By Lafe Tolliver, Esq
Guest Column
After watching the Thursday night debacle billed as the first presidential debate, (I doubt there will be another one!), these are the only grim choices for the now aghast Democratic Party bosses:
(1) Choose what high level bridge to jump off; [(2) Sit in your car in your garage and plug up the exhaust tail pipe with a large Idaho potato; (3) Take the Midnight Train (all apologies to Gladys Knight and the Pips) back to Georgia and hide out until the election is over;(4) Become a nun or a monk and live in a monastery in Bolivia; (5) Join the French Foreign Legion and beg for a two-year overseas station in the country of Chad.
Where does one start with the underwhelming performance by Joe Biden?
When he first came on the stage, he looked “whitened out” and in a fog. No energy…no bounce…no charismatic grin.
Just Biden. Seemingly worn out (his camp is claiming he had a non-Covid cold) and acting as if he did not want to be there; and in retrospect, he should not have!
From beginning to end, Joe Biden seemed frail, confused, and unable to mount any strength to counter the fount of lies that Trump spewed forth for the 90 minute debate.
Repeatedly, Biden was given many openings by which to launch a salvo of facts against the lies of the convicted felon Trump, but shocking to all, he let the con and grifter take his lunch money.
Obviously, all the debate prep that the media reported about Biden having with his debate team was a waste of time and effort because Biden acted as if he just woke up and rushed onto the stage.
If I could have been the proverbial fly on the wall, I would want to see what facts he was fed to counter what he knew would be Trump doing his usual rally act and that is lying, exaggerating, more lying, more name calling and projecting on a now wilted Biden, his own moral deficiencies.
At points in the debate, I recalled the late Muhammad Ali’s trainer, Drew Bundini, in the champ’s corner yelling, “Hit him, champ…hit him!” because Ali was flat on feet and was not stinging like a bee.
Biden was not hitting Trump with anything but a wet paper towel. No jabs, no ‘rock’em sock’em’ punches, just flat stares and at times a gaping mouth with bulging eyes.
Biden’s voice was nasal, flat, and sounded whiny. His articulation was off and too many times, his pauses or lapses to find his place in the script was embarrassing to behold.
Of course, the wimpy moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash did a woeful job of holding Trump’s feet to the fire of factual proofs but even then, Biden did not pick up those cues and charge in against Trump.
Biden threw no strikes, just ball after ball after ball at Trump, the batter.
If this were a real baseball game, Biden would have been sent packing to some Triple A ball club, like the Toledo Mudhens, to get his groove back.
Needless to state, Biden should not engage in another debate with Trump regardless of what happens between now and November’s election.
If any voters who were sitting on the fence as to who to vote for based upon that candidate being alive and not sleeping walking, Trump won that contest.
Biden can govern. He admirable record shows that and his many accomplishments as the sitting president are beyond reproach. It just becomes a question for the undecided voter as to whom they want: A convicted felon, proven grifter, and con artist who lies as easily as one breathes air or a man who has a moral center and is out to better the country; and is not a puppet of Putin and who favors fat cat billionaires.
Regrettably, Biden’s age and quickness on his feet was on full display and it was not pretty to see. His apparent inability to weave and bob is gone. He puttered around with his words and his voice was not convincing but tired as if he was saying, “Hey coach, take me out of the game, my gas is gone!”
The voting public can be heartless and when they see a wounded candidate as Biden and their instinct will be to move it to the infirmary and let a stronger one takeover. Sad but true. Politics in America is now a blood sport. Losers are carried off on a stretcher. On Thursday night, Biden was on that stretcher.
The choice that the voting public has is unprecedented in American history because one candidate is hell bent on retribution against anyone, who in his alternate fact free universe, spoke against him and he wants to be a dictator or the current president who favors a fair system for all to participate in.
My choice? That is a no brainer: Biden.
Unless…….to be continued.
Contact Lafe Tolliver at tolliver@juno.com