He calls what happened "a bad debate" because the endpoint of this kind of thinking is the idea that you can just use whatever words you want and convince people to believe them. If Biden only had a "bad debate," this would not be the news cycle consensus. Sometimes reality has an objective force.
I think a lot of Realistic Sober And Cynical politics-knowers have spent the last 6 months or so refusing to see how visibly Biden has declined--"oh that video is doctored, out of context, this is a GOP narrative" etc--and there is virtually nothing that can shake their certainty on this point
I keep relating this to palliative care for obvious reasons. There comes a point with every patient and family where the denial breaks, sometimes not until after they die, but it comes. always.
There is a moment where people know "it's over". They saw that physical look last night with Joe.
Nobody EVER wants to acknowledge that moment. Now the moment is somewhat random and the time is as well but that is not the point.
The point is that moment makes you feel like shit and no one wants to vote for something that makes you feel like shit
There's also recognizing the news cycles inherent biases and how Trump's bombastic approach tilts anything televised and, I dunno, doing something more to counter it? Not expecting magic, but some better tactics to shift that bias than these clock punching consultants.
