​From the archives.  This week’s contestant is Tejas Srinivasan from Middlebury, Vermont.  I didn’t get either part, but it’s a fun one.  I thought I had a few different guesses with the hidden song, but each time it went off in a different direction.  I think I could have possibly gotten the composer style, but I was too focused on working out the hidden song that, in the end, I just made a stab and was wrong.

​Hosts Phil Rosenthal and David Wild write that this week, they “zoom on down that ‘Ventura Highway’ on a ‘Horse With No Name’ for a fascinating career-spanning conversation with Gerry Beckley & Dewey Bunnel of the beloved group America. Previous ‘Naked Lunch’ guest Jimmy Jam -- a lifelong America fan himself -- joins for the conversation, and John Stamos offers a loving episode introduction.
 

​On this week’s ‘Not My Job’ segment of the NPR quiz show Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!, the guest is David Alan Grier. In his conversation with host Peter Sagal, he talks about moving from being a serious stage actor (winning a Tony Award and having four Tony nominations) into huge comedy success on the series In Living Color – and tells some very funny stories about major film projects he had no interest in, sure they would flop and turned down.
 
This is the full Wait, Wait… broadcast, but you can jump directly to the “Not My Job” segment, it starts at the 18:45 mark.

​The guest on this week’s Al Franken podcast is Trae Crowder, a comedian from Tennessee who refers to himself as the “Redneck Liberal.”  It’s an interesting conversation.  As Al writes, they “discuss his upbringing in a red state, why rednecks are Trumpies and what happens to a community when the jobs leave. Learn why he understands Trump’s appeal to [delete-voting] rednecks, and how and why they transitioned from not liking Trump to supporting his every move.”

If you didn't see "Last Week Tonight" with John Oliver on Sunday, his Main Story was the upcoming U.K. elections.  Given the host's close connection and interest in the subject, it was, as you might expect, detailed, blunt and wonderfully funny, focusing on who's running, what's at issue and why people there hate the Tories.

Well, that was a terrible debate by Joe Biden.  It’s not to say he lost or won – I thought he lost, but that’s for the public to say what they were listening for.  (A public most of whom might only be seeing the debate on clips, and many undecided voters of whom may not have watched for an election still so far away for them.)  The question of age was certainly high on the list of voters’ minds.  But answers and facts are, as well.  However, on the pure presentation, performance level, President Biden was awful.
 
There are reports that earlier in the day he took a COVID test, which was negative, but that he did have a cold, and that explained his energy and weak, raspy voice.  But that doesn’t matter when it comes to people looking at the debate and seeing a feeble, old man.  On the other hand, if that was the reason – and it seems likely, because President Biden hasn’t seemed that tired and weak before, so it appears to be a “one off” -- there are four months before the election.  And there’s a convention speech to come, for which the viewing public will now likely be much higher, curious about how Joe Biden handles it.  And a full campaign ahead, and ads contrasting himself to Trump.  And, at the moment, a second debate schedule,   And four months of Trump himself reminding the public how sociopathic he is and how his early dementia, which is degenerative, and will only get worse, is affecting him. 
 
But for right now, it was an awful debate, which President Biden bombed.
 
And it wasn’t awful just for seeing Joe Biden old and raspy, not energizing people concerned that he was too old, but confirming them.  With Trump looking strong and much younger, despite being just three years apart.  It was awful for all the opportunities he had for going off on Trump, and letting the easy pitches go by.
 
The two slam-dunk issues for President Biden were abortion and January 6.
 
On abortion, he never drove home, pounded and re-pounded that it was Trump who nominated the Supreme Court justices who overturned  Roe and how Trump repeatedly took credit for it.

When Trump said how for the last 51 years during Roe, everyone in the country wanted the issue to go to the states, President Biden didn’t say that everyone watching right now knew how idiotic it was to even think that.

When Trump brought up Democrats supporting “post-birth abortion,” Biden did say that wasn’t true – but he didn’t say it was ludicrous and insane, and let Trump come back to insist it was true.
 
And when Trump said how the Supreme Court protected the use of the abortion pill Mifepristone, President Biden didn't say, no, they didn't protect it, they only ruled that the people who sued didn't have standing to do so, and therefore left the door open for someone else to sue.

Nor did Biden say that next up for the Court is likely the issue of contraceptives and blocking them.
 
As for January 6, President Biden referenced Trump’s responsibility for doing nothing during the riot, but didn’t even mention all the planning Trump did to build up to the day, and how he’s been indicted for calling Georgia to cheat and more.
 
And when Trump bizarrely claimed that Nancy Pelosi “took responsibility for January 6,” Biden not only didn’t say, “That’s crazy, she did no such thing, she said she took responsibility for not preparing enough beforehand for a full-out Insurrection, but she has no authority for calling out the National Guard” – but worse, Mr. Biden didn’t even touch it!   Not one word in refutation for something so nuts and so important.
 
These are the easy lay-up issues for President Biden, which he should have hammered all night, but missed.  But there were other issues, as well.
 
He showed some fire when Trump tried to claim that Biden hated the military – but since military support is of the highest importance to Joe Biden, a man who ends every speech with “…and God protect our troops,” only showing “some fire” is an empty response.
 
When Trump brought up how great border protection was during his time in office, Biden never pointed out how actually-bad border security was when Trump was in office, but he only half-heartedly mentioned his best answer – that his Administration put forth a strong, bipartisan border bill that would have addressed so many of the existing problems, but Republicans blocked it because Trump told them to.  He later mentioned this, but it was only a brief mention about 80 minutes in, and should be been blared out emphatically.
 
When Trump tried to divert attention from mention of his own felony conviction by bringing up Hunter Biden’s felony conviction, President Biden totally whiffed.  He didn’t explain that his son was a private citizen, convicted of illegal gun ownership, while Trump was convicted of fraud helping him get elected president, and he’s running for president again.  And further, he should have said that he won’t pardon his own son because he believes in the justice system, but Trump hasn’t stopped whining and crying and talking about rigged trials and retribution.
 
Throughout the debate, Trump kept saying how America is laughed at by all other nations.  For the most part, President Biden let that pass.  Only late did he finally make a defense of the American people.  It was a strong statement, late, but it only tangentially addressed how other world leaders look at Trump, concerned about his time and office and wanting to leave NATO.
 
A big whiff by President Biden was when Trump’s suggestion of funding America on tariff increases was brought up.  He didn’t say that economists all say this is the worst, most disastrous idea, would massively increase the debt and, importantly, would drastically raise prices for all Americans who pay for tariff increases, not the exporting countries, something Trump doesn’t seem to understand.
 
And when Trump says Biden gets money from China, Biden didn’t point out that it has been reported that Trump himself actually got $6 million from China, and when he was asked about on a Fox town hall, he said it was for “services.”  But has never yet said what those services are!!

When discussing jobs, President Biden didn’t say that jobs increased every month for 40 months, the fifth longest streak on record.  And that unemployment was below 4% for 26 months in a row, the most in almost 60 years.
 
And importantly, especially given how weak he came across, President Biden never said and should have, yes, I’m old, but I’ll work for you, every single day.  But Trump only works for himself.  And plays golf.
 
And he should have used more triggers to set Trump off.  Triggers we all know.  He did keep saying that’s a lie, but the real triggers to Trump are saying “You’re wrong” and “you’re a loser.”  He touched on that, but those are the easy triggers and they should have been relentlessly pounded, not touched on.
 
President Biden did get stronger near the end, and that’s an important time to get strong.  Though being strong at the beginning when most people watch is more important.
 
However, near the end, he had his best moment.  That’s when he called Trump a whiner.  That “You lost” and “You can’t take losing.”   Finally after 90 minutes.
 
Yes, it was a very weak debate performance.  And if this is the way President Biden presents himself for the next four months, it's a huge problem.  But I've never seen him this lousy, so I don't expect it to linger.  In fact, at a rally afterwards with his wife, he was pretty strong and lively.  If only that Joe Biden had showed up at the debate. 
 
But aside from the reality that there are still four months to go, it’s important to look at the debate, not only from the perspective of Democrats and “did Biden blow it?” or how upset party members are that so much was missed from what they wanted and expected, and to a large degree needed, but also (arguably even more importantly) from whether this changed votes.

And while it may have swayed some independent, undecided voters at this early point and locked those votes in for Trump (or not for Biden), it seems far too early for that level of locked-in certainty for such people, who tend to wait until close to the end to truly decide. Further, Trump may have looked physically strong and younger, but it was pretty clear he avoided many answers, often talked only about himself, clearly lied about many things that most people, who are not Trump acolytes, know absolutely for certain are lies (like that everyone has been against Roe for the past half-century and that Nancy Pelosi is responsible for January 6) and -- while he was not "shark attack" level out of control -- was the dystopian, blaming others, Chaos Trump who people remember. President Biden didn’t solidify his support within his party or leaning-independents, which was an important task for the night, but importantly, too, Trump didn’t likely pick up many votes, especially at this early stage.
 
I put almost no stock in focus groups.  But MSNBC had a fascinating one after the debate.  It means nothing, but it supported this thought above.  It was a half-dozen people, all thoroughly independent, open-mind, some Republican, some who didn’t vote for president in 2020.  And they were all concerned by Joe Biden’s performance, looking old – but they were as concerned, and probably more so that Trump showed them everything they are troubled by about him.  As one woman put it, “I saw Trump and thought, ‘No, never.’  And saw Biden and thought, “Uh-oh.”
 
If that is the general reaction from most people who actually watched at least much of the debate, President Biden can win back “Uh-oh” people.  Trump cannot win back “No, never.”
 
Two side stories that are worth noting.
 
A couple times after the debate, MSNBC cut to events where President Biden went.  The first was a rally, the second was a local late-night pancake house that was full of diners.  In both instances, his voice was strong, he was lively and even a bit vibrant.  (At one point at the rally, he danced a few steps across the stage to music playing.  As Rachel Maddow said, “If that Joe Biden had shown up at the debate, he would have won.”)  The point is that clearly Joe Biden has not “lost it,” if he was that strong after the debate.  Maybe it was that he had a cold, maybe it was dealing with all the preparation crammed into him, maybe it was dealing with a liar, maybe it was being old or bits of all of that together.  And later, all that gone, perhaps feeling better, being able to deal with people which he loves, he was his Joe self.  But whatever the reason for the change, he was not only not frail, but sharp.  A day late and a dollar short, but important to know for the road ahead.
 
And second, Chris Hayes on MSNBC reminded everyone that John Fetterman suffered a stroke and had a terrible, troubling debate afterwards when running for senator from Pennsylvania.  And despite how bad he was and how sick his illness he was recovering from – he won the race.  Because he was good, and his opponent was an awful, election-denying Trumper.
 
President Biden had a terrible debate.  He lost.  Trump won the debate.  It was important – very important.  And problematic for Democrats, and independents, it supported their worst fears.
 
But it was a debate.  And there are still four months to go in the election.  November 5 is what counts.  And as bad and understandably concerning as President Biden was, as old and weak as he looked -- Trump is still a convicted felon, found liable for rape, found guilty of fraud, who says he wants to be a dictator (something not brought up at the debate), who says he wants to get rid of some of the U.S. Constitution, who echoes Hitler.  And who psychologists and psychiatrists says shows signs of degenerative early dementia.
 
Joe Biden is old and looked old.  That’s normal.  Dementia is not normal.  Neither is being a convicted felon, being found liable for rape, saying you want to be a dictator and echoing Adolf Hitler.
 
It was a very bad debate for President Biden.  But the issue is how did it affect the election?  And though Trump won, it wasn’t like he did himself any great favors lying through the night, talking about himself and reminding voters of the chaos he causes and sociopath he is.  And while you can come back from “Uh-oh,” you can’t come back from “No, never.”