Debate winner, thoughts?
Gang-
There are a bunch of thoughts, but we'll start with the single most universally beloved and potentially unifying thing from the most divisive election in the most divided time since the Civil War in our history:
All hail the 2-minute code of silence and the mic shut-off. Repeat: All hail.
Last night, regardless of who you thought won or lost, who scored points and who rambled pointlessly, the 2-minute warnings - and the hammer of the silenced mics - turned what was three weeks ago a shouting match below the standards of every schoolyard and most bar rooms back into a debate.
There were exchanges and one-liners. There were ideas - good and bad - and counterpoints. Yes, the moderator got pushed around on follow-ups more than once, but she looked as powerful as Marcellus Wallace compared to the showing from Chris Wallace.
(Side question: Pulp Fiction, underrated, overrated or properly rated? I think in some ways it has reached the cinematic point of Ben Wallace at the height of his powers with the Pistons. Translation: Ben Wallace was viewed as extremely underpaid and the best bargain in the NBA when he was getting 14 rebounds a game and making All-NBA defensive teams on a rookie contract. Then free agency hit, Wallace - lots of Wallace references this morning - got star money and he went from being super valuable and underrated to a guy getting B-level player money who could not score, so he was overpaid and overmatched. Pulp Fiction kind of has that feel, because yes, it's very good, and I quote it frequently, but it's not Moby Dick for Pete's Sake, you know? Do I sense a theme show? Yeah, let's roll with Pulp Fiction quotes.)
Where were we? Yeah, the debate.
So the new set-up is a bona fide keeper, and Miss Mia Wallace (the moderator) - and, lowering voice, Mister Vincent Vega - acquitted herself famously.
As for the back and forth, well, I thought Trump won, but a trend to the right. A lot of the folks I know, like and respect who lean left, think Biden won. That's to be expected I guess and actually highlights a) the divide between the sides and b) the impact of a structured debate format that actually encourages, you know, debate.
But, the Mrs. 5-at-10, who was completely undecided going into last night's exchange, thought Trump won pretty convincingly.
Key points, for me and my voting point of view:
> Trump being forced into two-minute windows was the best thing to happen to him on the campaign trail since the original MAGA hats and coining the "Crooked Hillary" phrase. It forced him to stay on topic as much as he could anyway and be focused. It also gave Biden 120 seconds to pick and choose through the various parts of the word-salad answers that more times than not made him seem rambling.
> Biden made some very nice moves wiggling away from the controversy involving his son and foreign countries as well as challenging the president on the one area Biden has the unequivocal advantage: Character. He also scored points early with jabs about Trump's handling of COVID, especially the decisions made in the spring. That said, Biden saying we're going "to lose 200,000 more people" is so far beyond even the worst projections anywhere, even France, where "they call it the Royale with Cheese."
> Personally, and again you know my leanings, I believe Trump made some costly mistakes early - he does not get enough credit for closing the borders super quickly, though - that cost lives, but whether it was Obama or W or Dr. Hawkeye Pierce in the Oval Office, no one was prepared for this thing. (Side note: There were a lot of ways W was underwhelming as a president - "Strategery!" - but he, by all reports, was obsessed with pandemics and being prepared for one, and by most experts' view may have been the best leader for this age. Who would have said that 15 years ago?) Again, Trump made some big mistakes, heck, even he has admitted to some that, and ultimately, in my view, it will cost him the election because of the deaths and the way the pandemic crushed a humming economy.
> I thought the final question - and the candidates' final answers - was telling and very reflective. Trump tried to push the envelope and the issue about career politics when asked how, if re-elected, the would address the other side of the divide. He reminded everyone - rightly - that Biden has had 47 years in Washington and eight in the VP's office to fix these things. Biden's answer was more speechified and smooth, almost American President smooth and it included one his refrains from the evening of "Not red state or blue state, but United States", and it was the final answer of the night.
> I was surprised Biden allowed himself to be cornered on the fracking stuff, and from multiple folks on Twitter who work in the energy industry who said both of the candidates, when it comes to managing the future in terms of energy and power are, well, they are full of it, which means regardless, we're all likely fracked.
> I don't trust either of these cats in terms of health care. It's clear that Trump's super secret plan is somewhere between Sasquatch and the many girls in the Niagara Falls area that your middle school buddies bragged about hooking up with after returning from summer vacation. It's also clear that Biden Care - like most everything Joe is pitching, a less-good version what Obama tried four years ago - is as affordable and economically viable as Spy buying a ticket on Elon Musk's next rocket to the moon.
> While we are here, two very wonky political points from last night. First, one of Biden's basic principles in Biden Care was creating competition among health care operators. I love competition, and we are all well served by it. But Biden said that competition will come from government entities, and fully believe we need less of that scenario rather than more. Secondly, Biden's economic philosophies are flawed at their core. Reworking the tax structure so the rich pay more is understandable and in some ways proper. But Biden's going to hit everyone making more than $400,000 a year to pay for a litany of HUGE ticket items and if you do not think that will land in middle America's lap, well, I got some ocean front property in Soddy you may be interested in.
For example, Biden said last night he wants the minimum wage to go to $15 power hour. That's more than double what it currently is ($7.25, which is assuredly too low) and would help a whole lot in poverty, but would threaten the livelihoods of a whole lot of us who make more than that.
Almost all evidence on places like Seattle are mixed at best when trying to review the incremental minimum wage hikes. The theories and outcomes are nuanced at best, and all of that research was done before the pandemic crashed the economy.
But the economic principles of private business are pretty finite: Spend less than you generate or eventually go out of business.
Because unlike the revenue faucet that is approving tax rates, there are finite pies of cash for business to slice, and if every minimum-wage employee at, say some mid-sized city's newspaper that is already fighting rising costs and ways to increase circulation numbers, gets a monster raise that could be increases of 50 percent or more, that money has to come from somewhere.
And, add in the skyrocketing taxes Biden is proposing for a slew of projects, and boom, who knows gets a pink slip or who's job is viewed as non-essential.
Again, this is not about the value or import of those projects. Improved health care that reaches all levels of America is important. So too is finding ways to protect and improve the environment
Because there's no way for any of the governmental economic policies to enact or enforce kindness and sharing. No way.
It's why Trump's tax cuts for the big-money rich are felt on Wall Street way more than Main Street and why Biden's push toward socialism with the huge tax hits on the business owners and executives will, in my opinion, be every bit as cataclysmic for the economy as the pandemic was.
Sorry for the short-answer-turned-long and that this turned into a poly-sci midterm essay. "Look at the big brain on Brad."
My final analysis: Trump won a pretty tight one, but in his last real chance to turn back polls that are looking more and more dire, he did not do enough. Trump won the battle, and now as much as any time before, I think Biden will win the election.
Unless something drastically changes in the next 11 days, that's my pick - America will side with the better man with the inferior economic plan.
(But then again Trump backers, the way my picks have played out so far in 2020, that and $5.50 will get you mocha-frappa-cappa-latte-chino thingy at the Star Buck Rogers place.)
Let's handle the details before we get to the rest of the mail bag.
This week's Rushmores
Rushmore of underrated sitcoms (and before we get here, Fat Vader made an excellent point about underrated and award winning and/or critically acclaimed, but there is one on my list that was both of those and I will explain why I think it is underrated all things considered): My Name is Earl, News Radio, Bosom Buddies and finally Wonder Years, and yes it's highly rated in some ways but because all of the music used would make syndication rights cost tens of millions, it has never been syndicated so everyone Intern Scott's age and younger have little idea how truly great that show was. (Side note: Everyone I know who watches 'Schitt's Creek' raves about it, but again, that's getting close to Ben Wallace territory.)
Rushmore of judges: The Old Testament book, Judge Wapner, who really set the stage for Judge Judy in almost every way, Aaron Judge (Hey, look, sports) and last and assuredly not least - don't sell yourself short judge, you're a tremendous slouch - Judge Elihu Smails (Side question: Which part of Ted Knight's comedically genius fictional name from Caddyshack is better, Elihu or Smails? Which leads to a side question of the side question: Which of all of the biting caricature-ish names of the characters in Caddyshack is the best? I think it goes, in order after you take Judge Elihu Smails off the table, Bishop Bickering, Lacey Underall, Doctor Beeper and groundskeeper Sandy McFiddish. Thoughts?)
Rushmore of sports logos: Masters, Cowboys, Red Wings, Yankees (although the MLB and the NBA logos are really cool too, and hey, I know squat about soccer, so there's that.)
Rushmore of nicknames with numbers: Dale Sr. as The 3, Mr. 59 (Al Geiberger the first golfer to break 60 in a PGA event), Three Finger Brown, and with all apologies to "One Size" Fitz Hall, I'll go with The Great One, Wyane Gretzky.
(My NFL picks will come around lunch, and here's Paschall's latest college football coverage.
From Joe Don
JG:
Welcome back to reality!
As if 2020 was not bad enough. First the Pandemic, then the tornado hits Chattanooga, then I had a cut in pay but work hours extended and five vacation options have been cancelled due to various countries closing to American travelers.
But now The Braves blew a 3-1 lead in the NLCS. The Vols have fallen flat and the outlook this weekend is not rosy.
My beloved Cowboys lost their quarterback, the offensive line is in shambles, and Zeke has fumble-itis. (On a happy note, as bad as the Cowboys may be, the Eagles, Giants and the Washington Football Team are worse. Then again, the Cowboys could make the playoffs with seven wins, lose 42-14 in the first round of the playoffs and be drafting like No. 20, which is a crappy spot for a team that now has a lot of holes.)
If Trump loses on Nov. 3, I may check myself into Moccasin Bend.
What's a guy to do?
Joe Don-
Keep venting to the 5-at-10 mailbag, I suppose.
We could give you the Otter, "My advice to you is to start drinking heavily."
I could offer the Ty Webb, "You take drugs, Joe Don?" "Everyday." "Then what's the problem?"
Heck, I could offer you the Larry Hackett, "Well candlesticks always make a nice gift. Maybe find out where she's registered and get a place-setting. OK, let's get two."
In the end, though, we work through it. We persevere. We vote and pray and do whatever we can to make tomorrow better than today - for us and our families and for all those around us.
There's no serum or special potion. There's only being the best Joe Don or the best Spy or the best 5-at-10 you can be, now more than ever.
Side question: Who would you think is the best halftime speech guy in college football? I bet James Franklin is aces.
From Allan
why the duplication? you run out of trite opinions to push? PUH-lease.
Allan-
It's a fair point, and through a computer mix-up, but my Tuesday A2 column also was my Thursday A2 column.
In fact, here's what I wrote for Thursday, talking with some of the early voters Wednesday at the Hamilton County Election Commission.
And c'mon Allan, you know I will never run out of trie opinions for you guys. Hey, wait.
From Not a fan
Jay, I appreciate the brief space you had today on page A2, it was perfect to pick up dog poop. I wish I had back the 30 seconds it took me to read it.
So, let's just keep going. Moving on
From Jeff
Jay, I read your column daily and really enjoy it. My son and I just finished watching the Cowboys disaster against the /Cardinals on MNF. I am 62 years old and can remember watching Roger Staubach, Don Meredith, Craig Morton, Too Tall Jones, Bob Lilly etc thru the Troy Aikman/Jimmy Johnson era so I get the mystique of the Tom Landry and Americas Team etc. My 23 year old son asked why are the Cowboys always on SNF, MNF or Game of the Week because they suck and always suck, which drives home this generation has no memory of the perennial contenders and wonder why they are being force fed so many Dallas games. Why do they still get the coverage and worship they do and when my generation is in Depends, are they just another team that occasionally has a good season and makes one or two spots in prime time like everyone else? Also, no other team has weekly drama reports like they do.
Jeff-
It['s a fair question from your son, because in his time as a sports fan, the Cowboys are no better than middle of the road in terms of success.
How about these tidbits sports fans who remember the glory days when America's Team was America's Team - and how cool was that fly over view inside Texas Stadium in the intro of Dallas back in the day?:
> This winter/spring (whenever, hey summer) will be the 25th anniversary of the Cowboys last Super Bowl trip;
> In that time Elway went from legendary quarterback to legendarily bad quarterback evaluator in Denver, Peyton went from leading the band in Gainesville to being among the GOAT conversation and the Pats have won six Super Bowls.
> Heck the Falcons have made two Super Bowl trips since the last time Dallas was in the big game.
But the fond memories or the lasting times are empirically supported.
In 2019 41 of the top 50 most-watched shows were NFL games, with the Super Bowl 1 and the postseason games falling in line behind that. In fact of the most watched primetime TV episodes of 2019, the Pats in the Super Bowl and the AFC title game were 1-2.
Cowboys-Rams in the playoffs was 3, and Cowboys-Seahawks in the playoffs was 5. (4 was the Academy Awards.) The next two most-watched primetime NFL games were Saints-Cowboys on Sunday night football (8th over 2019) and Vikings-Cowboys on Sunday night football (11th overall).
Be it the logo, the tradition or the family connections, the Cowboys - good or bad - are one of the last remaining needle-moving franchises in a professional sports spectrum more and more dominated by star players.
From Tom
Jay:
Kudos to you for that "rant" on yesterday's Press Row in the 5p.m. segment regarding the County Commission's vote on the A.P. Stewart monument.
As you passionately pointed out , where are the county's priorities? Where are our priorities as human beings? And how does the removal(or not) of a piece of stone or metal change anything?
Would the removal move us closer to resolving the underlying issues that resulted in those 3 kids getting shot?
Civilization has been building and tearing down monuments forever. What have we learned?
There have been some good compromise ideas/suggestions as to the issue:
Relocate old A.P. to the Chickamauga Battlefield. Seems logical. A recent editorial suggested adding the statue of the Union General who also instrumental in the creation and concept of what the preservation of the Battlefield was all about. Again, seems logical.
Or perhaps, we should take a page from Europe and leave some of these monuments as an opportunity for learning and moving forward.
After all, as we know, "out of sight is out of mind".
So, good for you Jay.
Tom-
Thanks Tom, and for those that missed it - and for those that may not be aware - the good folks at ESPNchattanooga.com are now podcasting all three hours of Press Row. (When I find the link to Wednesday's rant in the 5 o'clock hour I will pass it along.)
I don't know the answer, big picture, and like I said, move the thing to a museum if it would really make a difference.
But I also know this: The Hamilton County Commission spent infinitely more time talking about and grandstanding around AP's bust than talking about meaningful matters like those three black kids who were shot in a parked car in downtown Chattanooga on a Sunday morning earlier this month.
If toppling that statue meant the end to racism, then by Goodness, we'd all be there with sledgehammers and wrecking balls. And sure, if it's even a step, I'm all for it.
But I also believe this: I have a hard time seeing how those who want the AP Stewart statue removed - again, I'm A-OK with taking it to a cemetery and a museum - because it evokes memories of division, and hatred and ugliness and racism and crimes against Black people are also rallying the cause for the statue of the man who was wrongfully lynched on Walnut Street Bridge in the early 1900s.
Would that also not be a daily reminder of of division, and hatred and ugliness and racism and crimes against Black people too?
I wish I had the answers or the platform to spread them. Truly, I do.
But as I told Joe Don, it feels like we need a halftime speech. And were a young Bruce Willis getting the watch from Christopher Walker.
Zed's dead baby. Zed's dead.
Have a good weekend friends, and good luck to our Pool swimmers. (Brent R already through with that convincing Eagles win last night.)
Jay Greeson