The first words out of her mouth were, "He looks so old!" And that's really all you need to know about the first (and possibly last) presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump — the initial impressions of a fourth-grade girl in Brooklyn who has never watched a debate in her life. This was not an example of the unacknowledged truth slipping from the mouth of babes; it was, rather, a universal response, a shattering moment that has upended the race and led to a swell of calls for Biden to step aside. And there is a part of me that regrets that she had to experience it.
There is, too, a part of me that's glad she did. I vaguely remember the first debate I ever watched, between George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis, way back in the mists of time, during a visit to relatives in Washington, D.C. I naturally asked who we were supposed to be rooting for. "We're Democrats," my father said, in a tone that was tinged with disapproval, as if to even consider voting for the Republican was tantamount to betrayal of our values and ideals — of who we were. That is about all I remember from that night, pretty typical fare for a family of Irish American liberals on the East Coast. (For a taste of my family's politics, I recently attended a gathering where one of my uncles was wearing an actual "Free on Wednesdays" campaign T-shirt, which I had never before seen in the wild.) Yet it was also formative, for this is in fact how political and tribal identities are formed, around the sepia glow of a television set, all of us nervously praying this guy named Dukakis trounces this other guy named Bush.
In addition to indoctrinating my daughter into a lifetime of frustration and disappointment — after last night, I was reminded of the banners hanging at The Simpsons version of the DNC: "We Hate Life and Ourselves" and "We Can't Govern" — I also wanted to introduce her to the strange glories of American democracy at work, to see for herself the lurid spectacle that has long fascinated me and that somewhat unexpectedly has become the focus of my career. The debate is a civics lesson, the democratic process boiled down to the fundamentals of two opponents arguing a point before an audience of voters, except it is laced with the sort of gladiatorial showmanship that makes politics absurd and stupid and riveting — that makes it entertainment. I wanted to show her that an interest in politics could be fun.
Except this was the opposite of fun. From the very moment Biden opened his mouth, emitting a vaporous whisper from the ancient cave of his throat, I started to groan on the couch. "What's the matter?" she asked. She would ask this question again and again, as I writhed and clutched my head in response to Biden balking for what seemed like small eternities between words, his sentences petering out into dribbles of mangled thought. "It's not supposed to be like this" is what I kept saying by way of explanation, though she had no way of understanding how it was supposed to be. Even worse, in my estimation, were the moments when Biden wasn't speaking, when Trump would with great verve and conviction utter every insane and hateful thing in his head, and the split screen showed Biden staring unblinking into the distance, as if he were caught in a net of his own dreams, which is another way of saying the net of his old age.
My daughter went to bed before the debate was over, and the next morning, the first thing she said was: "Who won?" Well, Trump did, I told her, and his victory was so decisive that now we'll have to figure out whether Biden can continue at the top of the ticket. She dropped her own Simpsons reference, saying Biden could be like Mr. Burns in the episode where he gets injections that let him live forever but force him to say "I bring you love" in a high-pitched voice. In fact, I said, a colleague of mine said she would rather have Undead Biden than Alive-and-Breathing Trump in the White House, and naturally I feel the same, but that it didn't seem responsible to vote for someone who has so manifestly deteriorated in the last four years and would no doubt deteriorate even further in the next four. And so the morning went, which would seem like evidence that letting her watch the debate was, overall, a net positive, both in terms of real-world knowledge won and father-and-daughter bonding.
But there was a moment where she was watching these two men onscreen that simply felt wrong, for lack of a better word. There was the unmediated exposure to Trump, of course, which always feels like playing with some radioactive substance. But it was also dismaying to see a young person witness Biden falter in such humiliating fashion, as if she were unwittingly watching a form of abuse. How could these two senile creatures squabbling about golf be our only options? How could the Democrats have let this happen? I kept telling her, "It's not supposed to be like this," but this is how it is. And worse — for people like us, anyway, who have been led to believe we are connected in some deep and important way to the Democrats — this is who we are.
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You tell your daughter that you're democrats and that you're the good ones and that you're the smart ones
And then you let your daughter watch the debate
And then your daughter realises something about you
It's that sort of magic like when she figures out santa isn't real
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Imagine discovering your parent is a wing nut on the side of the television. Total devastation
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I thought all dogs were boy dogs and all cats were female, all moms were libs and dads hardcore republicans… It really was simple back then.
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I thought the exact same thing omg
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you didn't watch enough tom and jerry, feel bad for you![:marseytom: :marseytom:](https://i.rdrama.net/e/marseytom.webp)
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I am so fricking glad our parents allowed my siblings and I to form our own opinions, rather than forcing their politics on us. Well, aside from "don't trust whitey", but that's just good advice.![:dontcaredidntaskplusyouremayo: :dontcaredidntaskplusyouremayo:](https://i.rdrama.net/e/dontcaredidntaskplusyouremayo.webp)
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did they also tell you to never relax
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Why do liberals have some strange fetish with what children have to say and that somehow their opinions hold any value of truth?
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social media liberals insist that children should always be listened to and treated as adults. that they are smart enough to make life long decisions.
but also if you date a 25 year old you are a p-do because 25 year old women aren't mature or developed enough for a relationship with someone older.
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i think
its to demonstrate that their ideology is so true that a small
child
can intuitively tell
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Why
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At this point the dem party is like a church, so it's like sunday school
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Unironically why not?
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When i was 9. I played with pokemon cards and watched pokemon and digimon
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I had a lvl 99 Charizard and watched BBC News every evening. Get on 9-year-old me's level.
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When I was 8 through my early teens I'd watch The News and discuss it with my dad![:marseyautism: :marseyautism:](https://i.rdrama.net/e/marseyautism.webp)
Follower of Christ
Tech lover, IT Admin, heckin pupper lover and occasionally troll. I hold back feelings or opinions, right or wrong because I dislike conflict.
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Same![:marseyhearts: :marseyhearts:](https://i.rdrama.net/e/marseyhearts.webp)
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I think forcing nine year olds to be watching politics, just because you want to exploit your family to generate clickbait articles, is child abuse. All a kid of that age should know is that "there is a president".
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nah this was kino and children should be taught early and forcefully the press corps is full of lying sack of poo
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"He is orange and bad" or "he is blue and good"
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I can proudly say that I never watched a single political debate in my entire three plus decades of existence. Clips and memes, sure. A full debate?![:marseyno: :marseyno:](https://i.rdrama.net/e/marseyno.webp)
That kid will probably end up a centrist or libertarian if she keeps forcing her to understand politics at that age![:marseyshrug: :marseyshrug:](https://i.rdrama.net/e/marseyshrug.webp)
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Watching the butt half of it with the other r-slurs here is the most I've ever seen.
I love how democrats are 50:50 on whether Biden was brilliant or an absolute disaster. Copium supplies must be rationed out i guess
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!chuds GOOD post
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Doesn't matter. Vote Blue no matter who!!
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Loser
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Mom are AlLL Democrats r-slurs?
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The first debate I remember watching was Kerry vs. Bush. We only watched a small segment in school. A question came up about gay marriage—and all the children laughed.![:marseychudegg: :marseychudegg:](https://i.rdrama.net/e/marseychudegg.webp)
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There, I summed up the debate.
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i ma...allowed my 9 year old to watch the debate. they (i deci...they decided they are nonbinary and use they/them pronouns) when the debate was over they solemnly stood up and said, with a tear in their eye,
if we allow a fascist like drumpfler to be elected the united states will fall and democracy will die. bidenkanda forever.
. i've never been more proud.
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I guess I'm a nerd because I remember watching debates with my parents and enjoying them![:marseyshrug: :marseyshrug:](https://i.rdrama.net/e/marseyshrug.webp)
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Snapshots:
https://archive.ph/NAZTy:
ghostarchive.org
archive.org
archive.ph (click to archive)
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Why do they all write like this? Nuke Brooklyn
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When I was 9 I supported Obama cause I liked his blue tie more then Romney's red tie
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