The short answer to the above headline is…probably on tape delay. I suckered my Pops into coming down tonight to help me with a couple electrical items in the house. As of this writing, I’m not sure what time we will be done.

But, I wanted to post a couple of resources I typically use before the debates get going, just in case anyone wants to follow along “Weez Style” live.

I typically watch the PBS version, not that the initial feed isn’t all the same. But, the immediate responses are generally pretty solid.

I also typically follow the FiveThirtyEight live blogs. They don’t have a link up yet, but I’m sure they will.

I also like to follow Daniel Dale over on twitter. He does real-time, or as close to it as possible, fact-checking. And for those who want to go all “who fact checks the fact checkers?” or “MSM blah blah”, I welcome you to post links to counter specific claims made by him tonight. Mr. Dale consumes just about every spoken and written word by both candidates. So, some of the fact checks will be at the ready, as some of the false claims we are sure to hear have already been uttered, some a thousand times or so. For more detailed facts, see below.

In all honesty, if the housework runs too late, I may wind up reading those two things first, and then going back to video if I feel like I might need more context on something. You know, silly me, looking for context and perspective.

Then tomorrow, the Washington Post, to which I subscribe, usually has an annotated version of the debates with a thorough fact check. The NY Times does as well, but I let that subscription go last year as I got tired of Haberman’s stenography and the Opinions’ “Are Nazis really that bad?” stuff.

All this is too say, I’m not sure how much the needle moves with these debates this year. Sure, both of these candidates are completely capable of bumbling their way through this. But, I’m not sure how much people are looking to change their mind at this point. And, according to a recent CBS Poll, only six percent of those who plan on watching are doing so because they are undecided.

So, I could either do all of this, or just get my news from the Facebook memes later. What say you?

Update: Washington Post fact check analysis. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/09/30/fact-checking-first-trump-biden-presidential-debate/