Annie, you summed up my thoughts on the forum very nicely. I don't have much to add except I kept waiting for Matt Lauer to squelch some of Trump's diversionary criticisms of HRC. Each candidate mentioned the other a few times, but then toward the end it seemed as though Trump was really getting into "attack Hillary" mode. As I said, it was probably to create a diversion. I think Matt should have called him on it--just on general principles. :-)

He certainly spent a lot of time trashing a lot of people...hillary, obama, kerry, even the generals...everyone except Putin.

LOL That's the truth. I wonder what the generals thought about being "reduced to rubble."

Don't forget, he knows much more than the generals.

I'm still trying to figure out how we were supposed to take the oil out of iraq. There seems to be a component of magical thinking around trump...that somehow wanting it so makes it so.

I also feel badly for his supporters who have to either back track or deny that he said what he said. Like the general who's supporting trump and had to deny that trump said he'd get rid of all the generals.

I think hillary may have had her "no new taxes" moment by being so firm about no troops on the ground in Iraq when they are still there. If she's pres, she will have to eat those words for sure.

I think hillary may have had her "no new taxes" moment by being so firm about no troops on the ground in Iraq when they are still there. If she's pres, she will have to eat those words for sure.

I had the same thought, Annie, but I hope it won't come to that. If it does, the radio talkers will call her statement a lie. They have a broad definition of lying.

Matt Lauer probably isn't very happy this morning.

Matt Lauer Fields Storm of Criticism Over Clinton-Trump Forum

I don't think Matt Lauer was very prepared. He had no follow up questions to speak of. I thought Donald Trump looked awfully red, puffy and unhealthy. He really is a mess up close like that. As usual Hillary was over prepared and he simply talks off the cuff. I've heard that Donald Trump has a very short attention span and doesn't like to be bothered with details.

I’ll be honest. I’m
more confused than ever on what to believe.
I was 100% Hillary until she said she didn’t know C meant
confidential. Maybe it was an innocent
mistake, but come on. I’m a dumb bunny
and would have asked someone, what does this C mean? Oh, classified, we’ll I better fix that
situation.

pawprint, I truly believe that trumps secret plan for fixing isis is to drop a nuke on them. He already said he wants to bomb the s*** out of them, he has asked 3 times during a briefing, if we have nukes, why can't we use them and he is now recommending that japan and s. korea also get nukes. And that's why he won't say what his plan is. He knows he'd lose the race for sure if he even threatened to use nukes.

Do you really want to even risk having the ability to annihilate the human race in the hands of someone with trumps temperament?

That's an easy answer for me.

There are only about 400 other reasons why I'd never vote for trump....

Taken in isolation, each party's candidate gives the other party the chance to win by a landslide. But that won't happen because both candidates are so flawed and broadly disliked by large segments of the population.

I think party leadership on both sides will have learned a lesson from this cycle. It isn't so much necessary to find a candidate with good prospects to win. as much as it's important to find one who isn't a shoo-in to lose. With the odd coincidence of having two of those, it's a draw/stalemate in the polling for now.

Edit - spelling corrected, thanks Sylvia. I write quickly and informally.

shoo-in.

It's "shoo-in".

don't know how you figure that there are 2 who are shoo-ins to lose.

We've got one who's spent her career in public service & in government, who's knowledgeable, & whose responses are measured & rational.

Then we've got one who's never held any office, who doesn't know how our government works, who's got a hot temperament & a hair-trigger temper, whose only consistency is his 180 degree u-turns, who either cannot keep a business in business or who sets up business to fail, I'm not sure which, & who has demonstrated his contempt for almost everybody in the country, from John McCain (!) to military leaders to women.

I think party leadership on both sides will have learned a lesson from this cycle. It isn't so much necessary to find a candidate with good prospects to win. as much as it's important to find one who isn't a shoe-in to lose.

What a sad criteria for choosing a Presidential Nominee.

If they were to ask me to ask questions as Matt did last night, I would probably do it for a bunch cheaper than what they paid him. And I believe that the questions from the people there were not really answered completely.

With all the talking over each other, it will be interesting to see how wound up they get in an actual 'debate' situation. No one will be able to get a word in edgewise, including the moderators.

Here's an addendum to last night's conversation. NBC reports:

What Really Happened at Donald Trump's Intelligence Briefing

I was surprised to learn a candidate's advisers are permitted to attend briefings.

I believe that Chris Christie is going to Trumps briefings. (hopefully I'm wrong)

Apparently you're right, Blfenton. It's a little unsettling. In the link I posted above, it's reported that another Trump adviser, retired general Mike Flynn, interrupted the briefing so many times that Christie told him to shut up.

Sylvia- perhaps you are unaware but Hillary spending her career in government is precisely why Trump followers won't vote for her.

Now, I'm no Trump supporter but the one thing I've heard over and over from Trump supporters is that they think it's time to elect someone who isn't a politician.

So, her measured, rational, spoon fed responses from her team of advisors will do nothing to win these people over.

I am sick and tired of career politicians but that doesn't mean I'm voting for the tangerine terror. Neither one of these idiots will get a vote from me.