A few posts to check out while we await the debate:
Debate: Look For Obama To Play Hero, Take ‘Full Responsibility’ For Libya
Town-hall presidential debate: what to know about Candy Crowley’s rules
CANDY CROWLEY WILL SHILL FOR OBAMA
Van Jones: Romney Was Acting Like a “Douche” in the Last Debate
I think there’s virtually nothing O could do onstage tonight short of barfing on someone that’ll get the left to admit afterward that he did poorly. They desperately need him to have a good performance to remain viable, and thus the narrative will make it so tomorrow even if Obama doesn’t make it so tonight. His problem is that, even with that media cushion, it’s unlikely that Romney will falter, which is really what O needs to reverse the momentum here.
Post debate
Like two roughnecks squared off on a playground, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney invaded each other’s personal space, raised their voices and fought. “It is just not true,” the president said. “It is true,” his rival replied. You could almost hear both men thinking: “Same to you and more of it.”
If you like to see presidential candidates fight for the job, if you want a passionate dialogue over big issues that matter, you got what you wanted Tuesday night. If it’s civility you seek, you’re sunk.
Who won? The cheap answer is Obama because his goal following a catastrophically sluggish first debate was so clear: Show some life. And, indeed, the president aggressively criticized Romney, labeling him a hypocrite and a liar who favors the rich at the expense of the middle class and poor.
But Romney got his licks in, too, wrapping a miserable economy around the incumbent’s neck. “The middle class is getting crushed by the policies of a president who does not understand what it takes to get the economy working again,” Romney said.
Bottom line: Call it a tie. Obama and Romney scored points while turning off independent voters with their point-scoring. Democratic and Republican partisans will find reason to celebrate the debate but it likely did nothing to reshape the closely fought race.
See author page
But is #CrowleyTheHutt there yet? I really want to see Obama feed Mitt to his pet.
Accepting responsibility for incompetence, does not a hero make.
I will be driving most of the night toward home, so I will be late to the party, but I will be listening if I have service on my radio and I will have the transcripts by morning. Remember, the days of the Fourth Estate and all that phony BS are over; we have the power the media pissed away with their bootlicking for Obama. The way it works is to be ready to contribute your best effort with the keyboard. Ready on the Left, ready on the Right, ready on the firing line, fire (type) at will.
Lest we forget:
Debate Audience Selected by Firm Squeezed by Obama Justice Department
In other words, an ”undecided voter,” at this debate isn’t what you THINK of as an undecided voter!
Here’s hoping that Obama takes responsibility. But I really doubt it.
If he did, he then he would have to answer: Guilty of WHAT?
He will never take responsibility for four deaths. He will never take responsibility for lying to the world, which he did immediately following the massacre. Obama will never take responsibility for anything negative.
I’m guessing that Obama has already been given the questions, and is rehearsing the answers. The questions had to be submitted already. How do you have a Town Hall meeting when the questions are submitted first?
During some debates, after a loaded question, I wish the republican candidate would have asked the moderator, “What does that have to do with being president?” Some questions asked have nothing to do with being president.
Obama just ”blamed” low gas prices ($1.86/gal) when he took office to a failed economy!
I guess
$4/gallon gas means things are ducky!
Oooooohhhh…..
2143 and I have a headache.
Does Obama have any new ideas? He has a script, and he’s sticking to it. No matter what.
And the moderator, of course, lets him interrupt Mitt whenever, and for as long as, he wants.
But she shuts Mitt down whenever he tries it.
Time for some aspirin and a channel switch. And a POTUS switch.
Relief is on it’s way.
These are all Dem talking points that already populate my inbox. Kinda lame. Nuttin new.
War on Women
Contraception
Tax Breaks for the Rich
Blame Bush
Outsourcing Overseas
They have nothing but racism, fear, division, Bush, and lies.
What about Fast and Furious? Libya? AQ take over of N.Mali. Iran? Syria-Turkey-Nato? Collapse of EU.
It’s been a total feed to the statist-in-chiefs already lame played talking points. Not too mention the fattie moderator is railroading Romney by not letting him reply to O’s character assassination barbs and allowing O to ramble on and on.
@petercat – totally on script
The immigration question was legit. The response, both O and R obviously dislike each other.
Libya question. Okay.
O – “you don’t turn national security into talking points…” Yeah but throwing the Constitution under the bus in favor of political correctness talking points is all the rage inside the Beltway I hear.
O – “Curbing violent impulses before they occur.” Tom Cruise was heard pitching that Precog idea at one of O’s 1% fundraisers.
Lying sack of shit. O – “I want to lower taxes by closing tax loop holes.” WTF??? My lying ears say what? Tax loop holes = tax breaks. Eliminating tax breaks raises someone’s taxes. That someone employs people. More tax, less employed. Then O goes into to points about capital flight – it’s my freaking money (after tax), I’ll do what I do with it.
Gov’t doesn’t create jobs!!!! Thank you MrRomney.
Last two minutes. Softball for Obama. Free shot at Romney w/ no op to reply. On script.
If I have to look at that fake, snarky Biden-smile for much longer, I’m going to need my souvenir airline paper bag. (I won’t fly anymore.)
Now it’s a migrane. bama just said “You don’t make national security into a political issue”! And then he brought up Osama. When is that SEAL movie coming out, Mr. President, and how did the producers get their information, again?
I might have to quit commenting, as I can’t watch much more of this.
LOL re. “don’t question us on national security”! Somehow 8 years of almost non-stop bashing and name-calling and second-guessing of Bush are forgotten…
Romney simply wrong about fully automatic weapons. Come on, that is so amateur! Who prepped him? Why don’t they know the law? Fully auto weapons are NOT illegal. Sure they have nothing to do with the crime rate, but get the facts straight.
Romney is having his clock cleaned.
@Greg
You watching the same debate? They must have selective editing on MSNBC
@Aqua:
No, no, no…. Greg is right.
Problem is, Obama’s not doing the cleaning.
The moderator is doing it for Obama.
@Petercat, #16:
I’m watching on CNN. They’re running a real-time graph registering undecided voter responses. I really don’t see how the moderator could be affecting that.
Much better job from Obama tonight. Watch the polls go back to favor him. Romney looked like an idiot.
@Greg: Wrong as usual. The 0-blama rhetoric did not match the reality and Romney cleaned 0-blama’s clock with this fact. It is amazing how well Romney did with the questions written by the Democrat Party!!
@Cary: Let’s watch the polls and see. You said the same after the first debate!! How’d that work for you and 0-blama??
Obama was much more on his game. He even made me laugh with “my pension is not that big” remark. Candy jumped in to bail out Obama on the Rose Garden speech.
@mossomo: You are spot on!! Crowley even helped 0-blama with the talking points whenever possible. Makes me sick but I though Romney held his own. The key is that 0-blama’s rhetoric does not match the reality. Romney did a good job in pointing this fact out!!
@Common Sense:
Actually, you should check the thread on the last Presidential debate. Your statement is absolutely not true. I certainly did not say that.
@Common Sense:
“The key is that 0-blama’s rhetoric does not match the reality.”
Obama went in knowing what he wanted to say, and he wasn’t going to let any facts get in the way of his saying it.
Obama says that he didn’t have enough information that the attack on our Libyan embassy was a terrorist attack. SO WHY DID OBAMA SAY IT WAS SPONTANEOUS REACTION TO A VIDEO? LIAR!
As far as Obama taking the responsibility for the attack on our embassy and the killing of our ambassador; if Obama took the responsibility for it because of lack of adequate security, after requests provide it, Obama is responsible for the death of the ambassador and three others. And Obama just lost the election.
SO GLAD TO SEE THAT MITT ROMNEY, when interrupted by Obama, SAT OBAMA DOWN BY JUST RAISING HIS HAND AND “PUSHING” OBAMA DOWN. It was probably very embarrassing for Obama.
Obama didn’t say he believed in God and that we are all children of God and should take care of each other.
GLAD TO SEE THAT Candy Crowley shut Obama up and let Romney say what he wanted because as she said, it was Romney’s time and he can use it anyway he wants.
GLAD TO SEE THAT ROMNEY said Obama had failed over the past 4 years and at one time Romney mentioned many, many of Obama’s failures.
I was watching the debate on Fox News and they had people’s scrolling comments, the majority of which were AGAINST OBAMA and IN FAVOR OF MITT ROMNEY.
Without a doubt, Romney WON THE DEBATE.
As for me, I am voting for the WHITE GUYS, Romney and Ryan. You gotta love it!
Watched the first 45 minutes of the debate with a 10 year old. As they say…outta the mouths of babes.
Why won’t either of them answer the questions?
Why would anyone want to be president?
Is that another lie?
Did Obama really say that? (contraceptive interruption)
Boy the President sure likes to talk. He started talking at 17:50 and he is still talking.
Quick thoughts:
Debate offered nothing new those that are informed.
More of the same from Obama. He hit his base.
Obama has had 4 years of TV time. Romney not so much. This gave him an opportunity to further his message and continue his introduction to the American public that are less engaged/familiar.
Not a game changer debate is my take away. I think Romney still has the momentum.
Full transcript of the September 12th Rose Garden address on Benghazi. From that address:
@Greg
Failing to provide adequate security for our embassy and ambassador at a time needed, and after it having been requested, is by all means gross negligence on the part of the commander-in-chief … OBAMA. Obama’s saying that it was a spontaneous attack before the facts were know, as he claims, is gross negligence and lies on the part of Obama. Obama just lost the election.
@AdrianS, #28:
Undecided voters aren’t buying the republican spin concerning Benghazi. Their real-time responses during tonight’s debate suggested they’re actually beginning to react negatively to it. If republican campaign strategists continue on that tack, it will be at their candidate’s peril.
Obama did not answer the question asked regarding the Benghazi U.S. Consulate compound protection. In fact, he completely ignored it, then skated. Crowley didn’t push for an answer to that most critical question.
Meantime, the MSM, post debate, is busy covering for Obama on the “terrorist act” lie.
Crowley is getting backslapped on CNN, even though she should be getting skewered over insinuating herself into the Obama side of the debate by lying. It’s possible she’s too stupid to know the difference, but Obama did NOT call Benghazi an act of terrorism. He made a general statement on terrorism – not a subtle difference, unless you’re clueless.
. . . . Unbelievable.
@Greg: Greg, continuing to pursue the truth and the fact that 0-blama and his administration tried to cover it up is NEVER a losing strategy unless your afraid of the truth.
@Greg: Yep didn’t call the incident an act of terror.
AdrianS
yes ROMNEY HAD OBAMA MAD, specially with LIBYA,
when ask about security failure, OBAMA ANSWER ON AFTER THE EVENT NOT ABOUT SECURITY,
and he said the wrong thing on what he had said on the first day at the time of the terrorist murders
and ROMNEY COULD HAVE DESTROYED HIM, HE SHOWED COMPASSION , BY SAYING TO HIM YOU SAID THAT ON THE FIRST DAY? AND CANDY CROWLEY STOP HIM, AND ROMNEY TURN TO THE PEOPLE AND SAID THIS FOR THE RECORD, MEANING THE LIE OF OBAMA,
and when MITT ASK OBAMA ABOUT HIS PENSION, OBAMA DID NOT WANT TO ANSWER,
ROMNEY SAID YOU HAVE INVESTMENT IN CHINA, JUST AFTER OBAMA WAS ACCUSING ROMNEY OF BUSINESS IN CHINA,
THERE WAS OTHER TOO, AND ROMNEY GOT OBAMA VERY ANGRY,
HIS EYES WHERE SHOOTING BULLETS.
It was obvious during the debate that, despite the smiles and handshakes, Romney and Obama hate each other.
Romney hates Obama for lying about him so much.
Obama hates Romney for telling the truth about him so much.
@Doc Holliday:
Sure they are illegal, have been for decades for private ownership. Sure they’re legal for the military, always have been. Don’t know why you commented on this.
@Greg:
Either you are a willful liar, your you are the biggest simpleton in the history of mankind.
Charlene Lamb testified that the State Department, where she works, watched the Benghazi attack in “near” real time. FOR SIX FRIGGIN’ HOURS.
So tell me, what was Obama’s response when he was told that the Benghazi attack was taking place? He has never answered what he did to try to help save Ambassador Stevens, and the three other Americans murdered by Islamist thugs. Maybe you have some inside track and you can explain to us what Obama did because Americans want to know.
@Doc Holliday:
Fully automatic weapons have been prohibited since 1934.
@Aqua:
chuckle….. they certainly have selective editing on CNN, I watched a small amount of post debate over there. They didn’t see the same debate I did.
@Redteam:
No, they are legal. The ban was allowed to expire during the last administration.
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/rep-johnson-assault-weapons-ban-expired-it-s-been-open-season
@Greg:
Greg, you really should stop vacationing in LaLa land. The Republican spin on Benghazi is that the terrorists did a planned attack there that killed 4 Americans. The Dimocrat spin is ‘what terrorist attack’? what me worry? Do you really think undecided voters now still believe it was a spontaneous protest? If they do, they are so stupid they won’t be voting anyhow, they won’t be able to find the polling places. You can’t fix stupid.
@Cary:
You are 100% wrong sir. Assault weapons (which are SEMI-automatic) ban was lifted. Fully automatic is illegal since 1934, still is illegal, always will be illegal. Just do a little google search. takes about 30 seconds to confirm that.
Cary, never mind, you don’t need to do a search, here’s the link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Assault_Weapons_Ban
This quote is directly from that article:
@Redteam, #41:
Private ownership of fully automatic weapons is not forbidden, but legal ownership requires a Class 3 Federal Firearms License.
ADRIAN S “VOTING FOR THE WHITE GUYS” You wearing your T-Shirt?
FYI It was a Consulate not an Embassy.
You watched on Fox, Big surprise there. Are they selling the T-Shirts?
I can’t believe Romney totaled chucked on the Bengahzi issue. Crowly was wrong. Obama never equated the “benghazi attack” was a terrorist attack. He made a generic statement about 9/11 (2001) about no terror attack would go on punished. He did NOT however equate that to Benghazi …which he referred to as a “senseless act”. Even CNN questioned Candy’s definitive assertion that Obama did in fact say that Benghazi was a terrorist attack…based on the fact that the word “terror” was somewhere in his speech (even though not related to Benghazi). She claimed she balanced that by saying Romney was also right that 2 weeks later they were still claiming it was about a movie. (hint: both cannot be true). And you can’t balance something that is not true…by admitting something else is also true…when both things cannot be true at the same time (President could not have both believed Benghazi was an organized terrorist attack…and that it was a spontaneous protest spun out of control).
But, given the moment that Obama had setup…about being indignant that someone would question his admin’s integrity…Romney should have shifted gears…and not tried to do a gotcha moment over the meaning of “is”. He should have accepted and acknowledged that it was an attack on America for which we all felt and that this was not about making him angry. Then he should have focused his answer into….but that’s includes being truthful and forthcoming with the American people about what happened. And then he could have easily made the points concerning the admin’s obvious attempt to play whack-a-mole with benghazi. Having blown the moment and trying to do a gotcha (which turned voters off big time by the way)….he’s now opened the door for MSM to say…ok…this is settled….and the president actually DID call it terror and all this is about nothing and we need to move on. He blew it. BIG time. And Candy helped Obama out of that.
It was totally inappropriate for Crowley to jump in. She should have let them hammer it out. CNN had a clock. At the end of it…Romney was 5 mins short of talking time to Obama. She kept saying she would give him time to get back but she never did. And yes…she admitted that half the people were democrats and the other half republicans which is why one side clapped when she helped obama out …and the other side clapped when she admitted Romey’s was right also. Sheesh.
Romney did score some internal points on economic issues etc. But, he hit a lot of low points with Ohio supposedly undecided voters…who suggested that (about Benghazi) that we should just “let it go”. Romney also hit low points for shorting his immigration answer and asking Obama about his investments in China. In Ohio focus group…Romney hit 7 low points. Obama hit 3. Obama’s aggression was seen as anger by some women and it turned them off. Candy called it “intensity” not anger and that his base was glad to see it. That’s what they want to see. Most likely voters were more frustrated that they weren’t getting answers…despite the questions. But, Romney fared better on that question than Obama did by a fairly good margin.
Frank Lutz…had a group in Nevada. Most of them voted for Obama last time. Not many were going to this time And Romney scored big with them. But, I get the feeling most of those people were conservatives…who just drank the Koolaide last time….save for one woman who suggested it is more about whether she would vote for Romney…or nobody this time. (ie., the people who left McCain high and dry in 08 by staying home rather than vote for a “RHINO”. )
How anyone can stand up there, not answer questions, and have a record like that….rail on…you’d think somebody ELSE has been president for the last 4 years. Not sure people are going to buy it….other than partisans who’ll vote for him anyway no matter what he does to the country. Just have to wait and see.
@Redteam:
I’m pretty sure that Romney said that assault weapons were illegal, though I’ll stand corrected if he said fully automatic. Still, neither one should be on the streets for anyone to obtain.
@Redteam, #40:
Nobody still believes it was a spontaneous process. That was the administration’s initial assessment, made when it seemed like a reasonable conclusion based on the violent demonstrations the video had triggered all across the Muslim world.
Republicans seem intent on selling the idea that the administration’s understanding of what occurred in Benghazi hasn’t changed since they first commented on the attack. That’s ridiculous.
They were acting on the intelligence given to them at the time. That should sound familiar here…
B R E A K I N G . .
The Official Whitehouse reaction to the Presidential debate.
😉
@Greg: Greg, are you serious?
Do you know what a class 3 FFL allows? has to be over 50 years old and certified as a Curio or Relic with historical significance. Which means it is only a collectors item. It is not allowed to be used for any other reason than for display/collection. Want to split some more hairs?