1hundredsixty8

...And there ain’t no Plan B pill to take.

There was the debate which, in hindsight, seems to have been predictable. Hillary Clinton came across as calm, confident and prepared enough to bait the undisciplined Donald Trump into making his usual quota of false statements. Oblivious to the impact of his bizarre performance, Mr. Trump has, of course, declared himself the debate’s winner. And he has followed that up with another flurry of weird statements.

He did not, for instance, raise the issue of Bill Clinton’s sexual indiscretions out of respect for Chelsea Clinton who was in attendance. He had alluded to this near the end of the debate, employing his favorite rhetorical tactic, the apophasis, when he stated that “I was going to say something… : ... extremely rough to Hillary, to her family, and I said to myself, “I can’t do it. I just can’t do it. It’s inappropriate. It’s not nice.” “

His regard for the sensibility of a woman did not extend to Alicia Machado, a Miss Universe winner. Miss Machado claims that Trump, upset with her for having gained weight, referred to her as “Miss Piggy” and “Miss Housekeeping.” Towards the end of the debate, Hillary Clinton seized an opportunity Trump gave her, and attacked him for remarks he had made about women, finishing with Miss Machado’s claims. Trump, who owns the pageant, went on Fox News this morning and launched into an unprompted attack on the former beauty queen, calling her “the worst we ever had.” So much for respect.

Trump ended the night with his campaign slogan: “I just want to make America great again”. In the over fifteen months since he announced his candidacy, no one has challenged him on what this means: By saying “again”, the implication is it once was. When was that exactly? And what factors made it great? If you intend to take us back, Donald, you should at least tell us where that is. Perhaps the town hall format at the next debate will give an audience member an opportunity to ask these questions.

In the meantime, as we distract ourselves with the Presidential campaign, the Federal officials we have already elected, the Senators and Congressmen, have managed to do almost nothing. As Catherine Rampell details in today’s Washington Post, the GOP-led legislature has failed to vote on budgetary bills, again raising the possibility of a government shutdown. The Senate has recorded the lowest number of judicial and executive branch nominees in recent history, at the same time taking the longest summer recess in modern times and working the fewest days in a session in sixty years.

Make America great again? How about we elect people to public office who are committed to making government do its job.

The full transcript of last nights debate is available at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/27/us/politics/transcript-debate.html?_r=0