Rumble in Long Island: Plenty of Punches Propel Campaign to Final Showdown
Mitt Romney fueled up with rotisserie chicken. President Obama wolfed down steak and potatoes. Favoring blue and red ties, respectively, as their trunks, the two met for a rumble in a bright red ring on Long Island Tuesday night.
There wasn’t a knockout blow in this, the debate in which Obama sorely needed to not have a Denver repeat. But there were plenty of punches that should reverberate into next week’s finale on everything from birth control to immigration to, yes, Big Bird.
Romney went from rhetorically cornering Obama during the Denver debate to physically pursuing Obama during heated exchanges, prompting postgame debates about personal-space violations. Obama at times turned to moderator Candy Crowley for a lifeline as the CNN correspondent lost control of the 11 rounds. Even though it was a town-hall format with an audience in the round, the fighters were squarely focused on one another as the audience of “uncommitted” voters was an afterthought.
Even Obama’s sparring partner in the practice rounds, surprisingly upbeat for how his training worked out last time, seemed eager to join in the melee — as Romney.
“Tlkd 2 press @hofstra/got a question in french — could’ve answered as Mitt and stayed in character?” Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) tweeted before the debate. “Reporter asked me if I’m glad Bobby V gone, if in-character, as Mitt mighta said, I love firing people.”
“4 petes sake/runnin 4 office can’t have illegals – oops sorry I was still in-character as Mitt,” Kerry tweeted during the matchup.
Obama supporters expressed relief that their chosen one hadn’t bombed the sudden-death debate.
“Obama dominated Romney tonight in every single way: in substance, manner, style, and personal appeal,” wrote the president’s harshest pundit critic from the first debate, The Daily Beast’s Andrew Sullivan. “He came back like a lethal but restrained predator, was able to defend own record, think swiftly on his feet.”
The two were quickly off with a question from a college student about how he’ll find work after graduation, and were quickly on to a question about energy prices — when things really started getting heated.
“We’re going to bring that pipeline in from Canada. How in the world the president said no to that pipeline? I will never know,” Romney said, not referencing Keystone XL by name.
“And when I hear Governor Romney say he’s a big coal guy, I mean, keep in mind, when — Governor, when you were governor of Massachusetts, you stood in front of a coal plant and pointed at it and said, ‘This plant kills,’ and took great pride in shutting it down. And now suddenly you’re a big champion of coal,” Obama said, mirroring the refrain sent out by his campaign around the same time.
Both candidates came in with their set talking points, just waiting for an appropriate — or less than appropriate — audience question to notch them in.
Both candidates also came with an attitude and were rarely in their chairs. Romney was doggedly pursuing Obama on the follow-ups, and Obama got the message not to look down — and not to pull a Biden laugh-a-thon, either.
“Both candidates are being too feisty,” tweeted former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer. “They both need to show the audience more respect.”
When Obama touted his all-of-the-above energy strategy, Romney broke in: “In the last four years, you cut permits and licenses on federal land and federal waters in half.”
“Not true, Governor Romney,” Obama responded.
“So how much did you cut?”
“Not true.”
“How much did you cut them by, then?” Romney continued.
“Governor, we have actually produced more oil –”
“No, no. How much did you cut licenses and permits on federal land and federal waters?”
“Governor Romney, here’s what we did. There were a whole bunch of oil companies.”
“No, no, I had a question and the question was how much did you cut them by?”
“You want me to answer a question –”
“How much did you cut them by?”
“I’m happy to answer the question,” Obama said.
And the tangle continued over oil and gas production, into tax plans.
“We haven’t heard from the governor any specifics beyond Big Bird and eliminating funding for Planned Parenthood in terms of how he pays for that,” Obama charged. “Now, Governor Romney was a very successful investor. If somebody came to you, Governor, with a plan that said, here, I want to spend $7 or $8 trillion, and then we’re going to pay for it, but we can’t tell you until maybe after the election how we’re going to do it, you wouldn’t take such a sketchy deal and neither should you, the American people, because the math doesn’t add up.”
“Sketchy,” many noted, became the catchword of this debate as “malarkey” was to the vice presidential debate. David Axelrod, however, tweeted the y-deficient hashtag #sketchdeal when saying, “Mitt a little tongue-tied trying to explain the unexplainable.”
But it didn’t win the trending topic battle — that came with a question about women’s pay.
Romney said that as governor, he was brought all male applicants for his cabinet. “We took a concerted effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds that could be qualified to become members of our cabinet,” he said. “I went to a number of women’s groups and said, ‘Can you help us find folks,’ and they brought us whole binders full of women.”
Thus, “binders full of women” became as big as Big Bird in the first debate and Biden’s smirk in the veep showdown. Before the debate was over, the binders had a Twitter account and a Tumblr site.
Obama stressed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which has been a staple of every campaign stump. Romney hit at the contraception mandate, adding, “Every woman in America should have access to contraceptives.”
Romney was asked how he would differentiate himself for George W. Bush, who has been absent from the campaign trail. He said he would add more free trade agreements, balance the budget, and focus on small business instead of big business.
“And the thing I find the most troubling about ObamaCare, well it’s a long list, but one of the things I find most troubling is that when you go out and talk to small businesses and ask them what they think about it, they tell you it keeps them from hiring more people,” he added, notching in that point when there were no healthcare-specific questions during the night.
“You know, there are some things where Governor Romney is different from George Bush. George Bush didn’t propose turning Medicare into a voucher. George Bush embraced comprehensive immigration reform. He didn’t call for self-deportation,” Obama said.
“George Bush never suggested that we eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood, so there are differences between Governor Romney and George Bush, but they’re not on economic policy. In some ways, he’s gone to a more extreme place when it comes to social policy.”
Romney hammered away at Obama over unemployment and the number of people on food stamps when a man who voted for the Democrat in 2008 noted that everyday living expenses had gotten worse. Obama noted that he had killed Osama bin Laden.
Then came a question for Romney about how he’d deal with immigrants “without their green cards that are currently living here as productive members of society.”
“When the president ran for office, he said that he’d put in place, in his first year, a piece of legislation — he’d file a bill in his first year that would reform our — our immigration system, protect legal immigration, stop illegal immigration. He didn’t do it,” Romney said.
“If we’re going to go after folks who are here illegally, we should do it smartly and go after folks who are criminals, gangbangers, people who are hurting the community, not after students, not after folks who are here just because they’re trying to figure out how to feed their families,” Obama said. “And that’s what we’ve done.”
Romney then asked to jump back to an earlier line of debate about Chinese investments.
“Governor Romney, you can make it short. See all these people? They’ve been waiting for you,” Crowley said.
“Any investments I have over the last eight years have been managed by a blind trust. And I understand they do include investments outside the United States, including in Chinese companies,” Romney said. “Mr. President, have you looked at your pension? Have you looked at your pension?”
“You know, I — I don’t look at my pension. It’s not as big as yours so it doesn’t take as long,” Obama retorted.
“Let me give you some advice. Look at your pension. You also have investments in Chinese companies. You also have investments outside the United States. You also have investments through a Caymans trust,” Romney said.
“We’re way off topic here, Governor Romney,” Crowley said.
“I thought we were talking about immigration,” said Obama, before Crowley asked Romney to sit down.
The two tangled over the Benghazi attack, foreshadowing the final debate next week on foreign policy, when Romney pressed Obama on whether the president called the attack an act of terror in the Rose Garden the day after the murders.
“I want to make sure we get that for the record because it took the president 14 days before he called the attack in Benghazi an act of terror,” Romney said.
“Get the transcript,” Obama shot back, leaving Crowley to say both candidates were right in some way.
(”No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this nation,” Obama said Sept. 12 in the Rose Garden.)
To a subsequent question about assault weapons, Romney’s answer diverged into telling young people to get married before having kids. Obama’s answer veered into promotion of his community college retraining programs.
When asked to wrap up with the “biggest misperception that the American people have about you as a man and a candidate,” Romney said that he cares “about 100 percent of the American people.”
“My passion probably flows from the fact that I believe in God. And I believe we’re all children of the same God. I believe we have a responsibility to care for one another. I served as a missionary for my church. I served as a pastor in my congregation for about 10 years. I’ve sat across the table from people who were out of work and worked with them to try and find new work or to help them through tough times,” the GOP nominee said.
“I believe Governor Romney is a good man. Loves his family, cares about his faith. But I also believe that when he said behind closed doors that 47 percent of the country considered themselves victims who refuse personal responsibility, think about who he was talking about,” Obama said. “Folks on Social Security who’ve worked all their lives. Veterans who’ve sacrificed for this country. Students who are out there trying to hopefully advance their own dreams, but also this country’s dreams. Soldiers who are overseas fighting for us right now. People who are working hard every day, paying payroll tax, gas taxes, but don’t make enough income.”
The CNN poll conducted right after the debate found 46 percent of respondents picking the president as the evening’s victor, with 39 percent picking Romney.
Nearly three-quarters said Obama performed better than expected, though nearly half said the debate wouldn’t shift their votes one way or the other — with the other half split evenly between Obama and Romney.
“OK, Obama staged comeback. But can he make up lost ground, or just not lose more?” tweeted Larry Sabato, who noted that the rules had disintegrated through the night. “Avalanche of polls will tell us.”
Sabato is correct. Sorta. It isn’t the polls but the movement in those polls that will determine who ‘won’. Self serving pundits will say whatever makes them the most money.
This comment is correct, that movement in the polls is more important than any pundits, but why haven’t pundits pounced upon the Big Bird meme? It speaks to the wisdom of government funding of the arts and managing our emotions in the process. I introduced that process here: http://clarespark.com/2012/10/09/big-bird-prostrate/. Obama derisively brought up Big Bird last night, to demonstrate his opponent’s idiocy.
Orwell’s 1984 was never more relevant than it is now, but the Republicans have the edge on rationality and facts, while the Democratic Party acts as if there is a Ministry of Truth.
Obama may have put on the break but it’s too late as he has already run off the cliff.
Watched this slugfest at 3:am Israel time…and perhaps I was a little sleep deprived, but I saw what I saw.
I saw a POTUS who was more aggressive, but still stammering to string his thoughts together. His lack of fluidity was very obvious, as he made sure to get his zingers in, but without any remedies for future improvements, other than sticking to his failed course.
On the other hand, Romney answered enough specifics; demonstrating why he was up to the task of a ‘turnaround’ President, capable of fixing the broken economy from the Radical-in-Chief’s wreckage.
As to Crowley, she tipped her mannish hand a few times, but most notably when she chimed into one of the audience’s questions, taking sides with her man. She interjected, that he did call Bengazi a terror attack from the get go! Moreover, this piece of leftist, trailer trash interrupted the only gentleman on the stage, but made sure to let the Radical-in-Chief yammer on.
In any case, the preponderance of voters do not want to live under a socialist/Marxist/communist leadership, even though The One actually opined that he admires capitalism, even if others try to paint him a socialist. As if.It is like a bank robber, trying to convince the community he is really the good guy on the street!
http://adinakutnicki.com/2012/10/05/if-it-looks-like-a-socialistmarxistcommunist-plan-it-is-peekingpeeling-back-into-obamas-looking-glass-his-surrogates-too-their-bomblets-waiting-to-explode-commentary-by-adina-kutnicki/
On Long Island is how we say it here
Pronounced “Lon Guyland”.
That’s Lawn Guyland, you furriner, you!
I think Obama won the debate on points but it doesn’t mater the polls will continue to show his eroding numbers in swing states. The entire Obama campaign was based on presenting Romney as unacceptable. Now that America sees he’s not the caricature team O painted the millions of advertising money spent is rendered as effective as the stimulus. By wed the end of the week liberals will be in full panic mode. The question for the Republicans is does Romney have coattails enough for the GOP to take the Senate?
The main difference between the two debates is that, on the first debate Romney beat a Obama that never showed up. On this debate, Obama beat a Romney that completely showed up.
Obama beat Romney on facts, it was very emotional…except for the part that he wants 4 more years to get her done. record what record we don’t need no stinkin record. i thought it was 2008 again. you haven’t done anything but screw the pooch in 4 years, and obama wants 4 more to get what done? some senator called him a liar, whats changed!
Facts? What facts, exactly, did obeyme beat Romney on? That fat cow interupted Romeny 28 times and obummer 9.
Obummer is a liar and a murdering thief!. The sooner they’re all gone the better!
In what universe do false, and provably false, facts win debates? The American people are not that grossly stupid that they believe Obama’s “facts”. The odd thing is, the “facts” were declared wrong by his own appointees.
It’s over. Say President Romney. What people are going to take out of this is that Mitt was “right in the main” about Obama being a screw up and that he’s going to stop taxing the interests on my money market and small investments.
Obama didn’t score any points.
” On this debate, Obama beat a Romney that completely showed up.”
We did not see the same debate ……………………
So they actually debated each other, directly? Wow!
I think Obama made a respectable showing (anything was better compared to the first debate) and landed some good punches. Romney held his own but muffed a quick comeback on the Benghazi question by failing to ask why Susan Rice and Jay Carney spent a weekend and a week denying terrorism if his remark in the Rose Garden had been so clear?
The AK-47 question was BS, as was Obama’s remark about “automatic” weapons, which Romney correctly called as wrong, but he will have an opportunity next Monday to not only press Benghazi, but Fast and Furious as foreign affair topics if the moderator doesn’t take pity on Obama. Romney should have called Obama on his “fair pay” BS by noting that women in his administration make less than their male counterparts, and that perhaps he could have demonstrated his “fairness” in his own staff before demanding others do the same. And the “binders of women” remark? That was so remarkable that the inter webs were abuzz? You could hardly call that remark “remarkable”. Apparently the twitter community really had to strain to pull that one out as an egregious remark.
Romney did just fine for having to debate Obama, Crowley and all the leftwing plants in the “undecided” audience (for example, one of the questioners is a big wheel in Code Pink…”undecided” my as*) at the same time. Obama was not comatose for this debate as he was in the first, but unfortunately for him, he still has his own miserable 4 year record to defend. And now a new lie to walk back on Libya that he doubled down on thanks to his pet moderater trying to help him out with that.
And thanks once again, Ms. Johnson, for regurgitating the Obama talking points for us on how the debate went. I guess that’s your function here at PJM? You seem to not do much of anything else.
Nobody landed a knock-out blow, except one. Crowley went and clobbered her own nose. Funny thing is, in the next debate, on foreign policy, Obama will not be thanking her any.
I watched Townhall last night and listened to Fox radio,desiring very much to see and hear the presidential debate without the geese,hen,and duck noises of the Demo-progressive media– desiring to see,hear and think without the geese hissing,hen cackling,the duck quacking,the supposedly superior wisdom of the co-opted media.
The debate wasn’t all that close. Romney won.
I watched Townhall last night and listened to Fox radio,desiring very much to see and hear the presidential debate without the geese,hen,and duck noises of the Demo-progressive media–desiring to see,hear,and think without the geese hissing,hen cackling,duck quacking,the supposedly superior wisdom of the co-opted media.
The debate wasn’t all that close. Romney won.
One thing I have yet to see discussed was when Obama said his single Mom raised to kids. Who was the second child?
She had a daughter with Obama’s step-father. You would never know this from the MSM; the narcissus in chief seems as much as an only child as did Proust. I was shocked learning that Proust had a brother, it never enters in to the narrative of either mans’ live that he has siblings.
After watching the debate and reading both Bryan Preston’s and Bridget Johnson’s analysis, I suggest that Obama did look more forceful and engaged.
Yet I don’t believe Obama’s claims comport with the truth. As of yet after 3 debates, I am left wondering why am I supposed to reelct Obama/Biden?
Because they can bully their opponent while their opponent is attempting to act dignified? These so called debates are looking more and more like another episode of American Idol. Not good.
I found it informative to listen to the timbre of their voices.
Obama’s voice would inevitably become stressed after sixty-seconds or so
of speaking. The pitch would rise slightly.
Romney’s voice OTOH, was smooth and even. If he became stressed, he might stammer.
But it didn’t happen very often. Obama OTOH, didn’t stammer. He became shrill. And it was like clockwork, every sixty or ninety seconds. His voice would take on a pleading or complaining tone. I heard the voice of a teenager arguing with his parent.
I noticed that too. Mitt was forceful. Obama was weak.
This election is about jobs and the economy. On these issues Romney crushed The One. This election is about energy independence; oil, natural gas and coal. On this issue Romney crushed The Anointed One. Obama wins big on free contraceptives, open borders, windmills and solar panels; rah rah. And as to O’s comment about fewer illegals in the country, that’s because they fled back across the border because the lousy economy and the disastrous way he has handled it.
Coal miners to Obama: YOU LIE!
Obama attacks all viable domestic sources of energy and talks about pushing his “green” energy policy. All of that “green” nonsense turned out to be nothing but an economically unproductive a boondoggle and a source of massive corruption and debt.
So now he’s trying to cover up his failures by defaming coal miners. Shame on him.
All I got out of it was two guys yelling at each other while trying to look cool. Didnt seem they were talking to the voters, more like two kids in the schoolyard saying “liar, liar, pants on fire”.
From the ten minute point I thought of this as a “He Said-He said” debate. It won’t move the polls much, although some undecideds did see through the anguished desperation of Obama and Romney did secure their votes (Luntz pollster)
How could a group of supposed undecided voters not ask a single question about the signature piece of the administration – Obamacare?
The undecided voters could only ask questions that the moderator decided they could ask. The moderator obviously decided that questions about ObamaCare would not be favorable to Obama. There was a much lower chance of an actual Town Hall Debate occurring than of Hugo Chavez holding an honest election.
You can look at the debate as a public opinion poll where the questions represent “the important issues that will decide the election”. That your question wasn’t asked means you’re out of the mainstream and you’re the knucklehead that Michelle was talking about. You clearly don’t comprehend “the important issues of the day” and you’ll probably make an ignorant and wrongheaded choice on election day as you bitterly cling to your ballot. The nation weeps because you’re not smart enough to make the smart choice. Fortunately, somebody else stands ready to vote in your place. It’s not election fraud since they’d simply be voting for the person for whom you’d vote for if you were actually smart enough to vote. It’s really a public service.
As much as anything else, the debates show why the “fourth estate” is having an estate sale.
As a former boxer (1976 Golden Gloves), I thought I recognized what Romney was doing — he was trying to see what Obama had. Or maybe he was just nervous, but he gave Obama the first round. Thereafter, it was all Romney. Romney attacked Obama and his record with ease and effectiveness — sticking and moving, sticking and moving. He challenged him face to face, but with respect for the champ, while Obama clearly had no respect for him.
Romney killed on energy, at one point, asking the President a direct question on drilling, which forced Obama to sit down. To know the significance of this, watch the moment with the sound off. It’s a standing 8 count.
Read more of my article: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/10/once_biden_twice_barack.html#ixzz29YnzxvYq
Well, the One could hardly come out a tell the world audience that the US just lost its most important intel asset in Libya, that just happened to be co-located with the Bengazi Consulate and was the real target of the AlQ directed strike.
So, the lie, the coverup, the entire fiasco is all cover for that loss. What the 37 survivors might tell US is that they’ve learned the loss of heavy weaponty to the “insurgents” (read AlQ) is terrifying in its potential. So terrifying in fact, that the public shouldn’t be informed of the extent of the threat they pose. Like AlQ is now armed with 1,000 or more operational anti-aircraft missiles.
Sure is scary; but nothing else makes an iota of sense. Was it hubris them thinking their stealth surveilance operation was gonna stay stealthy, and therefore adequate protection forces unnecessary? Like how important was their mission?
Romney must know this bit of info by now (he’s getting some version of the daily brief)and he hasn’t commented. Could he release such information, thereby “scaring the voters sh*tl*ss” and still win?
I thought it was a draw, more or less. I kind of wish Romney hadn’t tried to talk over obama on the few occasions he did but I understand sometimes you have to go to extreme measures when you are scheduled to debate the candidate but end up having to debate the moderator too. I thought Romney did quite well when he enumerated the “successes” of the current administration. Romney attacked obama’s record, obama attacked Romney. When obama tried to attack Romney’s record, he attacked “out of context” statements. I have to admit I recall obama mentioning terrorist attacks in an overall sense but he blamed this one in Libya on a spontaneous reaction to a video tape. He sent his UN ambassador to speak at the UN and she blamed it on a video tape. That’s all we heard from this administration for at least one week that it was a spontaneous attack because of a video tape, not a planned terrorist attack. We know better now.
According to obama, we didn’t build anything on our own… well Mr. President, you built your record of the last 3 years and 10 months with the help of your administration so I guess you’re right, you didn’t build this alone. You had help.
I keep reading Obama won on points. How’s that? That is, unless your convinced Obama has done a bang up job these last four years.
I’ve now watched every second of three hours of debate and have yet to hear how Obama proposes to manage his second term any differently than his abysmal first term.
And I also witnessed three times last night Obama nailed to the wall without answer after being called on the distortion (hydrocarbon production the most obvious), where he filibustered meaningless gibberish for two minutes without even addressing the question in response.
Anybody that listened to that debate closely is certifiable if they think that content Obama spewed was win worthy. And once again, brainless hacks have confused aggression with strength.
Bottom line:
(1) There’s 90 minutes of foreign policy debate coming up. R has time to prepare extensively, but O knows state secrets that R does not, so he has the advantage. Nobody really cares about foreign policy this election, however, so advantage R. Benghazi will be talked to death next Monday, unless O wags the dog by then.
(2) The election trajectory and narrative have not changed. O made a strategic miscalculation (however, it was the only strategy he had) to paint R as a plutocrat. That fell apart in the first debate, and nothing in the second debate changed that. People are looking for a reason to vote R, and they have one.
(3) The RCP averages miss an important point. In most of the swing states that are “close,” undecideds are abput 5-6%. Like the woman in the Luntz group last night, they were looking for a reason to vote R. They will break 60-80% for R. That gives R about a 3-5% cushion going into the last few days. If O is up by less than 2% in any RCP average, he loses.
(4) Given this, R is in pretty good shape, barring any major disaster. Dems need to understand that O is the incumbent this time, and I’m not sure they are getting it.
My read:
Politicians, unlike any other employee, have a canned answer which they spout regardless of the question. Ask them about banning an AK-47, and you will get tape No. 14 on education. If I ever did that to my boss, blood would flow. It is beyond disrespectful of the questioner’s basic intelligence.
Romney won. He is a typical executive, has facts on his finger tips. Obama is a salesman. His answer for a lousy record is to promise a brighter tomorrow.
The key question is who do you believe? As Groucho Marx said, “Me, or your lying eyes?” On energy, my background, I know that Obama’s policies can, or will, or has destroyed our economy. He is hemorrhaging money on things which can not work.
I find it beyond bizarre that while living through the greatest economic collapse in world history, no chief executive has gone to the penitentiary and no one in the audience even asked why. Apparently after every massive corporate crime, we do not execute an obvious criminal, we just pass another useless law, e.g. Dodd -Frank, and lay the cost on the next generation.
The problem with America is that our government is not accountable. The 23,000,000 unemployed do not live around Washington D.C. Things will not get better until Obama, and most of Congress, is fired for failure to do their job.
did the Fraud defend his record even one time? I suppose he probably tried once or twice but the overall impressions was of someone doing everything in his power to avoid even commenting on his “accomplishments”.
His approach to Benghazi was particularly telling. He didn’t defend what his administration did or state what they will do in any way. His entire approach was the contemptable Lawyer’s Lie:
“1. How dare you say a single word in disagreement with me. I condemn you with the entire force of the country’s most prestiguous office which I have laughingly confiscated for myself.
2. I have initiated an “investigation” (so that I can continue the ruse that I was doing my most important function until after the election and them blame evrything on somebody else.)
3. In one of my many dissemblements in the first 14 days after the Terror attack, I made a statement that 15 of my lawyer comrades wrote which contained the word “terror” in a context that could be interpreted multiple ways, and I am now claiming that statment means I called the attack an act of terrorism, even though it’s obvious to anybody who reads it that I didn’t.”
Boy President gets help from big momma Moderator but still loses. The main thing this debate proved is that the Republicans are idiots for agreeing to three predictable liberal moderators.
Also holding a town hall debate in front of “undecideds” is essentially a gathering of uninformed , out of touch, living under rock dwellers and sleepwalkers. Where have these people been for the last 4 years ? A random selection of people off the street would have been better informed and more interesting. Believe me, they are still undecided and are hoping for a Holyhood bafoon to give guidance.
Why do two adult men need a moderator in the first place ? And why must moderators be chosen from major news networks ? We are a country of over 300 milliom citizens so cant we do better ? Apparently not .
Solution:
Obviously the town hall format should be dumped. Just place the two candidates in an empty locked room for 4 uninterupted hours and as Woody Allen suggested give them gym socks filled with horseshit to battle it out. Last man standing has to be president.
Looking at RCP average this AM, and comparing it to 2004, this year R is ahead of Kerry at this point and O is behind Bush.
The debate next week will be at best the same as this debate–a tie, with no minds changed.
O is counting on turnout and early voting to get him over the edge. He has nothing else with 19 days to go.
Undecideds will break for the challenger.
Not sure what can be done at this point–the die is cast.
Obama spoke the truth at least once in the debate, “…one of the commitments I made when I was president“.
My absolute favorite point was where, in this pi$$ing contest, The Dear Leader told Romney, “mine’s not as big as yours, so it doesn’t take me as long.”
Referring, of course to his pension fund, but it would make a really really good SNL skit.
Huh. I think Obummer and Mittens lost this one.
“I’ll do this bad thing for the economy.”
“Oh yeah, well, I’ll double-down on my failed economic policies!”
“Then I’ll double-down on those, only more kindly and gently, you mean-spirited…!”
Result: One more vote for Virgil Goode.
Obama lost simply because he didn’t do what he needed to do. Obama needed to beat Romney as badly as Romney beat him during the first debate, and that didn’t even come close to happening. And on substance, Obama lost because he couldn’t defend his record and he did not say why the next four years would be any different than the last four years if he was re-elected. Also, Romney landed a devestating punch over Obama’s energy policies. Romney basically said, well, if your energy policies are so great, why is the price of gas more than double what it was when you came into office four years ago? Obama had no answer to that, as well as a lot of other questions Romney threw at him. Romney is keeping his momentum going and he’s going to win. And with the last debate being on foreign policy, you know Libya is going to come up and that’s the last thing Obama wants to talk about.
I am pro-Romney, but I felt that all Obama had to do to win the election was score a draw or better in one of the last two debates. He did. Unless Romney obliterates him in debate 3, I fear that Obama will be reelected. Romney has never led or tied Obama in the electoral college, and I think that the closing of the gap after the first debate will begin to open up again.
I’d like to be wrong.
Best,
Richard
I hope you’re wrong too. Personally, I don’t think a debate can save Obama now.
Perhaps only a big October/early November surprise can do it. The first debate was so lop-sided, and there were two weeks for it to settle in, that I don’t think Obama can win by debating points alone anymore.
If as reported, Colorado, Florida, North Carolina & Virginia are gone for Obama, that gives Romney 257 electoral votes. Above that, the ceiling gets harder. Iowa & New Hampshire only add 10. But they are probably doable for Romney.
That leaves Nevada (6), Wisconsin (10), Michigan (16), Ohio (18)& Pennsylvania (20). Obama would have to run the table on ALL of those states to stop Romney.
That is the reverse of the situation that existed only a month ago. Romney may need just one. Obama would need all of them.
I watched the floor fight and the postgame show on Fox, and that was very interesting to one who has seen all the debates since JFK and Nixon. Obama behaved like a fifteen year old brat flouncing and muttering because he KNOWS Dad is a damfool but the old man keeps on having answers for all those slogans that sounded so good when he was thinking them up in the shower. While Biden took on the mantle of the obnoxious old drunk at the wedding (and how many of you younger men have been trapped by one of these old goats in a meeting or presentation?) Obama continues to play the spoilt Mother’s Darling in his first week at sleepaway camp. Every time I see him, I want to short-sheet his bed and put shaving cream in his shoes.
Max LeCompte,
From your lips to God’s ear.
Best,
Richard