Post debate thoughts

Just a few thoughts on Monday night's first presidential debate of 2016:

Hillary Clinton looked better than she has in a long time. Was it just that she was well prepped and rested, or was she also well medicated? Only her closest handlers know for sure.

I found it amazing Clinton was allowed to rattled off calls for fact checks about alleged Trump "lies" during Monday nigh'ts debate, even as she was racking up a list of "lies" of her own.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump didn't seem to have his act together. Looking more like Mitt Romney or a John McCain, unwilling or unable to stay on the offensive.

Trump tried to stick with his warning that poorly crafted and lopsided trade deals are damaging the U.S., costing us jobs and business. Trump's apparently been on-message here at least since Oprah Winfrey interviewed him in 1988. He also tried to convince the sheeple we're in a bubble economy, but I doubt many sheeple even heard him say it, or didn't believe it if they heard.

Clinton wasn't nearly so interested in talking trade as she was about labeling America a racist nation where the "rich" don't pay enough taxes.

Much was made of whether Donald Trump was for or against the war in Iraq back when it was getting underway. Trump says he was against it. Moderator Lester Holt claimed otherwise.

What difference does it make?

Trump was not in elected position, had no say in authorizing the war.

If it's a grand smear to label someone has having a record of being for the Iraq war, perhaps Ms. Clinton should have also been question why she, as a U.S. senator, voted in favor of it.

After her vote, Clinton in 2003 was so bold as to lecture a group of anti-war Code Pinkers on why she felt it necessary to authorize military force targeting Saddam Hussein.

Bottom line: I doubt any Trump supporters will jump to the Clinton camp, or vice versa, after last night's exchange. But Trump wasn't at the top of his game in wooing undecideds, and Clinton was given a pass allowing her to look and sound better than she actually was.

I guess we give it a day or two, and see if there's any shift in polling.