Matt Lauer is now running for cover. “Now, that is not just unpatriotic and insulting, to the people of our country as well as to our commander in chief, it is scary”, Clinton said.
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Clinton: “He refuses to take responsibility for his support”.
Clinton: “That is a judgment issue”. Then had to rush her along. “What kind of homework are you doing?”
Clinton noted that Trump said so many outrageous things that it might be hard for journalists to know where to begin criticizing him. You can go back and look at the record. “You can look before that”.
This claim is easy to debunk.
“I think that when you serve in the armed forces, that’s a very special situation, and I could see myself working that out”, Trump said.
Trump’s first and most extensive comments against the Iraq War came in an interview with Esquire magazine in August 2004, one year and five months after the United States invasion, which Trump described as “very early in the conflict, extremely early in the conflict, right at the beginning” of the war. The forum was a preview to a highly anticipated debate and a glimpse of what they can expect from both candidates.
“I don’t think fact-checking is the function of the moderator”, said Jim Lehrer, who moderated every first presidential debate of the general election campaign between 1988 and 2012. Hillary concluded her answer with a swipe at Donald Trump saying, “Donald Trump chose to talk about his deep admiration and support for Vladmir Putin”.
“He’s been a leader, far more than our president has been a leader”, Trump said. Challenged, she didn’t immediately have the back-up material available, enabling Trump to sail past the moment. None of the questions were adversarial, and Clinton even bantered with one of the reporters about his choice of headwear. Overall, 38% say it should be shut down now to do so, another 22% say it should be shut down if Clinton wins the presidency, and 34% say it does too much good to be shut down completely. Where the stakes are even higher. Fox’s Chris Wallace, who will moderate the final debate says that is not part of the job.
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Many intense partisans don’t believe – or don’t care – when an independent analyst questions the truth of a candidate’s statements. “It’s up to the other person to catch them on that”.
