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Debate Wishlist 

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Clarissa

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What I hope for is that at the debate Hillary pushes Trump on the tax returns. People care about taxes and they need to know if their candidates do, too. 

Also, I hope she brings up the issue of how readily he has always exported jobs to China and imported Mexican workers to work for him. 

And I’d like to hear something like, “Many people say that Trump University is a scam.” 

What is your wish list for the debate? I’m not wishing for anything that moderators might do because I have no confidence they’ll do anything but suck. 

52 responses to “Debate Wishlist ”

  1. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Dreidel here…

    Since both candidates are going to lie throughout the 90-minute debate, my wish is that the moderator WON’T take the terrible advice being offered by liberal websites to call out any perceived lie by either candidate (in their “progressive” mindset, the websites really mean calling out Trump).

    This is a debate, not an interview. If (when!) either candidate lies, it’ll be up to the other candidate to point that out. Otherwise, the debate will end up with the moderator doing most of the talking — and nobody wants that.

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    1. Stringer Bell Avatar
      Stringer Bell

      “Facts are scary things!”

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    2. Evelina Anville Avatar
      Evelina Anville

      It is a grievous error to suggest that Clinton and Trump are equally mendacious. Independent fact checkers have revealed that Clinton is more or less truthful while Trump lies with a frequency that’s almost astonishing. The simple fact is that there is nothing in which Trump is Clinton’s equal or superior. These are two vastly different candidates.

      Liked by 1 person

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      1. Clarissa Avatar
        Clarissa

        “It is a grievous error to suggest that Clinton and Trump are equally mendacious. Independent fact checkers have revealed that Clinton is more or less truthful while Trump lies with a frequency that’s almost astonishing. ”

        • If anybody has a link on hand to the website that fact-checked the candidates and demonstrated that Clinton is vastly superior in terms of truthfulness, please post it now. It’s a well-known link but I don’t have it at hand.

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  2. Stringer Bell Avatar
    Stringer Bell

    My wishlist:

    A debate moderator who won’t let himself be run over by Trump.

    A mention of Trump’s enthusiastic support for the Iraq invasion, which he lies about now.

    Some sort of a real-time fact check on the TV screen. A couple of networks have tried this with a lot of success. People love it. Something like ‘Trump: I never supported the Iraq war (He did).”

    Do away with bullshit like real time ‘audience reactions’ charts where they do this stupid thing of hooking up people to heart rate monitors and then use that as a metric for resonance. It’s stupid and it’s useless. Instead of that, use that screen space to real-time fact checking I mentioned above. It’s much more informative to the audience. Because, let’s face it, nobody’s going to go to politifact.com the next day to find out exactly who lied and how much. Once something’s uttered on TV and there’s no instant challenge, the damage is done. TV’s a powerful medium, most people (like 90%+) still get their news from it.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      The problem is that Trump doesn’t utter anything but lies. I don’t think he’s physiologically capable of spending 3 minutes without releasing a massive whopper.

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    2. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      I didn’t know about heart rate monitors. What kind of idiocy is that?

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  3. Stringer Bell Avatar
    Stringer Bell

    “Otherwise, the debate will end up with the moderator doing most of the talking — and nobody wants that.”

    Which is why the realtime fact checking on the screen is so much better. The moderator is not forced to interrupt the candidates, the debates run smoothly, and the audience is informed about the facts. Win win win.

    Any objection to that?

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Avatar
      Anonymous

      Dreridel here…

      “Any objection to that?”

      Yes, two objections:

      Constant fact-checking messages on the screen would distract attention away from the two candidates who are supposed to be the center of attention. People watch the debates to see and hear the candidates and judge their behavior.

      Second, both candidates are going to tell so many lies and half-truths — Trump on his support of the Iraq War, Hillary on her policy on Libya, Trump on his university, Hillary on the Clinton Foundation, Trump on his “conservative values,” Hillary on her support for freed trade and the Keystone Pipeline, etc., etc. — that if both candidates were given honest, non-partisan call-outs, the on-screen messages would be on most of the time.

      Much too distracting. Just let the candidates do their job and call out each other’s falsehoods.

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      1. Clarissa Avatar
        Clarissa

        Dreidel, you forgot to mention: they are both FAT!!!

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        1. Avatar
          Anonymous

          Dreidel here…

          But that’s not a lie, so that wouldn’t trigger the real-time fact checker. 🙂

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          1. Evelina Anville Avatar
            Evelina Anville

            I am befuddled whenever Dreidel describes Clinton as fat. Am I the only one that thinks she had an entirely average body–especially given her age??

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            1. Avatar
              Anonymous

              Dreidel here…

              Multiple studies agree that about 70% of American adults are overweight (aka “fat”), so by that standard both Trump and Hillary have average American bodies.

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              1. Clarissa Avatar
                Clarissa

                Dreidel: could you try leaving a comment with “dreidel” in the “name” box? I want to see if it’s back to working. When I have to moderate this manually, there is always a delay and that breaks teh flow of the conversation.

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            2. Clarissa Avatar
              Clarissa

              “I am befuddled whenever Dreidel describes Clinton as fat.”

              • It’s not about Clinton. He has some issue with fatness, maybe a health concern, who knows. It’s best to treat this with kindness and understanding. I’ve know people who are obsessed with FAT!!! and it’s always about them and not about anybody else.

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  4. Evelina Anville Avatar
    Evelina Anville

    My wish is that we don’t hear anything about the stupid emails or the benign Clinton Foundation. Is that too much to hope for?

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      “My wish is that we don’t hear anything about the stupid emails or the benign Clinton Foundation.”

      • This would make me a happy, happy person. I now shudder whenever I hear the word “emails” in any context.

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    2. matt Avatar
      matt

      aka nothing unfavorable to my candidate.. geesh. purely ridiculous. is comical tho 🙂

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      1. Clarissa Avatar
        Clarissa

        Nobody minds unfavorable. We mind only what’s boring. Life is too short to waste on things that have already been discussed ad nauseam.

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      2. Evelina Anville Avatar
        Evelina Anville

        ‘aka nothing unfavorable to my candidate.. geesh. purely ridiculous. is comical tho”

        I don’t mind unfavorable. As Clarissa says, I mind boring. I also mind irrelevant. There is nothing particularly shocking or newsworthy about either story.

        I return to the point that there is nothing equal about these politicians. Trump openly appeals to the KKK/neo-Nazis, has rape allegations in his background, gleefully pronounces that “bombing the shit out of them” is foreign policy, plans to destroy the Iran agreement, wants to criminalize women for having abortions, has an economic “plan” that would plunge us in catastrophe while ensuring his rich buddies get a few more tax breaks, wants to start a trade ward with China. (I could go on and on.)

        By comparison, Clinton wasn’t a careful enough steward of e-mails? Maybe she paid attention to some donors to her legitimately helpful charitable organization? Come on. Clinton’s “scandals” are so dumb and entirely fanned if not invented by a media eager to display themselves as balanced.

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          I know many unfavorable things about Clinton. I’m not a wide-eyed enthusiast who has appointed her to the role of the Perfect Mommy. Once she’s inaugurated, I will be blogging about everything she does wrong, just like I did with Obama. But the stupid emails or the charity or Bill’s sex life are not going to be among the things I’ll write about because they are boring and irrelevant.

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  5. Dreidel Avatar
    Dreidel

    “Dreidel: could you try leaving a comment with “dreidel” in the “name” box?”

    Glad to oblige — here you go.

    “‘I am befuddled whenever Dreidel describes Clinton as fat.” It’s not about Clinton. He has some issue with fatness, maybe.”

    Actually, Clarissa, YOU’RE the one who brought up Hillary’s weight in this thread. (“Dreidel, you forgot to mention: they are both FAT!!!”) Everybody on this website feels free to take jibes at Trump’s physical appearance — and at all the Republicans during the primaries — so why isn’t Hillary fair game?

    Do I have an issue with fatness? Actually, I’ve been tall and scrawny all my life, and that’s fine with me. At my age I can eat all I want, anytime I’m hungry, no dietary restrictions at all, and my belt size never changes.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      “At my age I can eat all I want, anytime I’m hungry, no dietary restrictions at all, and my belt size never changes.”

      • I knew you had an issue. This comment demonstrates it.

      But hey, the comment got posted. Yay!

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      1. Dreidel Avatar
        Dreidel

        Yes, you have no idea how traumatic it is to be able to eat like a glutton and not suffer the consequences. Obviously, undeserved thin privilege!

        Somehow, my psyche survives the horror! 🙂

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  6. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Dreidel here…

    “Dreidel: could you try leaving a comment with “dreidel” in the “name” box? I want to see if it’s back to working.”

    Clarissa, I just posted a “Dreidel” comment four minutes ago (at 2:46 Arizona time).

    This “anonymous” comment is being posted at 2:51. Let me know which one you get first. Thanks.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Sorry, I got distracted but they are now both here.

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    2. Dreidel Avatar
      Dreidel

      So did the “Dreidel” vs. “anomymous” label make any difference with my above comments, or did WordPress treat both posts the same?

      IF labeling my posts “Dreidel” doesn’t slow them down compared to “anonymous,”
      I can just go back to using “Dreidel” all the time — which method do you recommend, Clarissa?

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      1. Dreidel Avatar
        Dreidel

        Never mind — my last post appeared instantly, so the question is answered!

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          Good! It was one of those temporary glitches.

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  7. Stringer Bell Avatar
    Stringer Bell

    http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/lists/people/comparing-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-truth-o-met/

    View post on imgur.com

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Oh thank you! Yes, it’s that one. Let’s trust the numbers, at least.

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      1. Stringer Bell Avatar
        Stringer Bell

        “Trump and Clinton lie equally.”

        -Shameless pieces of shit everywhere.

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    2. Dreidel Avatar
      Dreidel

      Anybody notice how PolitiFact’s “Who Lies More” list runs in a direct line from the most conservative Republicans at the top to liberal Democrats at the most “progressive” Democrats at the bottom (the one exception is “J Bush”)?

      That says a bit about PolitiFact’s bias, doesn’t it?

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      1. Stringer Bell Avatar
        Stringer Bell

        Or it could just be that they lie a lot. Like, there’s this whole GOP industry based solely upon grifting that has no equivalent in the democratic party. Gold buybacks, reverse mortgages, ‘survival’ doomsday bunkers, lifelock, the list goes on.

        The business model of your party is preying upon its own base.

        ‘Death panels!’

        Liked by 1 person

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        1. Stringer Bell Avatar
          Stringer Bell

          Also funny to note that Jeb Bush is right alongside Sanders and Clinton in the rankings. No wonder he got his ass kicked in the primaries.

          ‘We don’t like your kind around here’. 😀

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        2. Dreidel Avatar
          Dreidel

          “Gold buybacks, reverse mortgages, ‘survival’ doomsday bunkers, lifelock…”

          What connection do ANY of these commercial enterprises have with either political party? (Don’t claim that their advertisements on Fox prove anything. ALL of the cable news channels run the same ads — often at the same time, as a little channel surfing will demonstrate.)

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    3. matt Avatar
      matt

      Independent.. nice, so out of 24 people 3 of the 4 most honest are all democrats. hilarious. very independent.

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      1. Stringer Bell Avatar
        Stringer Bell

        Oh, you need a safe space from reality too?

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply
  8. David Gendron Avatar
    David Gendron

    Trump should not go out with his racist rants about Muslims and blacks like he’s doing all the time in his rallies. He should insist more and more about “crooked Hillary” , “emails” and “pay to play” to depict Clinton as much corrupt as possible.

    Completely off-topic, Clarissa: do you know a short article/essay about 3rd wave feminism?

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    1. Dreidel Avatar
      Dreidel

      Google “third-wave feminism,” and you’ll find a thousand articles from every viewpoint possible.

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  9. David Gendron Avatar
    David Gendron

    pay for play, I should have said…

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  10. Stringer Bell Avatar
    Stringer Bell

    “What connection do ANY of these commercial enterprises have with either political party?”

    http://mediamatters.org/blog/2015/01/26/the-conservative-movement-is-infected-with-scam/202272

    http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/super-pac-scams-114581_full.html?print

    http://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-long-con

    “Mike Huckabee sold out his fans to a quack doctor, conspiracy theorists, and financial fraudsters.”

    “Subscribers to CNN analyst Newt Gingrich’s email list have received supposed insider information about cancer “cures,” the Illuminati, “Obama’s ‘Secret Mistress,’” a “weird” Social Security “trick,” and Fort Knox being “empty.”

    Haha, this is your party. Like I said, anyone who believes Trump and Clinton lie equally is too chickenshit to face reality or just a shameless piece of shit.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Dreidel Avatar
      Dreidel

      “Like I said, anyone who believes Trump and Clinton lie equally is too chickenshit to face reality or just a shameless piece of shit.”

      Well, I can’t rebut a reasoned, mature statement like that, so I guess you win! 🙂

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      1. Stringer Bell Avatar
        Stringer Bell

        Yeah, you were clearly holding your own when we posted data. It’s just the ‘shit’ word that threw you off.

        lol @ U 😀

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply
  11. Fie upon this quiet life Avatar
    Fie upon this quiet life

    I kind of want Trump to utterly lose his shit and make himself look like an idiot. But who knows what would happen then? There’s a certain American demographic that loves that crap. It could be Jerry Springer all over again.

    I really hope that Hillary gets some zingers in on Trump about his lies and stupidity.

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    1. Dreidel Avatar
      Dreidel

      Of course, being a foaming-at-the-mouth loon, Jerry Springer was the elected Democratic mayor of a major city.

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      1. Fie upon this quiet life Avatar
        Fie upon this quiet life

        If you’ve ever watched Jerry Springer, you’d know that it was his guests, not him, who were foaming at the mouth. Or more likely drooling with their below 60-something IQ levels

        I also don’t think that every Democrat is a perfect picture of ethos and stoicism, but I do think that Clinton is more suitable for the presidency. I hope she shines in the debates.

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        1. Dreidel Avatar
          Dreidel

          It’s now been proven that many of Springer’s “guests” were hired actors playing a role.

          In any case, most of the vocal clowns in Hollywood are Democrats. The political minority are referred to as “intelligent.”

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  12. Stringer Bell Avatar
    Stringer Bell

    “This Politifacts ranking of liars is baloney! The media is so biased against us.”

    “By the way, can you please not fact-check my candidate during the debates?”

    So funny that only republicans are shitting their pants at the very idea of fact-checking. Why? It’s a mystery!

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. David Gendron Avatar
      David Gendron

      Clinton should do the fact-checking during the debate and the media should do it after the debate.

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  13. cliff arroyo Avatar
    cliff arroyo

    All this talk about lies and facts is all very good and nice, but mostly irrelevant.

    The bulk of the evidence is that presidential elections are mostly a barometer of the nation’s collective mood. Do they want more of what they’ve had for the last four or eight years or is it time to change the guard? Of course this is not always clear cut and there is often a lot of ambivalence on both sides as in 2000.

    Overall Clinton is gambling that the former option is true, that the public would be happy with another four years of Obama-ish policies (and maybe some neocon military interventions thrown in – when has that never worked out well?)

    But if that were the case, then she wouldn’t have had a serious challenger in the primaries, especially one who was criticizing Obama from the left. As I keep saying the emerging number one issue in the US (as in Europe) is global vs local (Sanders was such a threat to Clinton because he’s firmly a localist).

    All that said…. Clinton’s best chance is to make Trump seem…. non-presidential.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      I think it’s worse than that. People simply want to be entertained and will support the candidate who is the most fun.

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A conservative literary critic and college professor

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