Posted on 10/22/2012 10:41:15 PM PDT by My Favorite Headache
So, the debates are FINALLY over and done. The media is calling it a 3 to 1 win for Obama/Biden although in all reality it is the other way around or a tie with the loss going to Mitt Romney tonight.
Judging from friends and a large number of politico's I associate with...most had turned the debate off after the first 30 minutes or were watching the NLCS Game 7 on Fox.
The reason?
Enough is enough.
My most hardcore of Conservative friends and relatives saw Romney for what he truly is deep down inside...a moderate Republican who is a gentleman, good husband, good father, good grandfather, and good businessman.
Tonight after the first softball was tossed Romney's way by the moderator, Romney opted to settle for a quick bunt to move a runner over to steal 3rd base in the bottom of the 9th inning in a tie game instead of swinging for the fences.
This was perfectly set up like Albert Pujols staring down a rookie pitcher who has thrown 120 pitches and is trying for a complete game.
Instead Mitt Romney came in to the debate and played like A-Rod. Stared at easy pitches, took strikes, and at the end of the game felt good about himself because his team was at least in the World Series and why try hard now since he has Team Tea Party, Team Coal, Team Wall Street, and Team Sick of Obama playing their hearts out.
Yes, Obama showed us what a weak lying sack of crap he is, but Conservatives already knew that. The fact checking won't mean squat when you see the headlines, post-debate polls, and missed opportunities that Romney and his entire campaign team have whiffed on day in and day out.
"This was all executed to be exactly this way by Romney himself."
These horrific words were uttered by Rob Portman. Really? You call waiting the clock out and letting Obama get punch after punch in while you land the occasional punch to the gut and upper cut when the other guy is re-adjusting his hands a winning formula?
The bottom line is Mitt Romney looked presidential and that counts for style points.
But.
The reason Romney is even in this thing right now is based off of his Game 1 performance when he was on fire and throwing bombs at Obama all night long. THAT is the Mitt Romney that SHOULD have shown up tonight.
I have heard and read countless Conservatives gloat tonight that Romney was great by getting Obama on the record as a liar and will be fact checked etc...WHO CARES?
The guy has been getting fact checked by Conservatives for years and nothing happens. Zero happens to a zero.
Do I think Romney lost the election tonight? No. Do I think the momentum has been stopped as of tonight? Yes. Do I think he helped his case? No. He is losing every post-debate poll...you know..the polls that everyone was gloating about after Game 1? Look at the Drudge Report? Remember Game 1? He had about 12 links up of polls and people calling Obama out.
Tonight? Nothing.
Don't fool yourselves with the "Romney did what he had to do" crap because he didn't. His job was to go sit at that table for 90 minutes and call Obama out on every single lie about Libya and every association with the Muslim Brotherhood and tie radical links back to his White House.
Instead we got treated to more talk about things already discussed in previous debates.
Blown opportunity. He could have put him away tonight. Now we have to wait this freaking mess out because Captain Indecision couldn't make up his mind to be a friend or fight.
You let a Chicago street punk jive talk you into a corner and make you look OLD.
Unfortunately for us...most Americans today only care about style and very little about the substance and tonight Obama of 2008 came back to that table with fire in his belly and arrogance in his throat and told Mitt Romney where to shove it...that this was HIS job...get out of the way.
So now we are left with the Super PAC's, Tea Party, and Grassroots Conservatives to clean up this mess and cross our fingers that "The Donald" wasn't bluffing and has something explosive to knock Obama down for a week or so because tonight needs to be washed out of the 40 million or so memories that watched this wasted opportunity tonight.
Good grief....this is why Newt Gingrich would have been an epic choice to run against this thug. He wouldn't have stood a chance on any single night.
Thanks GOP Elite. We get to wait out another nail biter election due to "YOUR" candidate.
And Obama might be re-elected and it is all thanks to the GOP elite. Or, maybe that was your plan all along?
Romney played to the undecideds that liked him in the first debate but dont want a war monger. Romney played it that way. Few would have been swayed by beating up Obama on attack. They are already in his camp. Is anyone that was going to vote for him before the debate going to change their vote because of it afterwards?
I just finished watching it and I am not even sure we were watching the same thing. I saw Mitt being tactical and careful. Maybe a bit more so than I would have liked, but debates are funny things and he has built up an enormous amount of goodwill that he could have quickly and fatally squandered if he had gaffed.
On the other hand I saw Obama as nervous, sullen, and snarky. Those on other boards who are gleefully recounting all the “points” he scored against Romney are ignoring the fact that Biden scored a lot of “points” too, and came away the worse for it as the voters, especially the independents, were left cold.
We can argue all day long about whether Mitt is far enough ahead to be playing a “prevent defense”, but I think he did fine. He looked much more mature, in control, and confident than Obama did, and that is going to count for a lot.
Oh well, we’ll find out soon enough. I’m just glad the debates are over. And I hope and pray this is the LAST time we get sucked into playing by the “Debate Commission” rules.
While Newt may have schooled the boy-in-chief in a debate - there isn’t any way this side of Mars that he would have beat Obama in a general election. Women didn’t like him, and Romney is doing very well with the women vote this time around.
Sorry, I just see things differently than those who wanted a knock, down, rock-em-sock-em robot type of debate. Mitt got in some very good points against Obama. What a shame that so many of you missed those.
He also had to distinguish himself from Bush. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are very much still in the news, and people remember. So, in that regard, Mitt did well to keep a low profile on some of the issues.
I guess we'll know in about 3 days when the polls start showing things. If Obama picks up points or Mitt does.
2 weeks left for the important poll.
This 3rd and final debate was Romney’s last chance to sway the “undecided”’s. So instead of being a firebrand and blasting the Liar in Chief and coming across to squishy “undecided”’s as a “meanie”, Romney chose to come across as a responsible, well-mannered adult...giving the yet undecided’s a good feeling that Romney would be the “moderate”’s choice.
After all, anyone who still had not decided after the first two debates is no partisan, but rather are people who decide at the last minute based on feelings. Romney came across as a “nice man” and the LiarInChief came across as rude and mean.
I agree with you
Oh, get real. Obama isn’t going to resign in disgrace - not with 2 weeks to go until the election.
Sure, we wanted Romney to get into the weeds and gutter with Obama, but he chose the high road, and as stated - he was going after the independent voters tonight. The bases at this point are already squared away
Mitt was smart though to bring things back to the economy. Without a strong, vibrant economy, we aren’t much good to the rest of the world.
I can’t say I agree with you here. Picking a fight with Obama in this debate was the wrong way to go about it. This election is purely about the economy. Romney teaed that up, attacked Obama on it, and kept Obama from hitting him with negatives the rest of the debate.
Obama looked increasingly irritable through the debate; he looked sour. Romney looked calm and confident. He also nailed Obama where it counted, calling him out on the apology tour and not getting mired in the details.
At this point, I can’t say savaging the incumbent on issues most Americans—and particularly undecideds at this point—care little about and know little about. You win points by looking presidential, reassuring, competent, and steady-handed. Romney looked all of the above more than Bush I or Bush II, more than Dole, and more than McCain.
Who should be able to win a debate with the sitting Commander-in-Chief other than the head of the CIA?
I think Romeny ended up looking far more level-headed on this one than Obama, and he certainly won on economic issues, which is all that really matters at this point.
Romney won this one. It wasn’t even close where it counted.
As Rush Limbaugh stated a million times over...Moderates don’t win elections...Conservatives do when they act like Conservatives.
As for people on this thread talking about tonight being for the undecideds and independents who want someone who is calm and cool and mature....those are the same people who voted for Obama in 2008 that you all speak of.
Just remember that. They didn’t break for McCain...they broke for the poster boy.
I would have liked to see Romney get in a few more shots tonight, but those come with risks. Romney appears very confident right now... I think their internal polling is probably far more favorable than the national polls we chew on every day.
Romney came across as a safe choice tonight. He was also able to drag the economy back into the debate and ended on an optimistic note. Conservatives who closely follow the daily news were probably screaming at the television a few times (I was), but Romney was disciplined and knows the important target audience approaching Nov 6th.
Conventional wisdom says it is about the undecided voters and women. I think Romney probably did pretty well with them tonight. The rest of the country has made up their minds. I believe the Romney camp will count tonight as a win. I hope they are correct.
Undecideds break 2-to-1to the challenger in incumbent-challenger races. Obama is nowhere near 50% in the polls two weeks before Election Day.
Obama’s the one in trouble. He is the one making arguments tailored for his base. Romney’s going after the middle and mentioning Pennsylvania and Wisconsin (gravy states) in the debate examples today. Do the math on why that is. Zero is in trouble.
More importantly, he cross-footed Obama’s debate prep - Obama was already for a Benghazi attack from Mitt, which failed to arrive. Then, half-way through, Mitt pivoted to the crucial role economic strength plays in foreign policy, and just built on that to the end.
While I would have preferred more bomb-throwing, too, I think Mitt’s approapproach was smarter...
Romney did the right thing tonight. The media were dying to portray him as a Bush Cowboy”. I’ve heard Obama the last few weeks say..”if mitt romney wants to start another war..he should just say so”. Well, he never got to say that tonight. If Romney came off too “hot” and blustering, the media would have went after him. Women voters would have fled..it was a trap, but Romney didnt fall for it. As for Lybia, Obama got the c.i.a. etc to cover for him and Susan Rice..so again, Mitt was smart to stay away...Tonight, i really think he closed the deal.
and besides, youll find that most people watched football or game 7 of the NLCS....
Undecided voters = uninformed lazy voters. Therefore, they don’t know when ‘the boy’ was lying.
They are emotional voters and go with their feelings. They may not know Obama was lying, but they do know that he looked angry and Romney looked polished and collected. Romney won the appearance battle tonight and geared his message towards the last bunch of undecideds left on the board and they were already leaning towards Romney. I don’t think Obama changed their minds tonight.
Polls show 2-3% undecided. Of that, maybe 1% watched the debate. Of that, maybe 0.5% were swayed to zero. MAYBE. I would estiamte 0.5% to be the absolute max.
zero need a bigger turnaround than that to save his sorry ass.
Hmm? There's always more than one way of looking at anything.
Personally, I don't think Mitt lost any points tonight with the voters who really matter. Had this debate happened tomorrow night, when there are no major league games scheduled, a lot more men would have watched, and the polling results would have come out quite differently.
Nothing that happened tonight is going to change anyone's mind, who's previously made their choice. Perhaps it mattered to that small percentage of voters who are still undecided at this late date. Dunno, but I do know that Mitt's real lead at this point in the race is commanding and insurmountable. It would take an absolute miracle for Obama to win it now.
I hope your post stays on here.
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