Hillary Clinton Debate Performance Chills Biden Movement

[Liberal_in_LA]

Source: nytimes

Democrats expressed growing skepticism on Wednesday that Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. could find a foothold were he to enter the presidential campaign as Hillary Rodham Clinton’s commanding performance in the first Democratic debate here abruptly quieted murmurs about her candidacy.

With no obvious constituency ready to support Mr. Biden, his prospects have increasingly been based on the possibilities of Mrs. Clinton’s faltering, repeating some of the missteps she has made since declaring her candidacy earlier this year or falling prey to more damning revelations about her use of a private email server as secretary of state.

But with Mrs. Clinton showing her mettle in Tuesday’s debate, and Democrats increasingly convinced that questions about her emails are little more than a Republican and news media fixation, she suddenly appeared far better positioned to allay skeptics in her party when she testifies next week before the congressional panel investigating the attacks on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/15/us/politics/democratic-debate-hillary-clinton-joe-biden.html?mabReward=A6&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&region=CColumn&module=Recommendation&src=rechp&WT.nav=RecEngine&_r=0

[orpupilofnature57]

1. MSM BULLSHIT She survived last night . period . New York Times 1% = a commercial for WMD's

[oberliner]

4. You think Biden is more likely to get in after last night?

Or you think it's unchanged?

[orpupilofnature57]

5. Unchanged , because I think it was a diversion all along, and was meant to draw from Bernie votes,

and saw that they grew after last night, ending his use as a diversion .

[we can do it]

10. Biden would pull voters from Hillary.

[LiberalElite]

2. Biden could still try -

not being able to "find a foothold" hasn't stopped Webb or Chaffee or any of the Repugnant clowns.

[JI7]

3. i think that's what he was waiting for

He was only going to get in the race if it looked like clinton was imploding.

If his son had not gotten sick i think he would have gotten in early enough.

[WheelWalker]

6. It ain't over 'til it's over.

[Liberal_in_LA]

7. True

[MBS]

8. One of the commentaries pointed out an interesting parallel

(Dan Balz in WaPo*) that Romney "won" the first debate with Obama in 2012, though that win did not erase Romney's other vulnerabilities, which ultimately did him in.. (I'd also add that, IMHO, Romney's "win" that night was mostly about Obama's strangely lackluster performance that night--and that Obama returned to his regular self in subsequent debates).

I really hope that Biden decides to run. I have great respect for him- and he wins hands- down over HRC on the integrity, character, and credibility-with-working-class-voters fronts.

If there is any certainty in this anxiety-producing election season, it's that there is bound to be more craziness ahead; and I'd feel much less anxious if Biden was in the mix as an option for the Dems.

(*Dan Balz's comment: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/hillary-clintons-debate-performance-complicates-bidens-path/2015/10/14/28e0fe94-729b-11e5-ba14-318f8e87a2fc_story.html

The overnight reviews on Clinton were extremely positive, perhaps somewhat too positive as is sometimes the case with debates. There is a difference between turning in a good debate performance and fundamentally changing voters’ perceptions. Anyone who doubts that should look back to Mitt Romney’s presentation in the first debate against President Obama in October 2012. Romney overwhelmed Obama that night and was judged the clear winner. But he was still saddled with questions about his candidacy and with the underlying forces in the campaign, which ultimately helped Obama prevail. . .

. . .
Clinton reassured nervous Democrats by reminding them of her talents as a debater. She did not fully alleviate her vulnerabilities. She remains hostage to new revelations and the drip, drip, drip that lies ahead on her e-mails, and it will take more time and more than one debate before anyone can say whether she is turning around perceptions of her on questions of trust and honesty. . . .

[MBS]

9. Also, this:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/why-clintons-debate-success-could-come-back-to-hurt-her-in-the-end/2015/10/14/f99d4786-7291-11e5-8d93-0af317ed58c9_story.html?wpmm=1&wpisrc=nl_politics

If Hillary Rodham Clinton wins the Democratic presidential nomination, her Republican opponents will not let her off so easy.

On Tuesday night in Las Vegas, Clinton faced a set of Democratic rivals who seemed to lack the skill — or the will — to challenge her about her record on foreign policy, her changes­ in position, her handling of government data on a private e-mail server, or her claim to be an “outsider” after two decades in national politics.

When the former secretary of state praised Libya — now a cauldron of chaos and Islamist militias — as “smart power at its best,” nobody scoffed. When she was challenged about her e-mail practices, a controversy that has concerned many voters, top rival Bernie Sanders actually stepped in to dismiss the question. Americans are “tired of hearing about” it, he said.

For a night, the Democratic primary looked like what it was supposed to be a year ago: a coronation. On stage stood one dominant candidate, surrounded by others with other goals that didn’t include actually taking her down.

For Clinton, this night was a win. But it wasn’t great preparation. If Clinton is the Democratic nominee, she will face a Republican candidate who sees the very things she talked about Tuesday — Libya, the e-mails and her closeness with President Obama — as weapons to use against her.

[Evergreen Emerald]

11. The republican opponents will not let anyone off easy.

[MBS]

12. yes, for sure.

Which is why a strongly contested primary is in the Democratic Party (eventual) nominee's long-term interests.