[Kätzchen]

I came across an Op-Ed, over on CNN, which asks the question:

Who won the debate?

It's a quick read. Several individuals wrote op-eds addressing the idea of who won the final debate. I like what one of the contributors submitted:

Paul Callan: The last debate may have propelled Biden to the presidency.


Despite his chronic case of malignant narcissism, President Donald Trump demonstrated occasional flashes of dignified "presidential" behavior last night. Trump, however, struggled to hold the reasonable tone like a patient gasping for air in an ICU. His opponents may observe that the ability to lie in a dignified manner does not really confer presidential dignity.

Throughout the evening the Trumpian narcissism leaked through in claims like his belief that he is the best president for African Americans since Abraham Lincoln. His passive response to Covid-19 was graphically demonstrated when the wives joined their husbands for a photo op at debate's end. Biden immediately put his mask back on as his already masked wife, Jill Biden, approached. An also masked First Lady Melania Trump then joined her defiantly unmasked husband for a photo which neatly summed up the differences between the candidates on the surging pandemic.

In what was one of the best candidate debates in recent political history, Biden demonstrated the confidence and experience to rescue the nation from the trauma of Trump. The President's attempt to paint Biden as a wild-eyed, corrupt socialist had fallen flat and the debate may well be remembered as the event which propelled Biden to the presidency.

Paul Callan is a CNN legal analyst, a former New York homicide prosecutor and counsel to the New York law firm of Edelman & Edelman PC, focusing on wrongful conviction and civil rights cases.