Hillary was the first candidate to appear at the MSNBC/NBC Commander-in-Chief Forum tonight. Matt Lauer began with a question about what Hillary saw as the most important characteristic for Commander-in-Chief. Hillary replied: steadiness.
Our next Commander-in-Chief needs to have the steadiness, strength, and judgment to make life and death decisions.
Then Lauer launched into the emails. Hillary re-explained for the nth time the classification markings. Then came the Iraq war vote. Hillary explained that succinctly and went on to speak about her record on her broader work on legislation for the military. Said she views force as a last resort.
Hillary has spent decades fighting for veterans, members of the military, and their families. http://hrc.io/2cujR5V #NBCNewsForum
Re: Iran nuclear deal “if Iran cheats.” Hillary pulled that deal back into context and provided a rationale for putting together the coalition and imposing the sanctions.
“I will not let the VA be privatized.” —Hillary http://hrc.io/2cujZm2 #NBCNewsForum
We need to do everything we can to remove barriers to the health care our veterans need—whether physical or mental. #NBCNewsForum
Unlike her opponent, Hillary’s plan to defeat ISIS is not a secret. #NBCNewsForum
It should be noted that Hillary popped up out of her seat, stood, and walked while addressing questions several times. Trump remained enthroned throughout. So much for the question of who has stamina and who does not.
Trump came on and spoke at length about Hillary and President Obama when he was told not to. He also informed all and sundry that Iraq has oil! He said people do not know that. Really? Most kids entering 5th grade this week know that as they also knew before his “big reveal” in Detroit that Abe Lincoln was a Republican. What is wrong with him? He seems uneducated even at a basic level. That or he thinks we are. So supercilious. So arrogant. So infuriating!
Trump was allowed to bash Hillary and President Obama throughout and even compared President Obama unfavorably to Vladimir Putin and accepted Putin’s compliment about him. That was disgusting!
Lauer was exceptionally contentious with Hillary and repeatedly interrupted her especially when she referred to Trump. He was very lenient with Trump’s attacks on Hillary. He made no effort to control that and allowed Trump to misquote her. Hillary never said the plan to privatize the VA was Trump’s plan. She said there is a plan, not that it was his plan, but is supported by him. We all know Trump doesn’t have any plans! And why was he allowed to hear everything Hillary said???? What???
In the post-forum analysis, very smart people do not know what Trump means by “take the oil.” What do you mean “What does he mean?????” ISIS knows what he means!
And there is this!
Trump cites resignation of Mexican official as proof his Mexico visit was successful
Donald Trump pointed to the resignation earlier Wednesday of a high-ranking Mexican official as proof that his trip to Mexico last week was a success.“If you look at what happened, look at the aftermath today, the people who arranged the trip in Mexico have been forced out of government,” Trump said in a commander-in-chief forum hosted by NBC News in New York. “That’s how well we did, and that’s how well we’re going to do have to do.”
My final two cents: Matt Lauer was a terrible choice for moderator, and he performed pretty much as we knew he would. I would have been happier with Lester Holt or Joy Reid. OK three cents: I blame the Republican Party for Donald Trump. Not that Cruz or Rubio would have been better, but there were sane traditionalists there, Jeb, Kasich, Lindsey. You gave us this guy to contend with and even you all don’t want him!
Here is an annotated transcript from WaPo.
The first Hillary Clinton vs. Donald Trump showdown of 2016, annotated
By Aaron Blake, Amber Phillips and Callum Borchers September 7
Hillary’s campaign would like you to see this:
Is Donald Trump ready to be our next Commander-in-Chief?
Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un will be rooting for him tonight.
Thx for this as I didn’t watch the forum. I did see on Twitter though that ppl were annoyed that Matt Lauer spent 10 or 15mins asking about emails instead of focusing on vets, active duty military, etc, and didn’t challenge Trump. So Still, looks like you were not alone in your assessment.
Wonder what the spin will be…
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Forgot to add: Why the heck did they assign Matt Lauer of all people to moderate? He’s such a lightweight.
Finally, from what I’ve watched of the analysis, Hill seems to have done well. However, I’m not thrilled about her pledge to not use ground troops (in Syria or whatever). IMO, it’s just not realistic to say that. Who knows what the future holds. I don’t want to see Hill dig a hole for herself like Obama did with his “red line” or Bush #1 with his “read my lips, no new taxes” bit.
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I hear ya. I think most of us heard it as no additional troops. But I get the painting herself into a corner thing.
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There are SO many reasons why Lauer was the wrong choice here. Early headers saying he is taking heat.
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So much for the question of who has stamina and who does not. —- GREAT line
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[…] « Hillary Clinton at the MSNBC/NBC Commander-in-Chief Forum […]
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This was pretty much a waste of everyone’s time (except Trump who just bloviates and obfuscates no matter where he is). If NBC wanted to help inform voters and Lauer wanted to take another trip down Email Lane, they should have allotted an hour–at least!– for each candidate.
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The only good thing about the event was that it gave Hillary some practice for the debate. Oh and maybe allowing for DT to continue to make questionable comments (Putin, women in the military, blabbing about classified briefings etc.) that will take up a news cycle. 😉
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[…] Matt Lauer was taken to task by Twitterstorm today for his sorry performance as moderator at last night’s Commander-in-Chief Forum. The hashtag is #LaueringTheBar. If you also notice #Aleppo trending, that would be because on […]
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