“I don’t debate as well as I used to…”
— Joe Biden, speaking at a rally in North Carolina on Friday.
I don’t watch debates as well as I used to.
I imagine many of us are feeling that way lately?
To be completely honest, I didn’t have time to watch the Presidential debate on Thursday. I had some important things to do. For one thing, my toenails needed trimming. And there was a little brown spider who’d fallen into my bathtub and couldn’t climb out. It took me a while to rescue her.
Have you ever tried to get a spider to climb into the safety of a Mason jar, when she has her mind set on not doing it?
Then, to make sure she’d didn’t suffer the same accident again, I took the jar (with the spider inside) and drove out to the base of Wolf Creek Pass, where hardly anyone lives, and set her free.
Now that I think about it, I think I actually wanted a reason to miss the debate, because I imagined how I would feel afterwards.
But the next day, I felt bad about missing it. I view myself as a good citizen, and I normally take my civic responsibilities seriously… one of which is voting for President every four years. You’d think something that happened only every four year would be less agonizing that a similarly painful occurrence that happens, say, every day, or every week. But for some reason, civic responsibility is especially painful this year.
Rescuing spiders is another responsibility, of course, and one which I also take seriously. Sometimes it’s hard to find the balance.
Anyway, on Friday morning — my toenails freshly trimmed — I did a search on YouTube for “after the debate” commentaries.
Preferably by comedians.
You have to laugh about politics, in 2024, to keep from crying, or breaking dishware.
When I searched online for comedy related to the June 27 debate, most everyone seemed to be sharing the humor of Jon Stewart of the Daily Show, posted on Thursday shortly after the debate concluded.
I’ve assembled a couple of short excerpts from his 15-minute sketch. You can view the entire sketch here.
It’s not easy to make me laugh about our current Presidential candidates.
But what alternative do we have?
Somehow — contrary to expectations, perhaps — our current President was able to physically walk onstage, unassisted, and find his place at one of the podiums, for a debate with his challenger, former President Donald Trump.
It’s not clear that was smart idea on President Biden’s part, however. But it provided Mr. Stewart and his production team with some priceless comedy material.
The President had reportedly sequestered himself at Camp David for a full week, to prepare for Thursday’s debate, rehearsing his answers, and participating in mock debates, with his personal lawyer, Bob Bauer, playing the part of Trump.
Every topic he was asked about Thursday, he had prepared answers for.
Apparently, a week, wasted.
Is it cruel to laugh at an old man who can’t complete a coherent thought? Not normally. But if that particular old man is jockeying for four more years in the White House, laughter is probably the only reasonable response.
Ditto, if the other (slightly younger) candidate is a pathological liar with no apparent moral compass.
A few more moments from Mr. Stewart’s sketch:
Speaking at a rally in North Carolina on Friday, following the debate, President Biden told the crowd, “I don’t walk as easy as I used to. I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to. But I know what I do know: I know how to tell the truth.”
Yeah, okay. But I’m wondering if the President can remember what the truth is?
As Mr. Stewart so humorously pointed out, whatever drugs or vitamins the FOX News commentators thought were being injected into President Biden’s bloodstream, to enhance his performance, were either imaginary or ineffective.
But I will definitely make darn sure I have some recreational drugs handy, if I decide to watch a future debate between these two candidates. And I will probably keep the audio turned off, for good measure.
Maybe I can assume the same relaxed attitude that the young man in the following video has obviously cultivated. A true model for dealing with 2024.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all.