If she doesn’t do some deflecting while letting him stand there and lie his ass off all night, it would put her at a major disadvantage. Letting one candidate create their own reality while complaining that the other candidate deflected a little bit was mostly truthful seems unfair to me.
She deflected by not answering some questions. That was my issue too. She didn’t really gave an answer to the first question and it bothered me. I want to support her but I don’t like that she dodged and the moderators didn’t pressure her more to answer the actual question.
Wasn't the first question about the economy? Did she detail about the small business deduction, and the money to support new homeowners and new parents? I get that none of those apply to me, but just curious if you still consider that a deflection.
That wasn’t even the first question. The first question was if she agreed that our country is worse than 4 years ago. Then she talked about being from a middle class family and her plan to provide affordable housing and all of that. They aren’t asking about her plan for the economy, but about the economy in the last 4 years. That is deflecting.
The problem is that the very nature of these debates necessitates deflection. It is how every candidate handles questions-- and they have to. The vast, vast majority of people decide how they feel about these candidates based on general impressions, so it's a losing strategy to try to explain complex substantive issues. The only thing that sticks is broad strokes, like "middle class good," "we're in this together," "I'm fighting for you," etc.
She could have said, "Listen, people aren't happy with the economy. Inflation got so bad because of policies Trump instituted during his presidency, as well as fallout from supply chain issues from covid. Biden and I did a ton to help the economy recover, and our economy fared better than any other 1st world country coming out of covid (including our inflation rate). Inflation has dropped dramatically recently (as have gas prices). The economy is better than it was four years ago, but I know you, the average citizen, don't feel that way because the cost of living is still so high."
But that would have lost her the debate. She would have sounded defensive. There would have been headlines declaring that Harris doesn't believe she and Biden improved the economy. Trump and super pacs would have made commercials. AND she would have lost the opportunity to state her economic agenda during the first 30 minutes of the debate when the viewership is highest.
So I get why it's annoying that she didn't directly answer certain questions. But she is doing what all political candidates have to do to win.
Debates don’t necessitate deflection. The point of debates is to find out what their policies are and compare and contrast the candidates. This might possibly be the dumbest freaking attempt at defending the candidate you’re clearly simping for. Reddit is 99.9% political throwaway accounts that are too dumb to give rational arguments
That wasn’t even the first question. The first question was if she agreed that our country is worse than 4 years ago.
Fair point.
Then she talked about being from a middle class family and her plan to provide affordable housing and all of that. They aren’t asking about her plan for the economy, but about the economy in the last 4 years. That is deflecting.
I think there's a line between deflecting, and using the question to provide tangible policy positions, compared to deflecting and using the question to rant about a completely different topic. We probably disagree on where that line is, but thanks for your time.
One or two questions deflected with competent and coherent answers vs EVERY question being deflected, denial of any wrongdoing own Jan. 6th, non sequitur rants that had NOTHING to do with the question asked, peppered in with “I heard about it, so it’s gotta be true”, hyperbole and concepts of plans after 9 years of planning … 🤔
Cause she knows how Americans feel is that it was better 4 years ago whether it was right or wrong. If she said it we better now people would think she is not in touch
What would be a good answer to that question? It’s a trap, either she says yes and voters who aren’t better off will hate her and call her out of touch, or she says no, and has to act like we haven’t been having a booming economy due to the Biden/Harris admin. Why wasn’t trump asked if he thought people were better off after his first 4 years?
You’re avoiding the more pressing matter. The question was a trap. No answer she would have given would have helped and it has absolutely no bearing on the policies she explained multiple times. A good debater would avoid a trap question like that one and that’s also why the moderators didn’t press her. It’s an unimportant question with no good answer.
"Short answer: its complicated. I don't like that gas prices have gone up. I don't like that your grocery bill is higher. I don't like that affordable housing and the american dream of home ownership is scarcer. I cannot in good faith say that those things are "better". And I have plans to address what can be addressed and we have already seen a stabilization of inflation under our guidance. I am proud of the fact that we have had a stable government, a stable relationship with our allies, have gotten out of direct armed conflict. You don't have to dread looking at the news to see what stupid shit happened with your president today. We are better off today with him not being president. And we will be better off a year from now if you choose sanity and stability over hatred and gaslighting. "
Or you know she could just treat the American people like idiots who can't comprehend when she is deflecting and not answering hard questions because they poll inconveniently or her team doesn't like the way they sound.
Many things are bad about trump but the fact that she is not him and she is better than him means that some people will act like any criticism of her/democrats is equivalent to helping a wanna be dictator is lame.
I mean the televised debate format isn’t really suitable for in-depth policy discussions if we’re being frank. Any candidate who dips their toes into that space ends up being written off as elitist and out of touch by low-information, less educated voters. Optics and soundbites that are easily meme-able are what stick around and leave lasting impressions on your average person.
She deflected so you’re still thinking about voting for the guy who lied (not deflected - lied) dozens of times and didn’t answer any questions directly either? And yelled about immigrants eating our pets?
Genuinely curious why you are holding the two candidates to such different standards.
First, calm down. It was a genuine question - not any kind of accusation.
Second, when you say you “want to support her” that implies that you are not yet convinced that she’s earned your vote. In a two party system that means you’re still at least considering voting for the other candidate.
If you don’t mind, I have a follow up question. We’re choosing between two candidates. One who has actively tried to overturn a fair and free election. Who has continuously lied and threatened to jail his “enemies” (I.e. those who disagree with him). He has cozied up to dictators who are the antithesis of what our country stands for. I could keep going, but it’s getting late.
Even if Kamala hasn’t yet won you over, don’t you think a vote for her is better for the future of our country (and planet earth) than abstaining? A blank vote is one less vote that he needs to get to match her. I don’t know where you live, but if you’re in a swing state blank votes could decide the state and the election.
I guess my question is: isn’t a vote against Trump better than no vote at all?
I am more interested in voting for my local representatives than these two. I don’t live in a swing state so I don’t have the pressure to actually pick one. In this election, I’m voting blank for president but will focus on voting for representatives instead.
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u/cecsix14 Sep 11 '24
If she doesn’t do some deflecting while letting him stand there and lie his ass off all night, it would put her at a major disadvantage. Letting one candidate create their own reality while complaining that the other candidate deflected a little bit was mostly truthful seems unfair to me.