Dueling town halls tomorrow evening

[Cortopassi]

Joe Biden's town hall on ABC averaged 13.9 million viewers on Thursday night, easily surpassing the Nielsen ratings for President Trump's town hall on NBC. That alone was a result virtually no one in the TV business expected. And that's not even the most surprising part.

The Trump town hall was simulcast by two of NBC's cable channels, MSNBC and CNBC, but even when those channels are included in the total, Biden -- on only one network -- still prevailed.
----------------
While surprising to many media and political observers, Biden's ratings strength has been palpable for months.
When Trump participated in a town hall on ABC last month, the event averaged 3.8 million viewers.
When Biden held a town hall on NBC, MSNBC and CNBC last week, it averaged 6.7 million viewers.

I'm actually not that surprised. I'm sure many people tuned in to see how many idiotic and incoherent things Biden would say.

And...did he? I watched snippets, but did not see any of that. Are there far right websites teeming with videos from last night confirming he has Alzheimer's?

[vnatale]

Joe Biden's town hall on ABC averaged 13.9 million viewers on Thursday night, easily surpassing the Nielsen ratings for President Trump's town hall on NBC. That alone was a result virtually no one in the TV business expected. And that's not even the most surprising part.

The Trump town hall was simulcast by two of NBC's cable channels, MSNBC and CNBC, but even when those channels are included in the total, Biden -- on only one network -- still prevailed.
----------------
While surprising to many media and political observers, Biden's ratings strength has been palpable for months.
When Trump participated in a town hall on ABC last month, the event averaged 3.8 million viewers.
When Biden held a town hall on NBC, MSNBC and CNBC last week, it averaged 6.7 million viewers.

I'm actually not that surprised. I'm sure many people tuned in to see how many idiotic and incoherent things Biden would say.

And...did he? I watched snippets, but did not see any of that. Are there far right websites teeming with videos from last night confirming he has Alzheimer's?

Just listened to Trump again. He IS highly entertaining at his rallies. But when he is being directly asked questions and challenged on his answers he comes off quite poorly. A lot of "I don't know's" to what he SHOULD know! A lot of crazy suppositions he throws out there. All around, just a lot of craziness from him!

I'll soon be listening to Biden for the first time.

I chose Trump first because he's always the far more entertaining choice.

Vinny

[Tortoise]

And...did he? I watched snippets, but did not see any of that. Are there far right websites teeming with videos from last night confirming he has Alzheimer's?

Yes, Biden did say at least one idiotic thing. He said that little kids should have the right to decide to have transgender surgery if they want:

https://youtu.be/_jPL2ZRQQdU

[glennds]

Joe Biden's town hall on ABC averaged 13.9 million viewers on Thursday night, easily surpassing the Nielsen ratings for President Trump's town hall on NBC. That alone was a result virtually no one in the TV business expected. And that's not even the most surprising part.

The Trump town hall was simulcast by two of NBC's cable channels, MSNBC and CNBC, but even when those channels are included in the total, Biden -- on only one network -- still prevailed.
----------------
While surprising to many media and political observers, Biden's ratings strength has been palpable for months.
When Trump participated in a town hall on ABC last month, the event averaged 3.8 million viewers.
When Biden held a town hall on NBC, MSNBC and CNBC last week, it averaged 6.7 million viewers.

I'm actually not that surprised. I'm sure many people tuned in to see how many idiotic and incoherent things Biden would say.

I haven't watched the whole thing, but Biden's performance has me scratching my head. For the longest time, the conventional wisdom among Trump supporters was that Biden was a completely incoherent dementia patient that would be stumbling all over himself, unable to construct or maintain any logic or consistent thought. But that has not been the case to my eye in either the DNC, the first debate or last night's town hall.
So was all this speculation about the extent of Biden's cognitive impairment just a hoax (or a hope)?

If anyone comes off as incoherent in recent weeks it's Trump. Although in last night's Town Hall maybe he deserves a pass if he's still under the influence of Covid or treatment drugs. Of course if this were indeed the case, it raises a question as to what your comfort level might be with having an impaired President under any circumstances.

[Cortopassi]

Joe Biden's town hall on ABC averaged 13.9 million viewers on Thursday night, easily surpassing the Nielsen ratings for President Trump's town hall on NBC. That alone was a result virtually no one in the TV business expected. And that's not even the most surprising part.

The Trump town hall was simulcast by two of NBC's cable channels, MSNBC and CNBC, but even when those channels are included in the total, Biden -- on only one network -- still prevailed.
----------------
While surprising to many media and political observers, Biden's ratings strength has been palpable for months.
When Trump participated in a town hall on ABC last month, the event averaged 3.8 million viewers.
When Biden held a town hall on NBC, MSNBC and CNBC last week, it averaged 6.7 million viewers.

I'm actually not that surprised. I'm sure many people tuned in to see how many idiotic and incoherent things Biden would say.

I haven't watched the whole thing, but Biden's performance has me scratching my head. For the longest time, the conventional wisdom among Trump supporters was that Biden was a completely incoherent dementia patient that would be stumbling all over himself, unable to construct or maintain any logic or consistent thought. But that has not been the case to my eye in either the DNC, the first debate or last night's town hall.
So was all this speculation about the extent of Biden's cognitive impairment just a hoax (or a hope)?

If anyone comes off as incoherent in recent weeks it's Trump. Although in last night's Town Hall maybe he deserves a pass if he's still under the influence of Covid or treatment drugs. Of course if this were indeed the case, it raises a question as to what your comfort level might be with having an impaired President under any circumstances.

But WAIT there's more.....Hunter....emails...laptop...Chinese... dammit, nothing is sticking.... 18 days....

Oh, and...Jon Voight!

“Biden is evil. Trump must win. He’s real. He will bring back the people’s trust,”

Trump will bring back the people's trust after 4 years of squandering it??

[Tyler]

I haven't watched the whole thing, but Biden's performance has me scratching my head. For the longest time, the conventional wisdom among Trump supporters was that Biden was a completely incoherent dementia patient that would be stumbling all over himself, unable to construct or maintain any logic or consistent thought. But that has not been the case to my eye in either the DNC, the first debate or last night's town hall.
So was all this speculation about the extent of Biden's cognitive impairment just a hoax (or a hope)?

IMO, it's hard to read too much into events that are clearly staged for a predetermined outcome. Did you know one of the questioners in the Biden town hall presented as an "undecided" voter was a speechwriter in the Obama administration? How many times do you think Biden rehearsed his answer ahead of time?

[doodle]

I couldn't disagree more. A moderator of a debate should not be asking a known enemy of one of the debate participants what to do about ANYTHING.

Known enemy. You mean the list of people who were all great, and then were losers / I barely knew them? That list seems to grow daily.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/04/politics ... index.html

Sorry I couldn't find a concise list. I guess most/all those people went in knowing to some level what they were getting into, so this is not all on Trump.

What does it matter how many people are on that list? Does the number of people who hate Trump affect the propriety of asking one of them for advice when you are SUPPOSED TO BE UNBIASED?

Obviously not, if you don't have TDS.

Techno, would you say that you have BDS? You seem more unhinged about him than almost anything I've seen about Trump.

[glennds]

I haven't watched the whole thing, but Biden's performance has me scratching my head. For the longest time, the conventional wisdom among Trump supporters was that Biden was a completely incoherent dementia patient that would be stumbling all over himself, unable to construct or maintain any logic or consistent thought. But that has not been the case to my eye in either the DNC, the first debate or last night's town hall.
So was all this speculation about the extent of Biden's cognitive impairment just a hoax (or a hope)?

IMO, it's hard to read too much into events that are clearly staged for a predetermined outcome. Did you know one of the questioners in the Biden town hall presented as an "undecided" voter was a speechwriter in the Obama administration? How many times do you think Biden rehearsed his answer ahead of time?

Interesting story, thanks. I can't say for sure whether Biden's answers to that person or others were rehearsed or not.

All I'm saying is that the talk among the Trump campaign, surrogates and supporters was vivid this summer about how cognitively impaired Biden is, to the point where you might expect him to show up to a debate or interview drooling on himself.
Whether there was rehearsing or not, the image of a mentally disabled dementia case just doesn't seem to be materializing, and perhaps it was a tactical blunder because they set the bar so low that now it's easy for him to exceed the expectations even if his performance is mediocre.

Do you feel the Trump town hall was staged? How do you feel he presented?

Either way, I think next week's live debate should be interesting, and hopefully more productive for voters than the last one.

[Libertarian666]

And...did he? I watched snippets, but did not see any of that. Are there far right websites teeming with videos from last night confirming he has Alzheimer's?

Yes, Biden did say at least one idiotic thing. He said that little kids should have the right to decide to have transgender surgery if they want:

https://youtu.be/_jPL2ZRQQdU

That appears to be considered a mainstream position in the current Democrat party.
Do any of the Democrats here want to come out against it?

[flyingpylon]

I haven't watched the whole thing, but Biden's performance has me scratching my head. For the longest time, the conventional wisdom among Trump supporters was that Biden was a completely incoherent dementia patient that would be stumbling all over himself, unable to construct or maintain any logic or consistent thought. But that has not been the case to my eye in either the DNC, the first debate or last night's town hall.
So was all this speculation about the extent of Biden's cognitive impairment just a hoax (or a hope)?

IMO, it's hard to read too much into events that are clearly staged for a predetermined outcome. Did you know one of the questioners in the Biden town hall presented as an "undecided" voter was a speechwriter in the Obama administration? How many times do you think Biden rehearsed his answer ahead of time?

Interesting story, thanks. I can't say for sure whether Biden's answers to that person or others were rehearsed or not.

All I'm saying is that the talk among the Trump campaign, surrogates and supporters was vivid this summer about how cognitively impaired Biden is, to the point where you might expect him to show up to a debate or interview drooling on himself.
Whether there was rehearsing or not, the image of a mentally disabled dementia case just doesn't seem to be materializing, and perhaps it was a tactical blunder because they set the bar so low that now it's easy for him to exceed the expectations even if his performance is mediocre.

Do you feel the Trump town hall was staged? How do you feel he presented?

Either way, I think next week's live debate should be interesting, and hopefully more productive for voters than the last one.

Some things to consider:

- How often does Biden make public appearances?
- Why does his campaign so often call a “lid” on the day before noon?
- When anyone is allowed to ask Biden questions, what kind of questions are they?
- How does he react to even slightly challenging impromptu questions on the rare occasions they are allowed?
- Why does he use a teleprompter during interviews?
- Why is there so much evidence of behavior that doesn’t match what happens in time-limited, controlled, extremely high-profile events?

Given those questions, does Biden project the level of energy, vibrance, and command you’d like to see in a President?

[Kriegsspiel]

Joe Biden's town hall on ABC averaged 13.9 million viewers on Thursday night, easily surpassing the Nielsen ratings for President Trump's town hall on NBC. That alone was a result virtually no one in the TV business expected. And that's not even the most surprising part.

The Trump town hall was simulcast by two of NBC's cable channels, MSNBC and CNBC, but even when those channels are included in the total, Biden -- on only one network -- still prevailed.
----------------
While surprising to many media and political observers, Biden's ratings strength has been palpable for months.
When Trump participated in a town hall on ABC last month, the event averaged 3.8 million viewers.
When Biden held a town hall on NBC, MSNBC and CNBC last week, it averaged 6.7 million viewers.

According to Tim Pool, Trump had almost a million more viewers when you include streaming, but "They always do this, because they want to create news that Biden is winning when he's not."

[Cortopassi]

Sorry, guys, but seems the phrase grasping at straws comes to mind.

Feel free to berate me with no end if Trump wins.

[pp4me]

The moderator of the next debate....

Let's get two questions out of the way to start....

Vice President Biden, how does the false story being pushed by the Trump campaign about your son Hunter make you feel.

Mr. President, are you now ready to admit that you are a white supremacist?

[Kriegsspiel]

Sorry, guys, but seems the phrase grasping at straws comes to mind.

Feel free to berate me with no end if Trump wins.

In what way is supplying you with the full viewership numbers, thus showing how the CNN article was misleading you as to how many people watched each one, grasping at straws?

[flyingpylon]

Sorry, guys, but seems the phrase grasping at straws comes to mind.

Feel free to berate me with no end if Trump wins.

Gosh, I hope they aren’t plastic straws, that would be terrible.

[vnatale]

Now listening to the Biden Town Hall in its entirety. Only heard the start of it yesterday prior to switching to baseball games.

I decided to time the answer to the first question asked. It took him OVER six minutes! Obama used to drive me crazy by doing the same thing.

Taking that much time to answer a question is NOT concisely and powerfully answering the question!

And, am I still the only one noticing that Biden is constantly repeating his sentences, with my analysis that he must be doing this because at some level he is realizing what he is saying is so weak that he thinks if he says it twice it then has twice the power?

He just speaks in prototypical dull politician-speak. Which means I have a difficult time concentrating on what he is saying because it is so dull.

On the other hand, though I disagree with Trump on just about everything, I can listen to one of his rallies three times in a row because he is just so wildly entertaining! But not so in his Town Hall. He was terrible and came off as some kind of wacko!

Vinny

[glennds]

On the other hand, though I disagree with Trump on just about everything, I can listen to one of his rallies three times in a row because he is just so wildly entertaining! But not so in his Town Hall. He was terrible and came off as some kind of wacko!

Vinny

So maybe you've just summarized in two lines why rallies are Trump's weapon of choice, and why he may very well win. We Americans love to be entertained.

[Tortoise]

We Americans love to be entertained.

Yes, the enjoyment of entertainment is indeed a uniquely American predilection.

[I Shrugged]

The moderator of the next debate....

Let's get two questions out of the way to start....

Vice President Biden, how does the false story being pushed by the Trump campaign about your son Hunter make you feel.

Mr. President, are you now ready to admit that you are a white supremacist?

[vnatale]

We Americans love to be entertained.

Yes, the enjoyment of entertainment is indeed a uniquely American predilection.

Is that true? I'm such a self-admitted provincial so I have no idea how much entertainment is enjoyed in every other country in the world.

Any of our non-Americans want to comment? Smith1776, our Canadian forum member? Our Australian forum member? Our European forum members?

Vinny

[glennds]

We Americans love to be entertained.

Yes, the enjoyment of entertainment is indeed a uniquely American predilection.

When I worked in hospital administration we used to marvel at how people would always choose the entertaining, charismatic smooth talking doctor who was borderline incompetent over the dorky physician who was in reality a truly superb surgeon.

Reminds me of the old joke about a small town with only two barbers, one immaculately groomed, and the other a sloppy mess. So you choose the immaculately groomed barber, only to realize it's the the slob who cuts his hair, immaculately.
Gimme the sizzle, hold the steak!

[Tortoise]

My comment about the enjoyment of humor being a uniquely American predilection was sarcastic, Vinny.

It is clearly a universal human trait.

[vnatale]

We Americans love to be entertained.

Yes, the enjoyment of entertainment is indeed a uniquely American predilection.

When I worked in hospital administration we used to marvel at how people would always choose the entertaining, charismatic smooth talking doctor who was borderline incompetent over the dorky physician who was in reality a truly superb surgeon.

Reminds me of the old joke about a small town with only two barbers, one immaculately groomed, and the other a sloppy mess. So you choose the immaculately groomed barber, only to realize it's the the slob who cuts his hair, immaculately.
Gimme the sizzle, hold the steak!

It's the same as the best person for the job does not get hired. It's the person who does the best in the interview process.

Same as we elect not the best person for the job but the person who runs the best campaign. It could actually be the best person who is elected. Or, it could not.

Vinny

[glennds]

If you know a better way, please share it.

Ask the nurses.
Or case managers, social workers, therapists, pharmacists/pharmacy techs, even the admitting clerks. They all know.
All you have to do is grab one and ask "off the record, which doctor would you choose if it were your loved one".
It's not hard.

Also, always go to your State Board of Medical Examiners website and in in 60 seconds you can pull up any licensed physician's complaint and disciplinary history. It's publicly accessible for a reason. Even one substantiated complaint is cause for concern. You'd be surprised what you often find.

Some people also recommend going to the jurisdictional court record website and looking for malpractice lawsuit history. I say take that with a grain of salt and maybe don't do it at all. I say this because we live in a uniquely litigious society where tort law and the economics of personal injury law encourage lawsuits, many of which are opportunistic and not necessarily a reflection of the provider's competence. Some states are far worse for this depending on whether their tort laws offer enhanced remedies (treble damages, liberal fee awards, consequential damages, etc.). In these states, volume of lawsuits will be higher simply because the legal landscape encourages it, not because the medical providers are any worse than anywhere else. Plus the vast majority of med mal lawsuits are settled, and for undisclosed terms. There is no indication of who "won" or "lost".

[Tortoise]

The AMA and state medical licensing guarantee that all doctors meet our expected lofty levels of quality, so “bad doctors” in fact do not exist.

Hope that puts you all at ease.