Haha, I missed that! I did see the "I woulda said something harsh but she brought her daughter, maybe she shouldn't have done that...". Freakin classy.
Whew. I watched live on TYT stream and didn't end up drinking, it was tough enough keeping track of my friends on Skype (also TYT interjected occasionally too). I think that went really well!
Just finished catching up with this thread and I found myself agreeing with the general sentiments, lol. What a ride.
I have to say, the thing that probably rusted my jimmies most about this debate is Trump repeatedly harping on people Taking the Fifth as evidence of their guilt. That's a twisted way to disparage one of the fundamental rights of the legal system, and while probably even most Trump approved judges would know better, it's still a worrying prospect.
I know right? I had my brother on Skype, and that was probably the biggest sticking point (well except that he kept calling her a liar, but that's a whole visit to Politifact away). I don't want to call him on it directly, but he believes very strongly in citizens being innocent until proven guilty and amendment protections, because the police are corrupt scumbags and all that... But then turns around and says that same corruption is why Hillary should be treated as guilty after being cleared.
Of course, she outright admitted she made a mistake, but he acts like she was as malicious as Trump was as he scammed and ruined hundreds of thousands of people in his ventures.
Are you guys really so confident that anything happened here that will effect the vote? Or is this echo-chambering because Hillary's style appeals better to our collective lean? Because I don't get the impression that Trump did anything that would jeopardize his conservative base. His whole debate read like a typical conservative Facebook post to me. Random guy in Indiana could post that junk and most of the state would enthusiastically like and re-share. Just how much undecided, moderate vote is really out there these days that would be swayed one way or another vs whatever their lean was before the debate?
This is a totally valid concern, and I don't think Trump's going to lose core voters over this. Or basically anything - like he said, he could shoot someone. I saw Facebook the other day and the posts from some of my own family in the country were even worse than I expected, which is saying something.
But I think debates matter a lot to moderates. And even to liberal undecideds, this election. I was seriously going to vote for Jill Stein a couple weeks ago, as a protest vote. Her unpresidential antics are actually arguably positive in that regard, maybe, maybe not. But she stands by some rather crazy positions, which was making it hard to be sure. This debate helped me decide.
Debates aren't about the issues, the issues have been out there to examine for months. A debate is about "Can this person be a strong, charismatic representative?" My take-away is that Clinton can firmly argue our interests with aggressive foreign leaders and with congress. (I mean, duh, she was secretary of state, successful senator, and an active (if unsuccessful) first lady... but it's important to see it here)
What I will do is *actually* protest the two-party system. Going out there with a sign even once is probably worth a few dozen votes for Stein.