Hillary clearly won, but she missed some big time openings.

[JRLeft]

Hopefully she capitalizes on the next debate. I don't know if she earns more votes, but I definitely believe he lost some last night.

[BSdetect]

1. It was a fine line to decide

Interrupts his frequent rants and sound like she was "scolding" (the GOP hacks love that as a tool)

Or

Let him rave and interrupt her constantly while delivering her own clear thought as best she could.

Holt was negligent and weak in reigning drumph in.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

2. He was digging his own grave.

She could have scored some extra zingers but frankly he was doing all the work himself.

[JRLeft]

6. Agreed, he hurt himself more than she did.

[athena]

3. There were many ways in which she could have done badly.

She did not do any of those things.

For example, she could have been seen as too combative, or too defensive, or too serious, or too masculine. The sexist standards set for her performance were so outrageous that it was almost superhuman of her to be able to do so well without falling into any of the traps.

Sorry but when someone does this well, complaining that her performance was not perfect according to you comes across as highly inappropriate. In fact, your statement, which seems intended to portray her as weak or incompetent, makes me wonder whether you support her at all.

[C_U_L8R]

4. I'm really confident Hillary knows what she's doing.

It's not her job to fill every gap with a jab... and she skillfully
demonstrated the art of hoisting Trump on his own petard.
And where Trump blew all his best ammo shooting himself
in the foot, Hillary has a gameplan that will take Trump down 1,2,3.

[unblock]

5. gawd there were so many, who can keep up!

i wanted her to ask "are you ok, maybe coming down with something?" but i wonder, maybe they weren't that noticeable in person.

being a finance guy, i wanted her to catch him on arguing both sides of the issue on interest rates -- complaining that increasing interest rates would cause a crash because we're in a bubble and then saying the fed was being "so political" by keeping interest rates down. er, so, do you want interest rates higher or lower, donnie?? yeah, i know that there's no mass appeal in that, but still.

and the list goes on....

[JRLeft]

8. He killed her on trade she should have fired back with you hate trade so much that

you outsource all of your products.

[athena]

11. You're missing the forest for the trees.

The point is not to disprove every single lie Trump tells. The point is to win the debate. She did that. If she had focused on responding to every single bit of nonsense he spouted, she would not have been able to win the debate.

I hate it that people who wouldn't have lasted five minutes on that stage are here criticizing an amazing performance by Hillary Clinton.

[JRLeft]

15. I disagree that it was an amazing performance. I thought she was OK. It was more of he made an ass

of himself.

[bettyellen]

17. He made an ass of himself because she baited the trap so deftly ....

That you didn't even notice it. She was fucking brilliant.

[mcar]

36. This!

[bettyellen]

38. I just read a thread at JPR and they had the same criticisms and some were claiming Trump won, LOL

As did the Wikileaks poll, ha ha ha.

[mcar]

43. No surprise there

They have a skewed version of reality.

[unblock]

12. ooh good one.

i suppose she could have done better defending free trade in general, getting away from nafta/tpp issues specifically.

she also could have noted that donnie's proposed punitive trade taxes would be a disaster and ruin many exporting businesses here, especially once other countries retaliated.

[frazzled]

7. No, it was classic Rope-a-Dope

I thought she was missing opportunities to punch in the beginning too. But I quickly realized she was honoring the great Ali, and that her restrained behavior in the beginning was calculated: let him wear himself out punching and swinging in the beginning as you step back, then come in and suavely float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.

She let him hang himself, mostly, knowing his 15-minute attention span would wear out quickly and that she could keep her hands clean while he displayed his ineptness and ill temperament all by himself.

[JRLeft]

9. She was annihilated on the trade question. All she had to do was hit him with his outsourcing.

[athena]

13. You're really trying hard to make it seem like she lost the debate.

Hmmmm. I wonder why.

[JRLeft]

19. I said she won clearly, but she had bad moments too and that was the worst one.

She had no good answer. Not only that he tied her to Obama pushing the TPP. Trump dominated the first third she destroyed him the last two-thirds.

[Goblinmonger]

31. The Trade portion was Trump's best.

Saying that does not equal saying she lost the debate.

[athena]

33. The "best" of something atrocious is not good enough

to go on and on about. This is like a narcissistic parent criticizing a child for getting 95% percent instead of 100% on an exam, and pointing out that her brother (the golden child), who got 15% on the same exam, answered correctly the one question she got wrong.

[bettyellen]

20. You're kidding right? Alla he did was shout over her and give her more footage for another commercia

[JRLeft]

23. She tried say trade was great while denouncing it, she was discombobulated.

[bettyellen]

25. She talked about how the TPP evolved into something she disliked...He shouted over her like a maniac

Like a totally unhinged lunatic, in fact. He did himself no favors. International trade deals are not something anyone is goi g to trust him on as soon as the info on his Russian connections gets out- you do realize that?
It might have been his "best" moment, but it still fell under the bar.

[JRLeft]

28. We all know that wasn't a factual answer and went on to defend free trade while

saying she's against it.

Like I said he won the first third and trashed himself the last two-thirds.

He's a crazy person.

[frazzled]

26. Only if you believe what he said is valid

in which case, you have woefully drunk the Kool-Aid.

And only if you think shouting "they're gone, they're all gone!" about thirty times, which was his answer to "how will you create more jobs?" was a distinguished and pertinent response.

[napkinz]

16. ended in a knockout

[Fozzledick]

41. Bingo! That's just what it was.

She gave him enough rope to hang himself, expose himself for the self-centered, blustering bully he is, and let him wear himself out with rude flailing attacks that accomplished nothing, and then when he was tired out and disoriented she smoothly moved in for the coup de grace.

[Yonnie3]

10. There was only 90 minutes, not enough time to point out all his weaknesses.

I suspect there was concern about the optics (I hate that term) of her attacking too much. He said some things that show him in a bad light and hopefully will appear in Secretary Clinton's ads.

Steer him, poke him and then let him put his foot in his mouth - good strategy.

[longship]

14. Rule 1: when your opponent has so many unforced errors, be quiet.

[Fozzledick]

42. Or as Napoleon put it, "Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake".

[wiggs]

18. When talking about birther nonsense and how Trump tried to delegitimize

our first black POTUS, I hoped out loud she would bring in the attempt to delegitimize Judge Curiel, all Mexican immigrants, all Muslim immigrants. Make an overall case not tied to just Obama.

He has no problem using race to further his business or his poll numbers...

[JRLeft]

21. She destroyed him on the birthed nonsense. He killed himself on stop and frisk.

[moda253]

22. She completely destroyed him in this debate.

I mean she absolutely annihilated him in this debate an people are critiquing her for not getting in one or two more jabs? There are two more debates and that's where you set the hook. He can go in thinking that he can save face on trade in the next debate and she can nail him on that. You have to give him a corner to paint himself into.

[JRLeft]

24. Not on the trade issue.

[tonyt53]

27. Do you know what VAT is? Do you know that our exports are up significantly?

Trump treaded water on the issue. Hillary let him. If she strayed into the depths of how trade works, most people would not have been able to comprehend. Trump is being told, by people such as yourself, that he won on the trade issue. If he attempts go go deeper in any other debate, she will destroy him. Trump never did answer the direct question as to how he would force companies to come back to the US though, now did he? Don't look it up; what is VAT.

[JRLeft]

32. Yes I know what the Value added Tax. Germany applies it the best.

Germany uses it like a tariff. You realize we still have a trade deficit even with exports being up, right?

[tonyt53]

39. VAT is a sales tax that is paid by the buyer. Here in the US, you buy something, price + sales tax

We have a trade deficit because of two things. We are still importing oil, even though we are now exporting oil. We have far too many things coming in from China. How to address that? Stop buying anything that comes in from China. Look at the tag and if it isn't made here, keep on looking. Trump NEVER addresses how he was going to get companies to start manufacturing here again. You hit one country with tariffs, and our own exports will be hit with the same. We cannot consume all that we can produce here in the US, so we have to have exports. A bit more complicated than just saying we have a trade deficit. We have had a trade deficit for years and years and years. The last trade surpluses were '98, '99, 2000, and 2001. Before that the last was '69. In the last 76 years we have had a surplus 11 years. Oh, and those last four trade surpluses? You can thank Bill Clinton for those.

Trump could easily have been hit with his own issues about where his own products were made. That will likely come up in another debate, if there is one. If there is a second debate, Trump will come out and do nothing but attack, and there will be even less substance than he showed last night.

[Jersey Devil]

29. Disagree. I think Hillary was being cautious about gilding the lily

He said so many stupid, ridiculous things that for Hillary to pile on after each gaffe may have made her look like a mean bully.

[BainsBane]

30. Even Trump's surrogates couldn't spin his loss

but leave it to you to find a way.

[JRLeft]

35. I said she clearly won, but unless I say she was the greatest ever a lot of you

get upset.

[BainsBane]

40. That isn't correct

Your go to is a criticism, as always. Your OP doesn't say she did well but I would like to see her have addressed points x, y, and z. It was to say how she is deficient.

When was the last time you won the presidential nomination of a major political party? What makes you think you have any idea what you're talking about?


There were many points at which she could have corrected him or thrown in a zinger, but she has to be mindful of how people perceive her. She can't operate with the bluster and aggressiveness of a male candidate because of the sexism that influences opinion of her.

[Avalux]

34. Hillary was masterful and she got D'rump to go low.

She didn't need to attack him, she baited and he took it hook, line, and sinker every time. Best I've ever seen Hillary in a debate.

[Mamajami]

37. Saving ammo for later. She didn't need much more to get Trump to set himself in flames.

The pundits are still playing for a close election.

[jpljr77]

44. The next debate scares the crap out of me.

Donald Trump was ridiculously unprepared for this one. I think the only coaching he got was to remain calm and clearly answer the questions, which he did for about two questions. But the second she attacked, he lost his mind (or rather, dropped his facade).

But next time around? He's coming out swinging. Since he knows she's in attack mode, he'll return the favor and hit her in some very sensitive areas. It's all BS, but it's hard to rebut a pithy conservative one-liner with a nuanced and honest explanation.

And yes, she will also be attacking more and with more precision. It's going to be a bloody debate.

My only hope is that the format of the debate, town hall, leads to an epic misreading of the room on his part. Hillary can adjust on the fly, he can't. So if the audience is not in the mood for the nasty stuff, he might be in serious trouble, as in, more than he already is.