Will you shut up, man?

 We are 48 hours past the first debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Much will be written though I can’t imagine anyone will have changed their opinion.

It takes me back to a year ago when I was scrutinizing the Democrats candidates as possible debate opponents for Donald Trump. While I don’t think anyone was able to dominate the debate stage- at various moments there were Pete Buttigieg always level- headed and unshaken, Kamala Harris, a former prosecutor and Marianne Williamson, a public speaker who focused on lifestyle not policy. Even more unlikely than Williamson, at various times, it seemed like some unorthodox candidates might emerge. In the early days of the campaign, Michael Avenatti seemed an alternative elixir for the “they go low, we go high”. Later, it was comedian Ben Glieb who surely had handled a heckler or two in his career. I can only propose what I would do in a debate with 45, but the point is moot, the nominee chosen. This isn’t the dirtiest campaign ever (I mentioned 1876 recently) but we still have a month to go. When the book on 2020 is written, some mention should be made of the Lincoln Project. The Lincoln Project (if you are not aware) is a group of Republicans who badger Trump at every turn. Their intended audience, they say is sometimes just the President himself. Founded by George Conway and advisors to the George W. Bush and McCain campaigns and attracting big names like former RNC Chair Michael Steele, Romney strategist Stuart Stevens and various pundits and former Republican White House Staffers, the Lincoln Project is a tour de force with over two million Twitter followers. A typical Lincoln Project tweet might attack Trump on his handling of COVID, rebutting things he said or simply quoting Rex Tillerson saying “He’s a f*cking moron”. James Carville suggests “the Democrats could learn a lot from them. They’re mean. They fight hard. (Democrats) don’t fight like that”.

The second striking but sadly obvious thing is that the Two aren’t going to share their stage. Third party and independent candidates used the debate best as they could to get their message out. Libertarian candidate Jo Jorgensen went to Cleveland as well and did a video Q&A with Reason magazine after police ran her out of the debate area. She saw her web traffic skyrocket to the point of crashing her site while her running mate Spike Cohen hosted a virtual debate watch party. Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins similarly travelled to Cleveland, hosted a video response and reported high traffic as well. He met with local media and clarified his positions. Independent candidate Jade Simmons hosted her own debate- sitting with a moderator answering the same questions in the same time constraints. Write-in Presidential candidate Sorinne Ardeleanu joined the Compound Media watch party along side the likes of Ann Coulter and Larry Sharpe.

In any case, like most of you, I watched as much of the debate as I could stand. What is left to say?

Well, what anyone needs to know was captured by the Songify the News guys- the people who auto-tune the news and post on YouTube and this time they hired Weird Al Yankovic.

So since this blog has focused on the most Musical Moments of this campaign, it only seems natural to feature that video here: