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24 hrs agoLiked by Michael Goldfarb

You certainly have a stronger stomach than I had Thursday night. How in the world does anyone deal with a firehose of lies and worse? You are correct...data sets never works...stories are the way to meet and move people. All of the former guy's stories are lies even though there may be 1/2 a kernel of something resembling a but if truth. The prep should have been remembering real people and real stories...not trying to refute a tsunami of lies. Below is a quote from a reader of HCR's newsletter concerning the debate and President Biden’s "performance":

“. This was not a debate. It was Trump using a technique that actually has a formal name, the Gish gallop, although I suspect he comes by it naturally. It’s a rhetorical technique in which someone throws out a fast string of lies, non-sequiturs, and specious arguments, so many that it is impossible to fact-check or rebut them in the amount of time it took to say them.

Trying to figure out how to respond makes the opponent look confused, because they don’t know where to start grappling with the flood that has just hit them.

It is a form of gaslighting, and it is especially effective on someone with a stutter, as Biden has. It is similar to what Trump did to Biden during a debate in 2020. In that case, though, the lack of muting on the mics left Biden simply saying: “Will you shut up, man?” a comment that resonated with the audience.

Giving Biden the enforced space to answer by killing the mic of the person not speaking tonight actually made the technique more effective.”

I think that quote says everything. Frankly, I am hard pressed to think of anyone who could have withstood what was coming at President Biden for 90 minutes. Maybe the tactic would be not trying to respond but sticking with a story you want to tell. With the moderators not commenting on lies and non answers trump ran roughshod over the process itself. He's a perfect authoritarian and dictator.

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Real-time Fact checking would have helped

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24 hrs agoLiked by Michael Goldfarb

Apparently they refused to take responsibility for doing that. Makes the moderators look like patsies IMO.

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This is how societies slide into the abyss: Jake T and Dana B both have their FU money in the bank. They could afford to say we won't do this without fact checking and make a stink if CNN then removed them from the panel. Instead they went along and they were made to look like automaton morons

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Jun 28Liked by Michael Goldfarb

didn’t think I could read this, but it’s interesting, both in its display of unanticipated virtues and then the usual absolutely insane, delusional Maga conspiracy stuff - at which people take notes! couldn’t stand to watch the debate myself but caught Biden’s early moments, in the memory unit facial expression and voice, etc and saw all I needed - I very much liked your interaction with the military men, and totally understood just being worn out at the end - what a situation. I’m one of those rare people who actually don’t mind Harris, but it still feels very bleak - hang in there!

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We must all hang in there together, for most assuredly we will hang separately

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