Ok Aldeth, what did you think of last night's debate?

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In last night's debate, Romney surprised me. He was decisive in his responses and seemed well prepared. I read thisorning that Obama was "lethargic" last night. I didn't see that. I saw Obama as a man who took pause to formulate an intelligent, informed answer. Both scored points and I think nothing changes afterlast night. Thoughts???

 

I think overall Romney won the debate quite decisively. He was way more energetic than Obama and for the most part had the upper hand in the debate. Obama spoke slowly and looked down a lot when debating while Romney looked more a lot more engaged in the debate itself and he was somewhat more convincing in general.

Not much in the way of new substance though. I'm not sure how many undecided voters will be swayed by this debate but I'd be surprised if Romney won't net a point or two in the coming polls. I doubt it will be enough to completely overturn the Obama advantage though, but we'll see. I have the feeling that the media often likes to overstate the importance of debates when in fact it won't have that big of a difference. In the end Obama did not make any major mistakes and Romney did not present anything new. Moderation was pretty horrible though.

 

I hope it is only a point more in the polls.

The problem is if the debate had gone Obama's way then it was game over for Romney. I think that is where Obama (and me since I feel he is right on more issues-and actually more likely continue fixing the economy than Romney) would prefer it.

Ok, that said I didn't pay as close attention to it as perhaps I should have.


An interesting side note is that a couple people who listened on radio said they felt Obama did better in the debate.

Perhaps on TV Romney gave off visual cues that distracted from the weakness in his substance.

 

Romney won, full stop. He won because President Obama seemed not to really want to be there, and because Romney was well prepared and unleashed a tidal wave of bullsh*t that took even me off guard. Just lie after lie after brazen lie – it was kind of impressive, the balls of it. It seemed evident to me that Obama only half-prepared for the debate, and the preparation he did was clearly based on the things Romney established in his platform the last 18 months. Who would have guessed Romney would casually reverse himself on just about every key position he held and then turn around and say the President didn't have his facts straight in the same breath? How do you counterpunch that without looking defensive and petulant? It's tough to do, and had Obama brought his A-game, he maybe could have parried it. But he didn't. He went through the debate like he was on 2 hours sleep and a Nyquil hangover. So, scoreboard Romney.

I don't think this is a game changer by any stretch, though. Very few people are undecided at this point, and neither performance is likely IMO to cause much side-switching. Romney didn't win the election last night, but I'd say he stopped losing.

You can bet Obama won't let the next debate go down this way – but you never know. I would also bet that Romney and his team will stick to last night's formula. If Obama and his team can figure out the best way to trap Romney in his own lies on live TV, he'll fare a lot better in the next two rounds. Because the press sucks and seems too caught up in the theatrics and optics of the debates to really focus much on what was actually said, I have my doubts at this point if any post-debate fact-checking will make much headway. But I could be wrong.

I still think Obama will win next month. But it'll be closer now.

 

I am totally enjoying today. Here in the People's Republic of Massachusetts, the liberals are walking around in a daze. They are stunned at how badly their "chosen one" performed. It is the classic "The emperor has no clothes on" situation. Obama has been protected by the media for six years now, and for the first time some light has been shined on him and he failed miserably.

Romney is not an old man who was hand picked by the liberal media to be his opponent. You can't beat Romney, by just smiling. The President was called out on his record and basically had no response.

Last night I purposely avoided Fox as I knew what I would get. I wanted to see what the other media would say. MSNBC was basically holding a funeral for Obama. It was hysterical.

My favorite was Bill "I just gave Obama a million dollars" Maher's tweet of "Wow, he really does need a teleprompter to speak". I went to bed smiling about that one.

 

Stunningly full of crap as always, Snook. I've missed you.

 

Really? I_think they are stating differently this morning. It is pretty easy to pick Romney's assumptions/statements apart concerning his fixes to our ecomonic woes. I also find it interesting that he continues to avoid the specifics of his claims. Though Romney did gain in the fact he showed he can be a people person. But that is to going to win him an election. It helps. But he needs to show that the "proof is in the pudding" concerning his agenda. He has yet to do it convincingly. Round 2 should be interesting. The Reps still need to swing battleground votes to Romney. Do they now have enough time? I am not sure his words last night will(could?) swing Ohio/Florida/Wisconsin his way...

Is it me or is Romney's TV smile not geniune looking? It always seems forced.

Also, did anyone find out what that boom was in the background when Romeny was speaking. It made both of them turn around to look... just wondering....

 

The effects of the debate last night I think was perfectly summed up by Morgoroth. There's no way that Romney won't improve his standings in the polls somewhat. That said, I also agree with DR's statement that there are very few undecided voters out there. There are only about 5% undecided out there, and they's have to break about 4-1 in favor of Romney for it to swing the election.

That said, it probably won't happen because of last night's debate, because those undecided voters weren't watching. Here's a surprising statistic I saw earlier today - undecided voters are less than half as likely to watch the debates as those who have already made their decision, which seemed odd to me at first until I thought about it.

I'll just some out and say it: If you are still undecided after seeing Obama for four years, and Mitt Romney, who has basically been campaigning for the past six years, you're a low information voter. You don't care about politics, you don't watch or read the news, you don't do anything that aids you in making an informed decision. Therefore, the people who are often credited with deciding the outcome of elections are people who are among the worst equipped to do so.

I'll stick with what I said in that other thread I opened up on the election. Romney still can win this election, but it's the equivalent of trying to draw an inside straight on the river to get it done.

To be fair, Chris Matthews - who is an unabashed Obama supporter - came down VERY hard on Obama for his performance in last night's debate.

 

And he was right to. It was a bad night for him. I think any Romney supporter would be pretty stoked today.

 

Stoked? Meh... Satisfied? yes. He didn't give the public anything new to digest other than to show he actually has some personality. Not a big win in my book. Though any win for Romeny right has to be a plus.... I am a swing voter for sure. He didn't woo me last night. (Not that living in IL would let my vote be impactful...)

The media also talked about the Civility of the debate last night. It was refreshing to see to guys talking their opinions, without the finger-pointing, name-calling, etc.. they were very respectful of each other last night. Kudos to both of them for that.

 

I am constantly amazed at how much you guys love talking about politics. This presidential election is the biggest circus in the world. These guys are getting paid zillions of dollars to argue with each other and look good. Who's actually running the country?

 

Hey, things are slow at work right now, you guy kill time doing something...

 

I'm amazed to find out how many of the posters at BoM are actually Aldeth, and how many diverse opinions Aldeth has on this question! That's what's most interesting here to me.

For the record, I am not Aldeth, in spite of my posting here.

 

I think the stakes are pretty high. Not to come off as all high and mighty, but I think the power and influence wielded by the President of the US, is a fair bit higher than being the PM in New Zealand. (That said, I am a fan of parliamentary systems of government on balance.)

Hmmm... The glass half full Obama supporter may site that as a reason for being seemingly under-prepared for the debate - he had other things to do.

Generally speaking, most debates do help the challenger - especially the first debate. Kerry surged ahead of Bush in 2004, but we all know how that turned out. And seeing as how the focus of the first debate is the economy, it would make sense that that topic would be Romney's strongest and Obama's weakest. The second debate focuses on social issues, with the final one on foreign policy and international relations. I think it goes without saying who will be in a superior position on those two.

 

Well, Romney should be strong on international relations. He probably has a great relationship with many foreign nations given all the personal wealth he has stashed with them...

 

Funny pics about last night's debate(and other stuff).

---------- Added 0 hours, 1 minutes and 26 seconds later... ----------

We all have Aldeth envy...

 

I think it's probably safe to consider the popular vote moving to a dead heat a week from now. The electoral college is a different story - where Obama currently has a damn-near insurmountable lead. It may shift a little, but not much.

It'd be unwise to rule out that Romney fundamentally changed the race last night. He may well have. Joe Biden is going to have to thump Paul Ryan pretty hard tomorrow night. I honestly have no idea what to expect there, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't have pretty low expectations for Biden. And Obama can't afford any more mistakes.

 

I have to disagree with you there, DR. Obama could be caught having a three way with an underage, illegal immigrant boy and a flounder, and he'd still ride to victory in this election. Romney may be scrappy and all, but being a good scrapper in the debates won't change how people feel about the man -- especially if you are right and it can be proved his "facts" were lies. Romney can't connect to the swing voters no matter how hard he tries, and he's going down in a blaze of . . . mediocrity.

 

The President of the USA does not get paid even millions of dollars. Compared to a Big Corporate President he is paid peanuts. As to who is running the Government, the same people who always run it the Bureaucracy. Congress goes about its business and the world goes on. Russia suffers an economic banking crisis and terrorists look for any excuse to terrorize.

My opinion is that Romney blows with the wind and say whatever he and his advisers think is the best thing to say.

Whether we agree with Obama or disagree at least we have some idea of what he believes in. I do not understand the Obama Health Care Program and am not sure that anyone does. It appears to have some good features but as far as I personally am concerned it has not helped me. My medical insurance is still outrageously high.

The debate doesn't affect me at all. What stands out in my mind is a video I saw regarding the Republican Convention. A video of a gay Marine being viciously beaten while many people simply walked by. No one protesting, nos security guards in sight. What happened to the man I have not been able to find out. Is he alive or dead? Did the Security police finally step in? Where the men beating him arrested? Those are the things I would like to know.

Comments I have heard and seen quoted from various Republican leaders indicate that women are still considered by them to be second class citizens with little rights or respect.

Aldeth is correct in saying this is a boring election. Neither candidate excites me but Romney is a chameleon as far as I am concerned and believing what he says is what he means or believes is foolish.

The Preamble of our Constitution states that it is written to further the welfare of the people. I don't think Romney has any welfare in mind but his own. Right or wrong Obama impresses me as at least wanting and trying to improve the welfare of the people.

 

Don't believe everything you read online. What you're referring to was actually a fictional article from The Onion, which is a satirical "news" site.