The glorious highlights of the presidential debate
Though for me, the very best one happened this morning
This morning, September 11, I wake up as I do pretty much every year.
A heartfelt hug from Jon (“Happy 39!”) and a coffee the way I like it. A call from my parents singing, the more off-tune the better. Good wishes from the kids in our home, and more recently, texts and Instagram posts from the kids living elsewhere.
Also, the reminder that today is the day I don’t turn on the television.
Hello. Today is my birthday.
Which means your knee-jerk response is probably something like, hey, happy birthday, Liz! But as I’ve come to learn, a few seconds later a certain realization will strike and you’ll add: Oh wait, today? Oh. Ohhhhhhhh….wow. Wow. Okay. Wow.
I’ve had two full decades now to get used to it and well…I’m finally getting there.
When you have a 9/11 birthday, especially in New York City, there is no chance of escaping discussion about The Day and what you were doing on The Day and how it feels to have a birthday on The Day.
Today, for the first time in 23 years, it was different.
I couldn’t wait to turn on the TV, open the papers, hopescroll my social media feeds.
It’s the morning after the presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Devi Harris and the guy she turned into a puddle of quivering, resentment-filled, babbling orange goo.
And, friends? To paraphrase Bill Murray in Ghostbusters, she came, she saw, she kicked his ass.
From the moment she walked onto that stage, right arm outstretched, introducing herself LIKE A BOSS, he was done.
@bobschooley nailed it.
It was a pathetic showing, even for him. The incoherence. The lies. The grievances.
The thing is, this isn’t new to most of us.
But. It is new to some people — those undecideds and on-the-fencers that we hear so much about. Last night gave those voters the chance to see him on a proper debate stage.
It laid bare all the traits that make him wholly unqualified to be president, let alone have the nerve to ask for that privilege again.
In this forum, there were no crowds to distract. Just two candidates, standing side-by-side, asked to defend their records, explain their policy proposals, lay out a vision for America, and point out their opponent’s weaknesses with clarity and persuasion. You know, the way things always had been until the chaos of 2016.
There was no cultish audience to boo or cheer or chant. None of the anger and cruelty that fuels his sadistic impulses. There were no hateful signs to wave behind him, no t-shirts emblazoned with horrifically sexist insults in front of him. No limitless, uninterrupted time to ramble without interruption about Hannibal Lecter, windmills that cause cancer, parasocial love affairs with dictators, the women he would or would not choose to sexually assault given a choice, the absurd premise of “post-birth abortions” which are…not a thing.
Let alone insane conspiracies about “transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in prison” and uh… pet-eating. Both of which he still couldn’t resist bringing up.
Yes, really.
Process the fact that he defended himself by saying he heard it from “the people on television.”
I mean.
Speaking of moderation, he had to grapple with two excellent debate moderators who deigned to *gasp* fact-check his more outrageous claims on the spot (an obligation the media has egregiously ignored ) — along with an opponent who was wildly effective in doing the same, calling out lie upon lie upon lie without ever dancing around the word.
Without the lies, without the crowds, without the distractions of the circus around him — even with far more speaking time on the debate stage than Harris — he offered America nothing.
Not plans, not policies, not proposals. Nothing.
This debate forum laid bare the fact that he is utterly unqualified to be president based on every metric possible. Including his lack of regret about inciting a violent mob to overturn our free and fair elections on January 6 in an attempted coup.
I still have no idea how constitutionally he should be allowed to run.
But, moving on.
Because most importantly — at least to me — is what America had the chance to learn about Kamala Harris last night.
She gave us so many reasons to vote for her, and not just against the other guy.
She showed the American people exactly who she is: Someone with the temperament, intelligence, vision, experience, nuance, strength, compassion, fearlessness, and character to be the President of the United States of America.
The Vice President laid out a vision for a hopeful, united future. She explained her values, and how they align with her (specific!) policies to support small businesses, create affordable housing, manage the cost of goods, support the middle class, preserve Medicare and social security to lift up the most vulnerable among us, unequivocally defend people’s rights to make choices about their own bodies and reproduction, stand with our democratic allies, take on dictators and despots, address the climate crisis, and to reassume our nation’s position as respected leader of the free world.
“I have talked with military leaders, some of whom worked with you. And they say you're a disgrace,” she said straight to his face about his foreign policy and national security failures.
(Or to his ear, as someone corrected me — because he refused to look back at her.)
At the same time, she described her vision of unity, healing, and moving forward with less division.
She described a future grounded in her understanding of “the dreams, the hopes, the ambition of the American people” — and she means it.
She’s not just hoping we give her the presidency, she proving to us that she’s worked her whole life to earn it.
I think this is why I woke up this morning feeling pretty okay. Like a deep scar was finally starting to heal and maybe the (now convicted) criminal and sexual predator who stalked a woman around the stage 8 years ago will finally go away so we really can move forward.
Maybe you feel it too.
Of course it’s not over until it’s over, so in the words of Tim Walz last night post-debate, she did her job — now it’s the time for us to do ours. Your support of Democrats up and down the ballot is the best birthday gift I could ask for.
I do encourage you to watch the debate in its entirety (CSPAN) for the full impact of last night’s overwhelming win for Harris, and to read the transcript for the details.
However I will leave you with the final words of her closing argument:
I started my career as a prosecutor. I was a D.A. I was an attorney general. A United States senator. And now vice president. I've only had one client: The people.
And I'll tell you, as a prosecutor I never asked a victim or a witness are you a Republican or a Democrat? The only thing I ever asked them: Are you okay?
And that's the kind of president we need right now. Someone who cares about you and is not putting themselves first. I intend to be a president for all Americans and focus on what we can do over the next 10 and 20 years to build back up our country by investing right now in you the American people.
Trump, in contrast, closed by rambling about World War III and his own greater fear: Being laughed at.
What were your favorite moments from the debate? Anything you learned? Anything you’d like to know more about? Any new feelings of hope?
Happy Birthday! I am happy to grant your birthday wish, I’m planning to vote on October 17 with my whole family. My MIL is a poll worker on Election Day and I’m excited for her to experience this historic occasion. My 7 yo says daily he knows it’s our time to have a woman president and Kamala is going to be it. My favorite debate moments were her abortion rights response and closing statement and all her facial expressions when he sounded unhinged. I loved the Taylor Swift endorsement with the Childless Cat Lady sign off and my kid saying when he woke up- “Of COURSE she’s voting for Kamala Harris- she loves cats!”
His unscarred ear…