for more we're joined by norman solomon, executive director of the institute for public accuracy and the co-founder of rootsaction.org, which sponsors the step aside joe campaign. his most recent book "war made , invisible: how america hides the human toll of its military machine." joining us from san francisco area. and joining us from washington, d.c., is chris layman. he's the d.c. bureau chief for the nation. chris, have just finished your piece for the nation. summarizing the debate. your overall response? >> the overall response is, for once, pretty much in line with most americans. joe biden really failed to rise to this moment. it is important to remember this is a moment the biden campaign aggressively helped shape. they wanted this debate early in the cycle so they could do something to jolt biden's laggard approval numbers. the failure of cnn to fact-check trump's many lies was part of the deal the biden campaign negotiated. they did not want that kind of real-time scrutiny either. it is a classic instance of be careful what you wish for. biden, despite a week of solid pre