I agree. This all worked to Romney’s benefit.
I really don’t see that there was collusion ahead of time. And I think she said she didn’t have a transcript in front of her.
What I think happened was this. Obama made the tactical decision that if Romney started up with the YouTube stuff that O would claim he knew it was terrorism all along because he used the word in that speech. So O had his line ready, and since he’s a narcissist who doesn’t ever think he’s wrong, he figured his “Rose Garden Terrorism Speech” defense was foolproof. That’s why had acted like such a cock during the interchange.
In the case of Crowley, she’s just a partisan hack. The equivalent of having Sean Hannity moderate that debate for us, but the left can’t see that. So when her guy started to get pushed down on the mat, she emotionally couldn’t control it. She had to jump in and did so with an excited girlish smile like one of the slugs on The View.
Watch that tape, Candy gets all excited about putting down Romney. Then after five seconds, she catches herself and knows show screwed up and tries to then add something at the end about how Romney was right about the YouTube video in an effort to hide what she just did.
The whole country saw Crowley exposed as a dirty ref. And Obama’s crappy “defense” he trotted out doesn’t work, so he is exposed for the next debate on Monday.
It all worked out perfect for Romney.
That's fine. She probably didn't. And I won't push the idea that the whole thing was choreographed and planned out -- that would be crazy talk, right?
But look at the sequence:
Romney: It took you 14 days to say this was terrorism.
Obama: No, I said it the very next day, in the Rose Garden.
Romney: No, you didn't.
Obama: Get the transcript.
Crowly: [Waving paper] Gov. Romney, he did say it was terrorism.
At that point, on stage, in front of 65 million people, should Romney assume that she has a transcript in front of her and that she is 100% provably correct in defending the president? Yeah, that's probably the smart choice. So, Romney had to taper back, play it safe and not go in for the kill.
It seems to have worked out very well for Romney anyway -- but if Obama says "Get the transcript" and Crowly starts waving paper and agreeing with him ... well ... maybe she didn't have the transcipt in front of her, but Penn & Teller themselves could not have supplied a better misdirection.