{"id":1202,"date":"2024-06-28T12:49:42","date_gmt":"2024-06-28T16:49:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1202"},"modified":"2024-06-28T12:49:42","modified_gmt":"2024-06-28T16:49:42","slug":"joe-stumbles-the-nation-is-the-loser","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1202","title":{"rendered":"Joe Stumbles: The Nation is the Loser"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Let\u2019s face it, President Biden came out flat and did a poor job in last night\u2019s first presidential debate. He certainly did not instill confidence in the voters with his halting performance. Predictably Donald Trump was, as Tom Friedman wrote in this morning\u2019s <em>New<\/em> <em>York Times<\/em>, a \u201cfirehose of lies\u201d as usual. While the \u201cwatch party crowd\u201d will say that Trump won, there were really no winners, only losers. The big loser was the nation.<\/p>\n<p>While the MAGA crowd gloats, Democrats are throwing up their hands and demanding that Biden step down and let a younger candidate come forward. Show me the candidate that can fill in and triumph and just maybe. But understand that such action could easily lead to disaster at this point.<\/p>\n<p>Presidential debates are really not \u201cdebates\u201d but too often performances to catch opponents in \u201cflubs\u201d and \u201cgotchas\u201d that do not square with a candidate\u2019s strengths and weaknesses. They are nothing more than political sit-coms. And one debate does not an election make.<\/p>\n<p>Right now, Joe Biden is our only hope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Let\u2019s face it, President Biden came out flat and did a poor job in last night\u2019s first presidential debate. He certainly did not instill confidence in the voters with his halting performance. Predictably Donald Trump was, as Tom Friedman wrote in this morning\u2019s New York Times, a \u201cfirehose of lies\u201d as usual. While the \u201cwatch&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-robert-fischer"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Joe Stumbles: The Nation is the Loser - Potlatch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1202\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Joe Stumbles: The Nation is the Loser - Potlatch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Let\u2019s face it, President Biden came out flat and did a poor job in last night\u2019s first presidential debate. He certainly did not instill confidence in the voters with his halting performance. Predictably Donald Trump was, as Tom Friedman wrote in this morning\u2019s New York Times, a \u201cfirehose of lies\u201d as usual. While the \u201cwatch...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1202\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Potlatch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-06-28T16:49:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"George Shafer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"George Shafer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/?p=1202#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/?p=1202\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"George Shafer\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/aa4c9c1bec1eefbee281c7b4f91d91b0\"},\"headline\":\"Joe Stumbles: The Nation is the Loser\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-06-28T16:49:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/?p=1202\"},\"wordCount\":186,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"by Robert Fischer\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/?p=1202#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/?p=1202\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/?p=1202\",\"name\":\"Joe Stumbles: The Nation is the Loser - Potlatch\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-06-28T16:49:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/aa4c9c1bec1eefbee281c7b4f91d91b0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/?p=1202#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/?p=1202\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/?p=1202#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Joe Stumbles: The Nation is the Loser\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Potlatch\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/aa4c9c1bec1eefbee281c7b4f91d91b0\",\"name\":\"George Shafer\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/504c3f3f28fae38b2412b60d480e2acaf009ec80be15447e5fb39173ef16b03c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/504c3f3f28fae38b2412b60d480e2acaf009ec80be15447e5fb39173ef16b03c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/504c3f3f28fae38b2412b60d480e2acaf009ec80be15447e5fb39173ef16b03c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"George Shafer\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/?author=6\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Joe Stumbles: The Nation is the Loser - Potlatch","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1202","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Joe Stumbles: The Nation is the Loser - Potlatch","og_description":"Let\u2019s face it, President Biden came out flat and did a poor job in last night\u2019s first presidential debate. He certainly did not instill confidence in the voters with his halting performance. Predictably Donald Trump was, as Tom Friedman wrote in this morning\u2019s New York Times, a \u201cfirehose of lies\u201d as usual. While the \u201cwatch...","og_url":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1202","og_site_name":"Potlatch","article_published_time":"2024-06-28T16:49:42+00:00","author":"George Shafer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"George Shafer","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1202#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1202"},"author":{"name":"George Shafer","@id":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/#\/schema\/person\/aa4c9c1bec1eefbee281c7b4f91d91b0"},"headline":"Joe Stumbles: The Nation is the Loser","datePublished":"2024-06-28T16:49:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1202"},"wordCount":186,"commentCount":0,"articleSection":["by Robert Fischer"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1202#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1202","url":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1202","name":"Joe Stumbles: The Nation is the Loser - Potlatch","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-06-28T16:49:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/#\/schema\/person\/aa4c9c1bec1eefbee281c7b4f91d91b0"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1202#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1202"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1202#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Joe Stumbles: The Nation is the Loser"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/","name":"Potlatch","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/#\/schema\/person\/aa4c9c1bec1eefbee281c7b4f91d91b0","name":"George Shafer","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/504c3f3f28fae38b2412b60d480e2acaf009ec80be15447e5fb39173ef16b03c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/504c3f3f28fae38b2412b60d480e2acaf009ec80be15447e5fb39173ef16b03c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/504c3f3f28fae38b2412b60d480e2acaf009ec80be15447e5fb39173ef16b03c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"George Shafer"},"url":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?author=6"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1202\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}