This first round presidential debate on September 9, 2016, there are at least 6 key points each candidate were asked to elaborate, but stunning political rhetoric come at large following:
- Stamina (ជំហរមុតមាំ)= According to Merriam Dictionary: Stamina comes from the Latin plural of stamen (“warp, thread of life spun by the fates”). The etymology of the word makes sense in light of the initial sense of the word when it entered the language in the middle of the 17th century: “the essential or fundamental parts, elements, or nature of something especially an organism.”
There must be Brain, Spinal Marrow, Nerves, Tendons, Muscles, Ligaments, Articulations; and for the support and firmitude of all these, there must be some more solid stamina, or a kind of Bones and Cartilagineous contextures….
-Walter Charleton, Physiologia Epicuro-Gassendo-Charltoniana, 1654The sense of stamina meaning “staying power; perseverence” came about in the early 18th century.
Clinton replied, “Well, as soon as he travels to 112 countries and negotiates a peace deal, a cease-fire, a release of dissidents, an opening of new opportunities and nations around the world, or even spends 11 hours testifying in front of a congressional committee, he can talk to me about stamina.”
She doesn’t have the look. She doesn’t have the stamina. I said she doesn’t have the stamina, and I don’t believe she does have the stamina. To be president of this country, you need tremendous stamina.
—Donald Trump, Presidential Debate Transcript, 26 September 2016
Trump said the first woman to be nominated for president by a major party “doesn’t have the look” or the “stamina” to be president of the United States.
- Temperament (អាកប្បកិរិយាមារយាទ) = According to Merriam Dictionary: Temperament has been in the English language for a considerable length of time: its use dates back to the 15th century. There are a number of senses of the word which have become more or less obsolete, such as the one that saw a person’s temperament as their character based on the proportion of the four humors in the body (there were choleric, melancholic, phlegmatic, andsanguine temperaments).The sense in which both candidates appeared to be using temperament likely had little to do with bile of phlegm, and instead was more in line with the usual modern sense of the word, “the usual attitude, mood, or behavior of a person or animal.”
I think my strongest asset, maybe by far is my temperament. I have a winning temperament. I know how to win. She does not.
—Donald Trump, Presidential Debate TranscriptThat’s bad judgment. That is not the right temperament to be commander in chief….
-Hillary Clinton, Presidential Debate Transcript
In a heated exchange, the Republican and Democratic candidates took shots at each other’s temperaments.
Watch the whole debate here by US TV: