From stirring to cringey: Memorable moments from past presidential debates
WASHINGTON — It could be a well-rehearsed singer, an overly loud sigh – or a full-on performance so astonishing that it brings a meeting to a shocking end. President’s re-election bid.
Notable moments from previous presidential debates show how candidates’ words and body language can make them seem uniquely relatable or hopelessly out of touch — and reveal whether a candidate is at the top of his or her policy game or in the doldrums. Will the past be a harbinger of Tuesday’s debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump in Philadelphia?
“Because these are live television events, without a script, with no way of knowing how they’re going to play out, anything can happen,” said Alan Schroeder, author of “Presidential Debates: 50 Years of High-Risk TV.”
Below is a look at the highlights, lowlights and unexpected events from past presidential debates.
Although it still fresh in the nation’s memorythe june debate in Atlanta, president in battle Joe Biden against Trump could prove to be the most impactful political confrontation in history.
Biden, 81, shuffled onto the stage, cleared his throat frequently, said $15 when he meant his administration helped lower the price of insulin to $35 a month in his first answer and inexplicably gave Trump an early opportunity to pounce on the chaotic U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. Things got worse for the president 12 minutes in, when Biden completely lost his train of thought.
“The, uh — excuse me, with the COVID, uh, dealing with, everything that we had to deal with, uh … like … Look … ” Biden stammered before concluding, “we finally defeated Medicare.” He meant that his administration had successfully taken on “big pharma,” some of the country’s largest prescription drug companies.
Biden initially accused had a cold, and then suggested he had overprepared. He later blamed jet lag after traveling abroad for the debate.
In the hectic hours immediately following the debate, a Biden campaign spokesman said: “ Of course, he doesn’t stop.” That was until the president did just that 28 days later, backing down and endorsing Harris on July 21.
Biden was asked his age in Atlanta and got into a heated argument with Trump about golf. It was the opposite of knowing a sensitive question was coming and still letting the answer come spontaneously — a feat accomplished by President Ronald Reagan when he landed a line for the ages during the second 1984 presidential debate.
Reagan was 73 and faced 56-year-old Democratic challenger Walter Mondale. In the first debate, Reagan struggled to remember facts and at times seemed confused. One adviser suggested afterward that his aides “stuffed his head with so many facts and figures that he lost his spontaneity.”
So Reagan’s team took a more hands-off approach to the second debate. When Reagan was asked a question about his mental and physical stamina that he should have known was coming, he was ready for the answer to feel unplanned.
Asked if his age would hinder him in dealing with major challenges, Raegan replied, “Not at all,” before smoothly continuing: “I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I will not exploit my opponent’s youth and inexperience for political purposes.” The audience, and even Mondale, erupted in laughter.
Then, benefiting from years of Hollywood-honed comedic training, the president took a sip of water, giving the audience more time to laugh. Finally, grinning and leaving no doubt that he had rehearsed, he added, “It was Seneca, or it was Cicero, I don’t know, who said, ‘If the old had not corrected the mistakes of the young, there would be no state.'”
Years later, Mondale admitted, “That was really the end of my campaign that night.”
Reagan is also remembered for his light-touch approach to neutralizing criticism from Democratic President Jimmy Carter in a 1980 debate. When Carter accused him of wanting to cut Medicare, Reagan scolded him: “There you go again.”
The phrase worked so well that he turned it into something of a signature retort.
In 1976, Republican President Gerald Ford had a remarkable moment in a debate against Carter — and not in a good way. The president declared that “there is no Soviet dominance in Eastern Europe and there never will be under a Ford administration.”
Now that Moscow controlled much of that part of the world, the surprised moderator asked if he had understood correctly. Ford stuck to his answer and then spent days on the campaign trail trying to explain it away. He lost that November.
Another awkward moment came in 2012, when Republican candidate Mitt Romney was asked a debate question about equal pay between men and women. He said he had asked women’s organizations for help finding qualified female candidates for statewide office: “They brought us folders full of women.”
According to Aaron Kall, director of the University of Michigan’s debate program, important factors influence not only who ultimately wins a debate, but also the fundraising and media attention in the days or even weeks afterward.
“The closer the election gets, the more important zingers and key debate lines can become,” Kall said.
However, not all missteps have a devastating impact.
Then-Senator Barack Obama dismissed Hillary Clinton in a 2008 Democratic presidential debate, “You’re nice enough, Hillary.” That provoked a backlash, but Obama recovered.
The same could not be said of the then-Texas governor’s short-lived attempt to win the 2012 Republican primary for the White House. Rick PerryDespite repeated attempts and excruciatingly long pauses, Perry could not remember which third of the three federal agencies he had promised to close if elected.
Finally he mumbled shyly, “Oops.”
The Department of Energy, which he later led during the Trump administration, had eluded him.
Another damaging moment came at the opening of a 1988 presidential debate, when Democrat Michael Dukakis was pressed about his opposition to the death penalty in a question in which he mentioned his wife.
“If Kitty Dukakis were raped and murdered, would you want an irrevocable death penalty for the killer?” CNN anchor Bernard Shaw asked. Dukakis showed little emotion and replied, “I see no evidence that it is a deterrent.”
Dukakis later said he wished he had said his wife “is the most precious thing I have in this world, her and my family.”
That year’s vice presidential debate featured one of the most memorable pre-planned one-liners.
When Republican Dan Quayle compared himself to John F. Kennedy during a debate with Lloyd Bentsen, the Democrat was ready. He had studied Quayle’s campaign and seen him invoke Kennedy in the past.
“Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy,” Bentsen began slowly and thoughtfully, drawing out the moment. “Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you are not Jack Kennedy.”
The audience burst into applause and laughter. Quayle continued to stare straight ahead.
Quayle and George H.W. Bush still won the 1988 election handily. But they lost in 1992 after then-President Bush was caught on camera looking at his watch while Democrat Bill Clinton spoke to an audience member during a town hall debate. Some thought Bush looked bored and aloof.
In another example of a nonverbal debate gaffe, then-Democratic Vice President Al Gore was criticized for his subpar performance during the 2000 opening debate with Republican George W. Bush, during which he repeatedly and audibly sighed.
During their second debate, which proceeded in a town hall style, Gore stood so close to Bush while the Republican was answering a question that Bush eventually looked up and nodded confidently, drawing laughter from the audience.
A similar moment occurred in 2016, when Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton addressed the audience to answer questions during a debate with Trump. Trump stood close behind her, squinted and scowled.
Clinton later wrote of the incident: “He was literally breathing down my neck. My skin was crawling.”
That didn’t stop Trump from claiming the presidency a few weeks later.
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