I'm not Jon Snow.

If Trump had given an actual, contrite apology for his comments in the video when asked the question, I'd say his overall performance tonight would have been "good". That, however, was not the case and he simply rallied his supporters with various extreme comments, nothing more. At the very least, he did manage to give his campaign a short crutch to support itself on for the time being.

And Clinton played it safe, possibly a little too safe. I don't really blame her though because Trump hurts himself more often than not when talking, so going on the offensive isn't too necessary. Plus, this election is to her advantage right now. She doesn't have to change the dynamic of the race, and is on the path to victory right now.

If Trump hit the gym and started sharing gym selfies, he'd become president.

Obviously she "won" by traditional standards, but in reality - this night was much more of a victory for DT.

Hillary could have absolutely put him away and slammed the door tonight with a dominating performance, and she didn't. For that, Trump wins by default. He was 100% on the ropes and Hillary pulled back the aggression. She was MUCH too polite for this. It would not be rude, or out of place, for her stand up for herself directly.

All she says "if I fact checked everything he says, I would be here all night". True.But. My god. The moderators let him ramble on and on about our bullshit. She NEEDED to stop him. I get wanting to seem Presidential, but she had her foot on his neck. I really wanted to see her put him away.

By far her best attack line of the night was "We all know you are doing whatever possible to change the subject".

Those lines are NOT uncalled for with him. They need to be said.

"There he goes, avoiding the question because he knows his answer will be either hypocritical or politically unpopular. For someone who claims to be such an outsider, he sure doesn't talk like one".

When he says "You'd be in jail", she needs to say "Well, you do know something about illegally influencing attorney generals, don't you?"

Hillary and her campaign still do not fully grasp that this is 2016 and not 1996. Looking "Presidential" isn't a great thing for the undecideds who want change. And sticking up for herself isn't going to alienate anyone.

That's simply not true. Going too hard at Trump is a mistake when you are trying to convince people of your temperament one month before the election. She is presenting herself as cool, calm and collected, in direct opposition to Trump's scorched earth display of absolute insanity.

Not to mention...in the incredibly misogynistic culture of ours perpetuated by Trump's crass behavior, how many people would be calling her "shrill," "condescending," "a bitch," etc. if she got loud and in his face?

This night was a "victory" for Trump only in the sense that he appealed to his base. He changed nothing with this debate, and I don't believe there are more than a handful of people who watched this who will now vote for him who weren't going to before.

"Donald Trump won the debate because she didn't force him to drop out" -excel

I mean Trump is a sexist piece of shit BUT











WHERE THE SHIT DOES THAT STILL ALWAYS COME FROM???? IT IS 2016 IN THE WESTERN WORLD. WOMEN ARE AS MUCH SEXIST AND SUPERFICIAL AS MEN HERE OR NOT (THE COOL ONES).

oh, filmo

excel do you understand the risk and reward analysis of running a campaign? Clinton being a woman can't gut him like a wounded animal like her husband or Obama would be allowed. It would look too aggressive or unladylike. The next female candidate might, but not Hillary. Secondly, he will be further weakened by other tapes and revelations over the following weeks. Completely destroying now, him opens up too much uncertainty. Next week or two is too late for a successful plan b for the Republicans.

Now, the Republicans are stuck with a damaged and sinking candidate at the top of the ticket for the next 30 days. The House Reps in competitive districts 50-70 depending on the criteria will have to straddle the line between winning over moderates in the the general while not pissing off the Trump dead Enders. Some will be able to maneuver the minefield, but many won't.

The many times Trump threw out his "zingers" last night, Clinton quickly responding would've looked really bad. It's something an online troll would do.

I would know, because I've done it.

FILMO, you have no idea what you're talking about. If you think we still live in a world that doesn't have rampant misogyny (which I have experienced in notable ways MY ENTIRE LIFE, you have not), I can't help you.

Relevant new polls fill me with joy today:



In the two-way race (leaving out Johnson and Stein), the same poll shows Hillary with a 14-point lead, 52% to 38%.

Appearing "presidential" is the exact way to go at this point. For the diehard Trump supporters, the very one thing they'd love to see is for HRC to get down to the Trump level and make this a contest of personal attacks. She isn't going to change any of their minds anyway, but she knows the more Trump talks, the more undecided voters will be deciding against him, even though they don't necessarily like her to begin with.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_ ... atch_oct10

Rasmussen has Clinton 45%, Trump 38%

And this is Rasmussen, who are extremely R leaning.

Also, this:



https://twitter.com/JohnJHarwood/status ... 5075322882

Also the 7-day rolling poll from CVoter International has Clinton up by 5.5, a jump of 4 points from just the day before, meaning the portion from 10/9 must be really bad for Trump.

It is a shame, but many will vote for Trump for no reason than spite for Clinton and Democrats and for their unbreakable loyalty to the GOP. The loyalty Republicans have to their party is far great than Democrats loyalty to their party. Trump could come out and blantantly state he wants to kill Americans, and the GOP faithful will still vote for him as long as lowering taxes was still attached to the policy platform.

The sad reality of things.

Does it matter?

He is not gonna win.

It matters cuz he has dragged the national discourse down into the gutter, and his die-hard supporters (w/ their proto-fascist leanings) aren't just gonna slink silently back into the night once the election cycle is done.

I have an American friend and she is utterly embarrassed and angry at the debacle which is this year's US election lead up ... yet she will still vote for Trump. Her words: "I don't trust either one. I have to hold my nose and click Trump as a vote against Hillary. It's about the Supreme Court with me. Trump is the anti-establishment vote"

#facepalm

Talk her out of being an idiot.

No chance.

I doubt Hillary wins by double digits, but if she does... that'd be quite the devastating blow to the Republican Party. This bump is the result of the tape, at last partially (some of them began prior to the tape release), but I imagine the race will tighten again at least a bit in the final couple weeks before election day.

A double digit win, though, would result in a lot of the south (Arizona, South Carolina, Georgia, and possibly Texas) going Democrat once again. The margin of victory would be even greater than both of Obama's victories, and probably greater than Bill's 1996 reelection victory as well.

I also don't like Hillary being up by this much at this stage. She and her campaign have a habit of becoming complacent, and often make easily avoidable mistakes when in the lead. The chances of her saying something careless right now are pretty high.

I think they'll buckle down for these last 30 days.

So many people I've spoken to will (or would) vote Trump. I've heard nobody say Hillary. What did she do that's so bad?