I've had people say it's a hardening, actually ~ US presidential election 2016 part 9/11 never forget

Oh god that's the most encouraging thing to come from Lauer blowing it. I hope it motivates them as well.

I think it will. Press is hypersensitive to the kind of criticism Lauer got, so the questioners should go hard on Trump.

i don't necessarily think clinton will "wipe the floor" w/ him and im sure he will get in a bunch of zingers that will be replayed endlessly but the format isn't great for him and yea like outic said trump has never been in a one-on-one debate

this is all probably true but I think the reason why this is must-watch TV is because Trump tends to lose his mind a bit when he gets cornered and I think Clinton's team is coming up with all kinds of ways to goad him into saying something stupid. the thing about the CiC forum is that he wound up saying all kinds of ridiculous things even though Lauer softballed him and allowed him to get away with all sorts of deflection - that won't work here.

ofc I don't think it'll matter much in the end. I dunno what Trump would have to say in order to lose the voters he hasn't lost already. Best thing Clinton can do is try to talk about herself as much as she can.

if he calls Clinton a bitch it's p much over

Hillary should come out with oversized prosthetic hands

hahaha

http://www.country1067.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/33/files/hulksmashhands.jpg

I can definitely see Trump getting into some trouble by shouting over her. Sanders did this a few times during the Dem debates and it came across very poorly.

I'm trying not to be too optimistic about them but part of me feels like they're going to get watched by a lot of people who don't really follow politics (they do draw higher ratings than NFL games), who don't like either candidate but don't know how awful and clueless Trump really is. Sometimes I have to take a step back and see that there aren't very many people who follow this like the people on this thread do.

late Monmouth poll hit today and has Hillary up 5 points in Florida.

weirdly, after that poll hit, 538 put the odds at the strongest ever for Trump. I know there was a bevy of IPSOS state polls today that I wonder if he was late to factor in.

at this point....I'm not looking at these stupid things anymore. bring on Nov.

I see some discussion was had upthread about this (was at work all day).

lol

nate silver was tweeting about polls showing a tie in maine and hill down by a bit in nevada and some other state.. maybe just up by 1 in north carolina?

I can definitely see Trump getting into some trouble by shouting over her. Sanders did this a few times during the Dem debates and it came across very poorly.

Male politicians can't seem to stop themselves from doing this when they're one-on-one against her. Rick Lazio did it, too, actually walking from his podium to hers to get her to sign some stupid pledge of his...he wound up losing by 10 points.

I feel like (hope?) the Clinton team hasn't even had to crack open their oppo research folder yet, but October should be a bad month for Trump.

I like this: https://medium.com/@HillaryClinton/an-open-letter-to-wells-fargo-customers-c0c1bc508866#.pe8pf4jv8

in a way it behooves the media to sit on these extra juicy tidbits until october because it gives them max time for the ol' horse race

I kinda doubt that's happening tbh. As noted there's already so much that's been thrown at him and it just kinda goes nowhere (cf.ongoing Washington Post charity investigation), the press doesn't know how to handle Trump's "scandals" because there's too many of them and he's managed to insulate himself from the damage with a segment of the population who essentially do not traffic in facts or rationality (or effects for that matter)

or ETHICS for that matter

I meant to say

cuz you know, the press is just so so unfair

I'm thinking more about the sleazy, juicy stuff, not the, you know, actual scandals.

hillary letter is nice buuuuut.. same shit happened 8 years ago and aint nobody got prosecuted for that

I think you have to bring down Trump where he's vulnerable--whatever his perceived "strengths" are among the people ready to vote for him--and I personally don't think opposition research gets you there (outside of something like the story floating around about the 13-year-old--if proven, obviously that would kill his campaign). I'm just hard-pressed to think of any kind of revelation about his business dealings that's going to dissuade a Trump voter (or that he can't just deny or dodge long enough to get to the election).

The Russian hackers hacked and leaked the Trump oppo file, meaning Clinton and the DNC could never strategically use it.

cuz you know, the press is just so so unfair

which campaign?

Joe Schlabotnik

"He's worth 100 million", that would do it.

I am thinking I might vote for Hillary.

i'm thinking about it too

I think she's an incredibly weak candidate and not a very good pol either, but I am now becoming concerned that Naderizing the election could vault Trump into office.

doesnt Johnson draw at least as much "from" Trump? and Stein will get her usual 1%, mostly in solid blue states.

what state are you in, ddw?

as with Nader, people fail to consider that many protest voters would not vote for their preferred major-party candidate under any circumstances.

I'm in Atlanta. We are a city surrounded by the Confederacy and the state of Georgia.

I don't know how much Johnson would draw from Trump, but this is the worst election I've ever seen. Almost every conservative I know is in complete angst and hates both candidates but can't fathom the idea of Trump being president.

I don't even think "I dislike both candidates" is a viable viewpoint this election. Like it's totally understandable to not like Hillary but there is really no metric in which Trump is not 100x worse.

Almost every lefty I know is in complete angst and hates both candidates but can't fathom the idea of Trump being president.

As opposed to liberals of course

the crucial clarification, there it is

I suspect many lefties, Dems or liberals alike migggggght be more willing to cop to Hillary's faults after the election's over, but are just currently too shellshocked by the fact that Trump has yet to disappear up his own asshole

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/donald-trump-other-peoples-money-228434#ixzz4KpwV1YaL

Roger Stine predicting Michelle Obama will replace Hillary:
https://twitter.com/rogerjstonejr/status/778431837630767104

*Stone

i don't know how anyone can his (trump's not stone's) hairdo and seriously consider voting for him

*see his hairdo

Roger Stone describes himself as a "Libertarian conservative" and wears suspenders. I value his opinions accordingly.

i value his sweet ass

Stone's hair transplant is a lot better than Trump's, it's true

Yo I'm completely down with that

Xp

https://twitter.com/SopanDeb/status/778422101007077376

xpost That's why it seems plausible - it's like, great idea! Michelle vs. Trump: now there's a debate.

"Donald, why don't girls like you?"

"I'm going to talk fast because assume your wife is feverishly taking down notes..."

For about 15 seconds I was regretting my decision to go to every city council meeting because it means that I can't watch the first presidential debate, but then I was really happy that I decided to go to every city council meeting because that means I can't watch the first presidential debate.