Circling the Wagons

“Look, this is a conversation … that is taking place among elites.” —Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL) regarding Biden’s debate train wreck

“It’s just so frustrating that people are automatically willing to dismiss 90 minutes of a bad performance compared to 3.5 years of an excellent presidency.” —Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm

“I have not heard a single person express anything negative. All they’re saying to us is keep Joe Biden moving forward.” —Congressman Jim Clyburn (D-SC)

Spin Doctors

“What I’ve been calling this: A classic example of preparation overload. I just think that there should have been much less preparation for this debate.” —Jim Clyburn

“By the way … there are healthcare professionals who think that Trump has dementia.” —Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

Belly Laugh of the Day

“Research during the debate shows us converting more undecided voters than Trump did.” —Joe Biden

The BIG Lie

“What the world knows, the world has experienced over three and a half years … is exactly the kind of leadership that [Biden’s] brought to bear.” —Secretary of State Antony Blinken

Praetorian Guard

“Biden has spent his entire life fabricating stories about himself. He still does it, regularly. He was forced out of the 1988 race over that and plagiarism. And yet these media drones run around calling Biden a ‘truth-teller’ because they have no shame (and thus no audience).” —Glenn Greenwald

Political Futures

“As in 2022, the Democrats have already begun to insist that, if voters want to protect democracy — in this context, the process by which we choose whom we want to be president — then they don’t have a choice about for whom they vote.” —Charles C.W. Cooke

“All Democrat leaders and the media had to do was not be so craven in their desire to cling to power. … They’re not actually upset to have just discovered the man in charge of our nuclear weapons is senile — they’re upset they can’t continue to hide this fact from you any longer.” —Mark Hemingway

“Getting to a stronger potential candidate requires bypassing [Kamala] Harris, which involves its own complications. Is an identity-politics-obsessed party really going to pass over the first African-American female vice president of the United States? Even if it can, an alternative presumably wouldn’t be the unanimous choice of a Democratic convention, creating chaos at an event typically choreographed to drive the message of a presumptive nominee.” —Rich Lowry

“The upcoming elections, like the last few, are about how people see themselves, and how they think others see them. More specifically, it’s about the respect they believe is owed to them simply because they are Americans who pay taxes, obey the laws and raise their children to salute the flag, figuratively if not literally.” —Christine Flowers

“This class warfare thing has gone on for a long time, and to be honest, the folks who are pulling out their hair about Trump have only themselves to blame for his success. They made fun of Sarah Palin, and they got Marjorie Taylor Greene.” —Christine Flowers

For the Record

“If [the 2017] tax cuts are allowed to expire next year, individual tax rates go up, the standard deduction gets cut in half, and the child tax credit gets cut in half, resulting in the biggest tax hike in history. Just something to think about.” —Gary Bauer

The ChiCom Chronicles

“For decades, U.S. policy toward China has been wishful thinking. Our goal to help it rise has been a roaring success. Its influence around the world is stunning. The goal of moderating its form of government failed spectacularly. The Chinese communists accepted decades of friendship from the U.S. and the West without changing their methods, beliefs, or goals. They remain, in their own eyes, the Middle Kingdom, the rightful ruler of the world.” —Brent Ramsey

And Last…

“Even if Joe Biden were 20 years younger, he would still be a failed president — because his policies are failures.” —Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR)

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Follow Jordan Candler on X/Twitter.