General Discussion

That's what gets me. As you stated, Joe had crossed multiple time zones and was getting sick, but he felt he had to push ahead so as not to let anyone down. That's so Joe.

I knew after that bad debate that Joe must have felt that he'd let everyone down. I'm sure that tortured him more than anything. He would not have blamed his staff, he would have blamed himself.

I kept thinking of that during those days after the debate when Joe was fighting back, going on interviews with Stephanopoulos and Lester Holt, both of whom would not stop hounding Joe about the debate, confusing hard-hitting journalism with beating a dead horse to get a sound bite. He finally said, "asked and answered".

He must have felt so alone as he was fighting back. Abandoned by those who, if in a similar situation, Joe would have fought hard for them, even taking blows himself.