I think it was a tremendous victory for Romney at the debate last night. Usual caveats about there being a month to go, he still may be trailing in some key states, etc.
Romney needed to take his case directly to the American people because the media is out to get him. He did that very effectively, and thereby neutralized at least for the time being his greatest opponent.
The media will, of course, try to marginalize the victory. Obama was so busy, etc., that’s why he looked tired and was off his game. The fact checkers will perform as pathetically as they did during the RNC. Blah Blah Blah.
The Obama campaign will try to spin it as well. There was some campaign woman (not Cutter) on Fox late last night who was like a bizarre programmed robot talking about how great Obama did. It was embarassing even for people whose livelihood is to spin.
And Obama will have his minions up the attacks on Romney. But for people who witnessed the debates, the caricatures will not ring true and the attacks may hurt Obama.
Romney was the President on stage last night.
All in all, I’d say it’s hard to imagine a better night for Romney.
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Last night was interesting, to say the least. Pardon the scatalogical referrence, but last night, Dear Leader learned that you can’t polish a turd, no matter how hard you try.
I am happy too. Don’t get me wrong…but
Don’t get cocky! This is not over yet.
I caught a segment of a Frank Luntz focus group of undecideds in the Denver area, most of whom had supported Obama in the last cycle.
It was devastating. They almost all broke for Romney. AND they were enthused about it.
If this is mirrored around the nation…the Prof. is gonna need bigger fireworks!
Good nite for Romney thats for sure. And interesting to see the oddsmakers at Intrade do about a +9 for Romney in just a couple of hours. For whatever thats worth.
Most interesting was the focus group FOX did after the debate. Very strong reactions by this group of what I think were “undecideds”
The strongest point they liked from Romney?
His discussion about having discussions with Democrats in order to move forward. The “work together” deal.
Obama couldnt respond and certainly cant point to his own record that way
Yeah, Obama was tired alright,
Too many fundraisers in Vegas,
Too much time spent partying at The View,
Too much golf,
“Affairs of State must take priority over affairs of State.”
I watched sporadically because my Detroit Tigers were playing and I wanted to make sure Cabrera got his triple crown. He did! That said, watching the LSM talking heads last night and this a.m. was quite a delight. The forlorn look on their faces said it all. Mitt not only took it to Obama he b!tch slapped the likes of Sissy Mathews, David Gregory, Ed Schultz and all the other Obama butt lickers in the media!!!!
Whoops. I said the same as Rags..it wasnt there when I posted. Apologies.
Last night Obama was au natural. People got to see the Emperor without his media clothes on.
What you are seeing from the left today is an admission Romney won, but a discounting of what it will mean in the election. The biggest loss for the left is the hundreds of millions of dollars they spent to define Romney as out of touch, rich and heartless. Last night Romney defined himself.
Here’s the thing. Obama was trying hard not to get ugly last night…to be amiable and not condescending. He was off teleprompter. His base (the MSNBC screamers) are yelling for blood now; whatcha wanna bet he DOES go ugly next time.
And how do you think THAT will go, next to Romney’s gleaming smile and generous spirit? Hmmmm???
Romney can get rough. He did it to Gingrich in the debates. He is not an orator, but he’s also not a wuss. He’s also a moderate, so unlike in the Republican primary debates, he won’t have to pull punches on his moderateness versus Obama’s leftist extremism, which I’m hoping will be good for the wavering voter crowd in that middle.
I recall that at the end one of his debates, when Reagan had the opportunity to summarize, he turned away from Carter and addressed the TV camera directly, making a prepared statement to the American people rather than the immediate audience. The statement, of course, was well done. You’ve got to know how to use each type of media to the best advantage.
Here is that focus groupstuff Rags and me mentioned
http://www.therightscoop.com/frank-luntzs-focus-group-of-undecided-voters-went-overwhelmingly-for-romney-tonight/
The media will of course will rethink and thus rewrite their headlines over the next few days to say …
OBAMA WINS DEBATE BY SHOWING UP
After all, why should the media let substance, brilliance, competence and an outstanding performance dictate who the winner is. I mean really.
I love the way that Cutter started attacking Lehrer-like he was supposed to be there to protect the idiot.
I wonder if the IRS is going to pay a visit to the next moderator to remind them that once they get bought, they’re supposed to stay bought. “Nice little gig you’ve got here. It’d be a shame for something to happen to it.”
I’ve been beating this drum for a while now. This was the exact same Mitt Romney I saw in Pennsylvannia last week. He’s focused, friendly, sharp and likeable.
When I hear the pundits ask where was the Mitt Romney we saw last night, I just laugh. Just go to a campaign event and that Mitt shows up. It tells me they don’t have any idea what they’re talking about. On both sides. Some “smart” Republican pundits are so ignorant, it is breathtaking.
Just think about Mitt’s biography. He’s been incredibly successful everywhere. He’s touched people’s lives. He’s a good and decent man who just happens to be very bright.
Now Obama has to put his hopes on SSSSlow Joe Biden’s performance vs an obviously brighter Paul Ryan. That ain’t going to happen. Romney will then pick up more momentum and go into the foreign policy debate with all of Obama’s recent failures to pick away at.
If the campaign can survive an avalanche of negative advertising, then we will be saying President Romney come the end of November.
I agree re: what you’ve posted, especially re: Mitt Romney’s biography.
I think why Mitt won is much deeper than his debate prep or style. Last night in his very being it was clear that he has lived in and through countless situations with real people / real money / real decisions / real consequences and has made things go right. (And/or learned from mistakes.) He knows how to make things go right because he has done it — his reality-based confidence shines.
In contrast, Obama had no real world experience of scale and scope prior to his presidency — and has not learned lessons after 3.5 years. He speaks of government “investments” but faces no consequence and absorbs no reality check when statistics and actualities evidence that what he’s doing is not working … is making things worse. If re-elected, he will do more of the same — he has no other options to draw on from his life’s practice. In biz we called a person like this an “empty suit.” I guess it could be seen now as an “empty chair.”
“ campaign woman (not Cutter) on Fox late last night who was like a bizarre programmed robot talking about how great Obama did. ”
Obama’s Baghdad Bob.
I think they were holding her family hostage. 🙂
Jen Psaki, the Obama Travelling Press Secretary and the guest on Greta van Susteren that I believe you are referring to, was totally delusional. So delusional that it was really quite scary. It was like they were arguing that the Buffalo Bills almost beat the Patriots on Sunday because they scored 28 points: The reality is the Bills lost by 3 touchdowns – as did Obama last night.
Thank you Mitt. You did it, and I never thought I would say that. Congratulations and keep doing what you did last night. Forceful and steady and don’t trust the media. They will try to tear you down if they can and diminish your win last night. Don’t let them.
My daughter called me on the way to work and told me that what she is hearing on the airwaves is: “Do you think that a Mitt ass kicking is covered by Obamacare?” That says it all!
Thanks for the fireworks, Prof! That, plus Chris Matthew’s meltdown, made my night!
Can’t wait to see them again on November 6- hopefully by dinnertime!
The media began its effort to reverse as much of this victory for their candidate last night. Already a number of essentially called Romney a lying liar who lied about things, and they express shock that Obama didn’t call him out on that. Expect days and days filled with heavy scrutiny and expert witness to dissect every statement – with numbers and without them – that Romney uttered. From non other than Andrea Mitchell at NBC to name one……..
It will start with the most shocking of all – Romney’s ‘lie’ about cuts to Medicare. After all, that is the most punishing of all to Obama’s reelection.
YAWN!
The next Obama-Romney debate will have a town hall format. Undecided voters selected by the Gallup organization will ask the candidates questions. Romney can put the 47% stuff behind him, or compound the damage.
The final debate, on foreign policy, will be on October 22. If there’s a military October surprise, that is an obvious time for it. The Left will frame the debate as politician vs commander-in-chief.
The same Gallup organisation that Obama’s DOJ is suing? What a coincidence! Hmmm I wonder who they will pick to ask the questions! And the ever impartial rancid cow Candy Crowley is moderating.( Loved the smackdown Crowley got when she took on Netanyahu–“You think so? You think so Candy??” Loved it. )Something tells me that this debate will be full of land mines for Romney–he will have to bring it even harder next time. And he will.
Romney’s biggest selling point may have been that he worked with majority Democrats in MA. He had to school Obama and the public how you do it. Set out the goals, open up to debate on how to get there. He has done it.
He demonstrated that point with Obama’s failure to use Simpson-Boles. Obama only got things done in Chicago bribery style, ignoring the will of the people as voiced by the Scott Brown election.
The Obama that was instigating racial hate in that church, using lies about white racism … is the real Obama. Competent and caring CEO Romney is the real Romney. Even the chattering class may have second thoughts about covering for an incompetent radical. Especially now that straw man Obamassiah has been revealed, as not really having the brain they claimed.
Coulter on about Obama looking depressed, looking down.
“You could tell by the end of that debate, he knew, anniversary or not, Michelle wanted to go home with Mitt”
lol
I don’t like Coulter but that was the best line ever.
http://www.redstate.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2012/10/PresidentialDebate.jpg
Moochelle looks…less than pleased about her anniversary present…
Wow! No happy anniversary there.
I’ve noticed all the whining (elsewhere, not here) about Jim Lehrer, but I actually think he did a great job. Sometimes the refs have to let the teams play the game. I had turned to my wife at one point and said I was actually impressed at how much interplay there was between the candidates. Normally I feel that debates are joint press conferences, but here they were often directly responding to each other’s comments. We want to see the candidates, not the moderator so, accordingly, I give kudos to Jim Lehrer for not inserting himself into the debate.
yeah .. it’s not like Obama didn’t get a chance to make his points, or rebut. But Obama was all over the map, and Romney still managed to structure an organized response.
Lehrer even tried to help Obama out a few times. This format showed the organizational skills of a competent CEO, versus the instigator Obama spewing out some talking points.
The left is used to Obama throwing out an inflammatory hand grenade from the bunker, with the media backing him up and going on the attack for him. This was Obama, hand to hand, front lines. Romney politely took his knife away and pinned him.
Mostly agree, Shakes, though I thought there were a couple of times he was trying to provide cover for Obama. Losing control wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. It allowed for more spontaneity, more give-and-take.
The result was two guys duking it out…the very essence of what a debate should be.
One more thing. Everyone here was worried about Romney and Obamacare because of his efforts in Massachusetts. In the end, Romney did extremely well.
casualobserver | October 4, 2012 at 9:13 am
The media began its effort to reverse as much of this victory for their candidate last night. Already a number of essentially called Romney a lying liar who lied about things, and they express shock that Obama didn’t call him out on that. Expect days and days filled with heavy scrutiny and expert witness to dissect every statement – with numbers and without them – that Romney uttered. From non other than Andrea Mitchell at NBC to name one……..
It will start with the most shocking of all – Romney’s ‘lie’ about cuts to Medicare. After all, that is the most punishing of all to Obama’s reelection.
YAWN!
*******************************************************************************************************************
The problem with doing that is that it means they will be talking about the points he brought up and playing defense on them. In other words, the focus of the debate has been defined by Romney for the immediate future in that case.
I live in South Carolina and attended the GOP primary debate held here on January 19th. I entered the debate hall supporting Newt, Santorum, and Mitt (in that order).
I came out of the hall as a Mitt supporter. More importantly, the Mitt I saw live back in January was the exact same Mitt I saw last night. He was was poised, knowledgeable, confident, gentle, but FIRM.
Say what you want about Mitt Romney, he didn’t succeed in life, he didn’t make all that money, by being a smooth, cool, metrosexual piece of eye candy.
He showed his true grit last night, and I think that he is a leader – perhaps not a rah-rah, let’s-go-get-’em leader – but a successful, we’re-running-a-business-here CEO leader.
With Romney, what you see is what you get. I’m not sure the same thing can be said about the incumbent.
What struck me is that Romney successfully demonstrated all the skills that really good business consultants possess. He was extremely well-prepared, had a clear and concise view of the issues, exuded confidence without pretentiousness and was extremely quick with his responses – suggesting that he had already anticipated Obama’s response. Obama looked like what in the consulting world we call a “one trick pony”.
Unfortunately, what we see of, and hear from, Obama is exactly what we get: a reasonably handsome man, with a name-brand education, able to turn a phrase or two (or, in his case, three or four or more), who garnered support for a career in politics, and was able to, with mucho support, be propelled into the White House.
Now, however, he has a record and it’s not much as a basis for another four years. Having made my way around the news reports and blogs, I seen frequent references to the TOTUS. Nah, what else can be said?
O’s trying to invent “new wine” only to put it in “old wineskins.” Not going to work. Evidently, Mitt made this point last night, as well as O’s got no “new wine,” just the same “old wine” that’s now becoming spoiled.
O’s “tired and was off his game” because, at least from my vantage point, he’s realizing that if you have little in your record to keep your job, and you’re running on “empty” with your words, there’s every likelihood that you’ll loose your job. As a former CEO, I think Mitt know this, as well as O hasn’t gone down yet. If last night is an indication, Mitt’s prepared for this as well.
Upon reflection, I think the very best line of the debate was: “I’ve been in business for 25 years and I have no idea what you’re talking about”.
This sums up Obama’s entire first (and last) term.
My pizza deliveryman in the doorway interview:
Last night I ordered a pizza to eat during the debate, and a young Hispanic man made the delivery. He told me that it was their busiest night ever (they couldn’t get enough drivers to handle the volume), and that everyone is home watching the debates.
I asked if people were telling him who they supported, and he said not really. Then he asked who I supported. Rather than answering point blank, with a candidate’s name, I did my wavering, wide-eyed innocent routine.
I told him that something that really bothers me is the way the White House handled the murders in Libya. The pizza guy already knew all about the incident, including the changing lies. I said that it really bothered me to hear so many lies from the White House. I was especially bothered because the leader of the free world had singled out a private citizen for blame (“somebody just like you and me”). Worse, the administration had told everyone his name and where he lives — making him the target of death threats. And all to protect the re-election chances of Obama.
Anyway, this young Hispanic man was nodding and agreeing with me all the way. I think I am going to use this argument with everyone — Obama put the lives of a private citizen and his family at risk to hide his own failures in Libya. No one can approve of that, and it might be just the thing to make a leaner reconsider an Obama vote.
Myself included , alot of us have been sceptical of Mitt. I worried he wasnt being aggressive enough. Over the last few months I have come to respect he has had a strategy layed out all along to get where he wants to go. Last nite was his first real opportunity to blow by the media and he assuredly took it. It left all the opposition with nowhere to hide. Over the last year he has overcome very difficult obsticles. My hats off to him.
This is an awesome summary of last night
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKMUHcgsbag&feature=youtu.be
I agree; excellent.
It occurs to me that Romney’s team is going to dominate the media cycle all the way through next week. The Dems had pretty much already ceded the Ryan – Biden debate to the Romney team and were just hoping for minimal damage out of that one. Now you’ve got Obama going down in flames and little to no hope that Biden will perform any better.
That gives Romney Ryan 2 full weeks to dominate the news cycle and Obama’s performance will make it difficult for even MSNBC to help with.
Not to rain on your parade.
According to Breitbart, Obama is preparing an “October Surprise,” a major military operation against Libya. The Foreign Policy debate is scheduled for the 17th.
Expect Obama to time “H-Hour” to maximize the political benefit to him.
Romney was dominant and magnificent. But Obama is dirty and ruthless, and there are still tricks up his sleeve.
Don’t know about Fluke’s birth control, though – pernicious liberalism might turn out to be congenital, and that would be a horrible fate to wish on some poor child.
I loved Romney’s statement that his test of a program will be whether it is worth borrowing from China to pay for it. Eliminates OCare and PBS and NPR. Would eliminate Sandra Fluke’s birth control pills, too.
Then again.. Don’t know about Fluke’s birth control, though – pernicious liberalism might turn out to be congenital, and that would be a horrible fate to wish on some poor child.
While Romney thoroughly pounded O’bammy last night it looks like the next twenty-four hours were not going to be much better IF the “look” that Michelle had after the debate has anything to do with it. She was NOT a happy camper…
Romney acted like a man who WANTS the Presidency. Obama did not.
I have seen comments that sometimes Romney can lose gas. I hope this energy and passion we saw last night will stay with him for the next debates.
I finally got around to watching most of the debate.
I couldn’t help thinking…..I’ve seen his before. Recently.
Then it dawned on me.
http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/content/2012/8-31-12-clint-eastwood-at-rnc/13621428-1-eng-US/8-31-12-Clint-Eastwood-at-RNC_full_600.jpg
LI has 1980 Reagan debate highlights video embedded. In my opinion, Romney was even better last night than Reagan in ’80.
It was an incredible performance by Romney. He was calm, compelling, convincing, and utterly in charge.
May this continue!
The last time I had as much fun watching a video of something political from television, Condoleezza Rice was kicking Lawrence O’Donnell’s teeth out of this mouth.
[…] In the History of the World? Raaaacist! Posted on October 4, 2012 3:30 pm by Bill Quick » The morning after – Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion The Obama campaign will try to spin it as well. There was some campaign woman […]
Great job, Mitt, but always remember:
Smiling is good. Smirking is bad.