Will there be another presidential debate? Does anyone even want one?

President Donald Trump and former vice president Joe Biden in the first presidential debate. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Let’s be honest. After the first two debates in this presidential election, we could use a break.
It looks like we’re going to get one. Maybe for a week. Maybe for four years.
This seems certain: Next Thursday's presidential debate is postponed. Because of the uncertainty of President Donald Trump’s COVID-19, the debate commission wanted to turn next Thursday’s town hall debate in Miami into a virtual debate. But that idea didn’t get very far.
During a rambling, off-the-rails, scattered interview Thursday morning with Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo, Trump said, “I’m not going to waste my time on a virtual debate, that’s not what debating is all about. You sit behind a computer and do a debate. It’s ridiculous.”
Later Thursday, ABC News put out a release saying Joe Biden would do a town hall in Philadelphia next Thursday with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos.
Trump’s campaign said they would be willing to push the town hall debate back a week from Oct. 15 to Oct. 22 and then the third and final debate could be held on Oct. 29 — just days before the election. But Biden spokesperson Kate Bedingfield said, “Donald Trump doesn’t make the debate schedule; the Debate Commission does. Trump’s erratic behavior does not allow him to rewrite the calendar, and pick new dates of his choosing. We look forward to participating in the final debate, scheduled for October 22, which already is tied for the latest debate date in 40 years. Donald Trump can show up, or he can decline again. That’s his choice.”
Like kids on a playground making up rules for a game on the fly just to benefit themselves, Trump and Biden have thrown what’s left of this campaign into total chaos — as if we hadn’t already reached that point.
So here’s where we are: There might be two more debates, maybe one, maybe none. One might be virtual. Or maybe not. Biden was willing to do two more, but only if one was virtual. Trump wants two more, as long as neither is virtual. Oh, and then late Thursday, after his doctors cleared him to resume regular activities starting on Saturday, Trump said he wants to debate Biden as originally planned next Thursday.
Is your head spinning?
I’m still a big believer in debates, even if very few votes are going to be changed in this particular election. It’s never a bad thing when the leaders of our country talk directly to the American people for an extended period of time. But after Trump’s rude behavior in the presidential debate and a vice presidential debate that got sidetracked by evasive answers from both candidates and Mike Pence talking over everyone, maybe we could use a break to reset, take a breath and gear up for the stretch run.
In the end, however, it’s the debate commission that needs to set the rules without being influenced by either candidate. My suggestion, assuming Trump is healthy and can participate without being infectious, is to have one more debate — a town hall in Miami as planned, but a week later than originally scheduled. That would put it on Oct. 22.
That would be the final debate … thank goodness!
Radio rally
Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh announced Thursday that Trump will host “the largest virtual rally in radio history” today. Apparently, Trump is going to answer questions from listeners. Stay tuned.
The moderator’s take

Vice presidential debate moderator Susan Page. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, Pool)
USA Today’s Susan Page received mixed reviews for her performance as the moderator in Wednesday’s vice presidential debate. Most felt her initial questions were excellent, but she didn’t follow up or press the candidates when they refused to answer her questions. In addition, she did a poor job stopping the candidates from going past their allotted time, especially Mike Pence, who simply ignored and talked right through Page’s polite “thank you” attempts to cut him off.
But Page told The Washington Post’s Jeremy Barr that she had no regrets and, “I felt good about how it went. I felt it was a relatively civil debate, and one that was focused on issues that mattered to voters.”
She thought any refusals to answer questions from candidates were actually telling for viewers. As far as not being able to stop the candidates — again, mostly Pence — from going over their time, Page told Barr, “I didn’t see many options beyond just speaking up and saying, ‘Thank you,’ to try to get them to stop. I didn’t have alternatives that came to mind. … Saying ‘thank you’ was the best option to think of.”
Amusingly, she never saw the other star on the stage Wednesday night: the fly that landed on Pence’s head.
In the end, Page said, “It wasn’t a perfect debate. There were things I wish had gone better. But, all in all, I felt a sense of, as you can imagine, relief. … I guess I would leave it for others to judge whether it was a useful exercise for Americans, generally, who were watching."
“Washington Week’s” special guest
Page will be one of the guests tonight on PBS’s “Washington Week,” which airs at 8 p.m. Eastern on most PBS stations. Also joining moderator Robert Costa will be “PBS NewsHour’s” Yamiche Alcindor and The Wall Street Journal’s Gerald Seib.
Oh, speaking of debate moderators, check out this interesting comment from Fox News’ Chris Wallace. During an interview with Mediaite editor-in-chief Aidan McLaughlin on “The Interview” podcast, Wallace was asked what he thought about getting criticism from Fox News personalities such as Mark Levin and Greg Gutfeld that he was biased against Trump in the first debate.
Wallace said, “I don’t take it very seriously.”
Debating the debate

Vice President Mike Pence takes notes as Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris answers a question during the vice presidential debate. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, Pool)
I really enjoyed how The New York Times editorial board looked back at Wednesday night’s vice presidential debate. In a cool chart and story, 17 members of the editorial board looked back at the best and worst moments and picked who they believe won the debate.
The breakdown: 11 felt Kamala Harris won the debate, four chose Mike Pence and two rated it as a tie.
Among the stronger comments, Elizabeth Bruenig said, “Pence may be evangelical, but he’s not charismatic.”
But Ross Douthat said, “You have to take into account degree-of-difficulty here: Pence’s task was to normalize the presidency of Donald Trump after its most insane week yet, and he gave a truly remarkable (and, yes, often truly brazen) performance of normalcy, from which Harris’s prosecutorial style was unable to shake him.”
Then again, Gail Collins, who picked Harris as the winner, wrote, “Nobody is going to be talking about this debate in two days. They’ll be lucky to get a 10-minute discussion by serious political junkies at breakfast.”
Meanwhile, The Washington Post’s editorial board wrote, “Ms. Harris’s silence on court-packing is disrespectful to voters, but Mr. Pence’s failure to commit to accepting the election results is unconscionable. One concerns how the nation’s democratic institutions might evolve. The other concerns whether the nation will have a democracy at all.”
|