ok its the weekly standard but holy effin moley, this is what passes for intelligent analysis?

He was better early, she was better late. Better to be better early.

really, why is that? no explanation

He was often incoherent in policy, as usual, and when he offered some clarity it was worrisome

which apparently doesnt matter because

But Trump also managed to avoid a major gaffe or insult—major by Trump standards anyway—of the kind that we saw from him throughout the primaries. There was no Judge Curiel moment, no Megyn Kelly menstruating moment. He didn’t connect Rafael Cruz to Lee Harvey Oswald or float any new crazy conspiracies. (After the debate ended, however, he complained about his “defective” microphone, wondering if “they” did it on purpose).

Maybe it’s because I had exceedingly low expectations for Trump coming in, but I thought if there were genuinely mixed opinions about who won the debate, that would mean Trump probably did.

except he did have a major gaffe/insult moment when he piled on Alicia Machado

and there arent “genuinely mixed opinions” about who won