Even after the debate in Denver, I never had a doubt that this was coming, that payback would be certain and decisive. And it was. The moderator helped of course, with live fact checking, but face it, Romney set up and walked into so many punches, he won’t be able to walk straight after this. He set himself up, stuck his chin out there and got nailed for it.
The president was strong, in command, and decisive. Romney, on the other hand, got testy, pushy, and at some points, looked downright constipated as he sat in that chair and had his ass handed to him. It seemed that on every question, he opened himself up for a walloping and by the time he took his first brutal blow – on Benghazi – he ended up looking like a small child standing in front of the teacher’s desk, spluttering out a bunch of nonsense. He looked unprepared, like he literally hadn’t done his homework and was scrambling to make it the other guy’s fault. The 47% was a knockout blow and how Romney didn’t see that coming is beyond me, but like every blow he took, he set himself up for it.
When Obama flashed anger, it was controlled, and came at the right moment, and in the right dosage. It looked presidential. When Romney got angry, he just looked angry, testy, and rude. He looked like a bully CEO who has grown accustomed to standing before a group of employees who are never supposed to question him, but simply do as they’re told. Romney tried to do that with both the moderator and with the president. He failed. Miserably.
Obama stayed at the end and spoke amiably with the people in the debate hall, while Romney slunk off, looking as though someone had kicked him in the balls. I’m sure the right wing media will come away with their own version of reality by this morning, but nothing beats the video. Unlike Romney, that doesn’t lie.
• Complete Second Presidential Town Hall Debate 2012: Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney – Oct 16, 2012
GOP hopeful Mitt Romney found himself backtracking during the second presidential debate after moderator Candy Crowley challenged his assertion that President Barack Obama had not referred to recent attacks on Americans in Libya as terrorism.
“The day after the attack, governor, I stood in the Rose Garden and I told the American people and the world we are going to find out exactly what happened, that this was an act of terror and I also said that we’re going to hunt down those who committed this crime,” Obama explained following Romney’s suggestion that the president had been more concerned with fundraising than national security after the death of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens.
“I think it’s interesting that the president just said something, which is on the day after the attack he went in the Rose Garden and said that this was an act of terror,” Romney replied. “Is that what you’re saying? 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.”
“Get the transcript,” Obama insisted.
“He did, in fact, sir,” Crowley pointed out to Romney.
“Can you say that a little louder, Candy?” the president asked Crowley as the audience applauded.
“He did call it an act of terror,” the moderator agreed. “It did as well take two weeks or so for the whole idea of there being a riot out there about this tape to come out.”
[rawstory.com]
• About Libya – I’ve believed since the event began that the attack could be more than one thing at a time. I believe that terrorists took advantage of a protest as cover for their attack. It doesn’t have to be one thing or the other; it can easily be both and now, the NYT has stated so.
• Binders Full Of Women: “[S]o we took a concerted effort to go out and find women that had backgrounds that could be qualified to become members of our cabinet,” Romney explained. “I went to a number of womens’ groups and said, ‘Can you help us find folks?’ And they brought us binders full of women.”
• About that binder full of women, like so many things Romney, it just ain’t so: 1) That binder was assembled by a group of Massachusetts women before anyone even knew whether it would be a Dem or Rep government, 2) Romney appointed women to posts he didn’t care about, and the percentage of women in posts actually declined throughout his run, 3) he needed to have a binder assembled because he didn’t know any women that could do it. Seriously? He didn’t know qualified women? That says a lot.
Voter Suppression
• Supreme Court rejects Ohio GOP’s early-voting restrictions: After losing in the lower courts, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted announced last week that he would take his early-voting restrictions to the U.S. Supreme Court, hoping for a more favorable outcome. In a victory for voting-rights advocates and Democrats, Husted lost at the high court, too. Husted has now issued a directive setting uniform hours on the Saturday, Sunday, and Monday before the election, and it’s online here (pdf). In a statement, he grudgingly conceded, “Today I have set uniform hours statewide, giving all Ohio voters the same opportunities to vote in the upcoming presidential election regardless of what county they live in.” That this is a concession the Ohio Secretary of State fought tirelessly not to make is rather remarkable, but as of this afternoon, it appears the fight is over.
F.D.Brightly
Obama delivers
Shorter Question Everything
Never had a doubt.
Even after the debate in Denver, I never had a doubt that this was coming, that payback would be certain and decisive. And it was. The moderator helped of course, with live fact checking, but face it, Romney set up and walked into so many punches, he won’t be able to walk straight after this. He set himself up, stuck his chin out there and got nailed for it.
The president was strong, in command, and decisive. Romney, on the other hand, got testy, pushy, and at some points, looked downright constipated as he sat in that chair and had his ass handed to him. It seemed that on every question, he opened himself up for a walloping and by the time he took his first brutal blow – on Benghazi – he ended up looking like a small child standing in front of the teacher’s desk, spluttering out a bunch of nonsense. He looked unprepared, like he literally hadn’t done his homework and was scrambling to make it the other guy’s fault. The 47% was a knockout blow and how Romney didn’t see that coming is beyond me, but like every blow he took, he set himself up for it.
When Obama flashed anger, it was controlled, and came at the right moment, and in the right dosage. It looked presidential. When Romney got angry, he just looked angry, testy, and rude. He looked like a bully CEO who has grown accustomed to standing before a group of employees who are never supposed to question him, but simply do as they’re told. Romney tried to do that with both the moderator and with the president. He failed. Miserably.
Obama stayed at the end and spoke amiably with the people in the debate hall, while Romney slunk off, looking as though someone had kicked him in the balls. I’m sure the right wing media will come away with their own version of reality by this morning, but nothing beats the video. Unlike Romney, that doesn’t lie.
• Complete Second Presidential Town Hall Debate 2012: Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney – Oct 16, 2012
• Full Transcript of the Second Presidential Debate [PDF]
• “What Governor Romney said just isn’t true.”
Just a few quick points from my first bleary eyed read of the news – there will be much more to follow as the days move on:
Benghazi
• Romney stunned by debate moderator’s fact check on Libya attacks:
• About Libya – I’ve believed since the event began that the attack could be more than one thing at a time. I believe that terrorists took advantage of a protest as cover for their attack. It doesn’t have to be one thing or the other; it can easily be both and now, the NYT has stated so.
Binders full of women
• #bindersfullofwomen
• Binders Full Of Women: “[S]o we took a concerted effort to go out and find women that had backgrounds that could be qualified to become members of our cabinet,” Romney explained. “I went to a number of womens’ groups and said, ‘Can you help us find folks?’ And they brought us binders full of women.”
• About that binder full of women, like so many things Romney, it just ain’t so: 1) That binder was assembled by a group of Massachusetts women before anyone even knew whether it would be a Dem or Rep government, 2) Romney appointed women to posts he didn’t care about, and the percentage of women in posts actually declined throughout his run, 3) he needed to have a binder assembled because he didn’t know any women that could do it. Seriously? He didn’t know qualified women? That says a lot.
Voter Suppression
• Supreme Court rejects Ohio GOP’s early-voting restrictions: After losing in the lower courts, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted announced last week that he would take his early-voting restrictions to the U.S. Supreme Court, hoping for a more favorable outcome. In a victory for voting-rights advocates and Democrats, Husted lost at the high court, too. Husted has now issued a directive setting uniform hours on the Saturday, Sunday, and Monday before the election, and it’s online here (pdf). In a statement, he grudgingly conceded, “Today I have set uniform hours statewide, giving all Ohio voters the same opportunities to vote in the upcoming presidential election regardless of what county they live in.” That this is a concession the Ohio Secretary of State fought tirelessly not to make is rather remarkable, but as of this afternoon, it appears the fight is over.