you don’t like or vague plans you might or might not like?
• temperament?
• someone you don’t trust or someone you trust only a little more?
• judgement?

We ask, you decide.

Of course, media watchdog groups from both sides chimed in on Lester Holt’s performance. The leftist group Media Matters said Lester Holt proved we need moderators to fact check candidates. The conservative Media Research Center blasts Holt for asking soft questions of Hillary Clinton and attacked Donald Trump repeatedly. This is due to pressure from the larger media community after the leftist criticism Matt Lauer received for his town hall with both candidates on September 7th, when he was accused of being too hard on Hillary and not going after Trump more.

As for a winner, we will have to wait a couple of days for the polls to determine who got the edge and why.

If you missed it, here is the full debate from YouTube: