Thoughts on Tonight's Debate

 Poor Chris Wallace.

A week or so ago, he set out the topics for tonight's debate, calling for 15-minute segments to address 

• The Trump and Biden records
• The Supreme Court
• COVID-19
• The Economy
• Race and Violence in our Cities
• The Integrity of the Election

Since then? Well, among other things, 

• Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away; 
• Trump is rushing to get Amy Coney Barrett confirmed; 
• the NY Times released some of Trump's tax records; 
• Joe Biden and Kamala Harris released their tax records; 
• a judge ordered the census count to continue, and the government is saying they pretty much don't care; 
• there were no police officers charged in the murder of Breonna Taylor; 
• a grand juror has petitioned the court to have the full record released so the people know what really happened; 
• ICE is threatening mass arrests in 'sanctuary cities' starting in California; 
• the NFL has its first COVID outbreak; 
• Disney is said to be laying off 28,000 employees;
• there was a deadly rocket attack in Iraq;
• one million people are dead worldwide from COVID, with the US having over 200,000 of the victims;
• unemployment claims continue higher than expected, even though they're lower than at the peak of the pandemic;
• we don't yet have a new economic stimulus bill;
• Arkansas is threatening to fire teachers who refuse to teach in-person classes, and
• one million people have already voted in the presidential election.

Meanwhile, the drinking game boards are set, and everyone's on edge wondering whether they're going to last through the full hour and a half debate, given the chances they'll be a few sheets to the wind after the first topic.

The larger questions? 

• Is anyone watching to learn, or just to have fun? 
• Will either candidate even answer a question, much less answer it fully and factually? 
• Will anyone actually talk about policy, or will it be just a bunch of malarkey? 
• Will any votes change as a result of the debate? 
• Will the debates encourage people to vote, or have them running screaming into the woods and far, far away from their polling places or mail-in ballots? 
• Does anyone think there's really any value in having these darn things, anyway?

Oh -- what's your beverage of choice? Wine? Beer? Or, maybe this is more your style?

I'll see you tomorrow for some post-debate rambling.